Is the solution to pass more laws and tighten industry regulations further?
I'm a regulation person; I think that's key. The whole idea of a business having to file an environmental impact statement before starting any work, for example, was really a transformative thing that grew out of the oil spill and the California Environmental Quality Act. And, of course, we learn in both cases how important it is to not rely on industry self-policing. There must be independent regulation, however difficult that goal may be to achieve.

The oil industry hasn't exactly been seen as a vanguard of the green movement. Will they have to work harder now to improve their image?
Beyond tougher regulations, for the oil industry to continue to operate they will have to ante up in some way and probably accede to some of the demands that are made for reform. They did not seem, for example, to be resisting the breakup of the MMS that President Obama is putting into place.

Learning from Santa Barbara, we might also expect the industry to be more willing to, in effect, give back to the affected communities through environmentally relevant contributions. That might include things that do not really involve the environment in a direct way but consist of in-kind donations for things like parks, schools and other scenic amenities. In the case of the Gulf there may be focused efforts to remediate impacts on fisherpeople's lives. In the case of Santa Barbara some of this was generated as part of legal settlements launched by local governments that placed conditions on further land-based and offshore developments.

Although the BP response has not [showed] strong evidence for it, oil companies' public relations operations are so much more evolved compared to Union Oil['s] in 1969. I would expect a much more dedicated and smooth effort to bolster local support.

What does this mean for the development of renewable energy sources?
This is certainly a gift to the green movement; you could call it that. A harsh gift, but it will strongly influence interest in the National Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and other types of environmental groups. The sort of ground swell of activity that happened in Santa Barbara because of the dawning of this environmental issue won't happen here, though. It will be more of an eking out of change in a more environmentalist direction.

So, even though the Deepwater oil leak will end up being orders of magnitude larger than the spill near Santa Barbara, you're expecting that less will change as a result?
There'll be some political impact from this leak but this impact will be less than it was in the late 1960s and early 1970s because at that time there was almost a religious awakening to the importance of protecting the environment. Something like that could only happen once.

10 Comments

1. 1. MCMalkemus 05:18 AM 6/8/10

   There is little doubt that the oil industry will change after this, likely only by legislation.
   
   The question is how much?
   
   The worse this gets, the more things will change, and if the entire ocean doesn't end up polluted and dead, at least something good will come out of it: positive environmental change.

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2. 2. JamesDavis 06:45 AM 6/8/10

   It is shocking and it makes a person, whither you are environmentally friendly or environmentally destructive, angry as hell that BP was not more prepared for disasters like this.
   
   Before I was allowed to started my business, digital publishing, I had to submit an environmental impact statement and set money aside for any environmental disaster my business may cause to the environment. Since I own a digital publishing company where everything is handled electronically...I got off easy. At that time the only thing that was available to me to lessen the impact of my business on the environment was solar panels.
   
   I can't help wondering how America allowed a British based company like BP off so easy and did not closely monitor their activities and why BP was allowed such great slack in preparing for disasters like the one they are now causing in the Gulf. Didn't America learn anything from the disastrous and neglectful Bush administration?

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3. 3. SpoonmanWoS in reply to JamesDavis 02:40 PM 6/8/10

   @JamesDavis: this is a legacy of the Bush administration where he appointed oil people to manage the MMS, the group that oversees the operations of oil companies. In all fairness to George W. Dimwit, Obama hasn't changed anything in that group yet. It's still the inmates running the asylum.

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4. 4. Johnay in reply to SpoonmanWoS 04:21 PM 6/8/10

   Has he tried to? From what I hear, a lot of his appointments have been stalled somehow by the repubs in congress.

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5. 5. Interested Commentor 12:28 PM 6/10/10

   It would do well for the coastal nations of the world to create an "Oceans EPA" to regulate all offshore ocean drilling.

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6. 6. sanoran 11:46 AM 6/11/10

   Oil is the drug that runs the world. Nothing will change our need for oil. Until we run out. Greed and Need has allowed humans to justify anything, -as history shows, -and our need for Oil is stronger than an addict's need for a fix.

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7. 7. jimmywat 01:00 AM 6/13/10

   How do you know when BP is lying?
   Hayward's lips are moving.
   
   This peer reviewed author explains what is really happening, possibly Armageddon. I am not qualified to judge the article, but its logic hangs together internally.
   
   What is really interesting here is the analysis of abiotic oil which I have never seen before. The earth is swimming in oil - and it is now coming to the surface.
   
   What this all proves is that we must have big government to regulate big capitalists. Libertarianism has been proven to be the hogwash it is.
   
   http://tinyurl.com/25lx4zz
   
   This blog cites published main stream media reports confirm the beginning parts of the Armageddon article.
   
   http://tinyurl.com/33vhzcg
   

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8. 8. Gil 01:36 AM 6/16/10

   I found this sign posted on the doghouse wall .
   
   There is never enough time to get thins done --- but always time to do things over!
   
   As in the case of many jobs I have been on as a oil well service person on both land and offshore, I am satisfied that more time and money is wasted because of this very thing. On the locations I have been on there seems to be two bosses, the company man or a consultant representing the oil producer (often with a sheepskin hanging somewhere in a office) and the tool pusher employed by the drilling contractor (a graduate of the school of hard knocks). One would think the objective of both these individuals would be the same but the loyalty is very different. For example procedure says to test the BOP weekly, but if you skip one you gain a day of drilling and get a attaboy from the guys back at the office. Procedure are to test the casing seat after setting pipe, this requires drilling out of the cement, tripping out of the hole, picking up a packer and pressuring up on the casing seat. If it holds you trip out of the hole, pick up a drill bit & drill collars, trip back in the hole and continue drilling. Now if a company man (who has the final say) bypasses enough of these procedures, he might save the oil company a week of rig time saving a bunch. On the other hand he may buy a drilling rig and the price of cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico and who knows how much shoreline.
   

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9. 9. SLEMIK 11:03 AM 6/18/10

   http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=102&uid=135913836425253#!/group.php?gid=135913836425253

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10. 10. SLEMIK 11:23 AM 6/18/10

    Obama and the rest of Congress are too quick to criticise BP when they need time for due dillegence/root cause analysis to take place and also acknowledge that atleast BP have put forward substantial funding (c. £14m) without waiting for any court room battles etc and I am outraged that the administartions paint a 'whiter than white' potrait , taking the morale high ground, on the way BP have/are handling the whole situation. America should not forget its history and hand in many environmental and man made disasters/catastrophies which they i) never made funding availabe in advance of any outcomes (e.g. court judgements, investigations etc) and ii) took an extra-ordinary amount of time to conslude their investigations despite the suffering and harm caused. Some of the aftereffects of such disasters are still causes harm, devistation today and it will be years before the environments revover let alone human suffering. So, stop the political gamesmanship, point scoring etc..BP will undertake its Duty of Care honourably and will in due course be able to publish the answers (post investigation conslusion)that we are all seeking to learn and prevent recuurence of similar incidents. In addition to China , the USA is probably one of the worst polluters in the world but lets not go there. Let them focus on stopping the oil leak, and the recovery operations....they will still be their to acount for their part in this environmental distaster and cost of human lifes but please take a good look at your own values and behaviours and how you conducted yourselfs (very poorly) in past events. This is a debate about the costs of lifes or the ensuing environmental distaster as I fully condone this but it is a stance against the 'ignorant attitude' of the 'people in charge' who appear have short term memories and 'have no skeletons' in their cupboards'

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