The BP Oil Spill: Could the Damage Have Been Prevented?

I watched Washington Journal on C_SPAN this morning. They had a question and answer session with Brain O'Neill, the attorney for fishermen who suffered losses from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. The question and answer session focused on the BP oil spill, the efforts to clean the BP oil spill up, the efforts to plug the BP oil leak and what could have been done early on to prevent all the damage to the ecology

It was a very interesting session. Remember that the BP and Exxon oil rigs exist because of the huge demand for oil in the United States. The one way to change this is to lesson the demand for oil with new technologies. I fear that the oversight of Exxon and BP oil rigs has been laxed for years.

Having said that, BP is responsible for the leak, the damage to our ecology and the damage to our economy. However, chances are we will never be fully compensated. This was stated or at least hinted at on the Washington Journal.

How long ago did the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill occur? The oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska in March 1989 and, according to what I heard, the legal action against Exxon is still on-going. Amazing. In 2007, Exxon had a record net income of 46.1 billion dollars. People have never been fully compensated for any oil spills.

BP nets 5 to 7 billion dollars a year. That gives you an idea of what we are up against when trying to settle claims with either BP or Exxon.

The oil from the BP oil spill will reach Mexico, Cuba and the east coast of Florida. Legal claims against BP will not have a significant impact on BP.

If we review the history of oil spills, we learn that once the oil is spilled, you can't pick it up and you can't burn it. There is simply too much oil. And you won't stop the BP oil from spreading with booms. There are not enough booms in the world to contain an oil spill the size of the BP oil spill. And it is not possible to burn all the BP oil that exists in the Gulf today. Prospects of a complete cleanup of either BP or Exxon oil spills are bleak.

Surprisingly, no one has the expertise on stopping a leak the size of the BP oil spill.

And here is one shocking comment that was made by O'Neill: The Federal Government will not allow BP to go bankrupt.

I heard one other statement. One caller mentioned BP could stop this oil spill by imploding the hole the oil is leaking from. They could have stopped it very quickly! But that would mean that BP could not drill for oil there again. And the US is not pressuring BP to implode that hole! Instead BP is trying all these other remedies while the BP oil continues to leak and the damage continues.

Who was responsible for the oversight of BP and all oil rigs? There are two:

The first is the US Coast Guard. Their official site on the web is

http://www.uscg.mil

The second is the Mineral Management Services. They are part of the US Dept Of The Interior. Their official web site is

http://www.mms.gov

The BP oil spill is listed as the Deepwater Horizon Incident.