BP Is Not Alone In Disaster Incompetence

BP seems to be the very picture of incompetence as we watch its futile efforts to control the disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The leak has been pouring oil into the Gulf for months now as BP tries one thing after another to get it stopped. So far, nothing has worked and the future looks very dark for both the Gulf and the shorelines of the coastal states (and the businesses dependent on both).

Meanwhile the congress varmints (mostly Republicans) that have been the recipient of money from Big Oil want the off-shore oil drilling to continue. They would like for us to think this is something that could only happen to BP and even then is just an "accident." I wish that was true, but it is not. Even the other oil companies know it is something that could have happened to any of them, and none of them are any more prepared to deal with an oil disaster than BP was.

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson admitted as much in his testimony before Congress. He admits that none of the oil companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (and other off-shore areas) have even the slightest clue about how to deal with a BP-like oil disaster. Here is the exchange he had with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Michigan), the chair of the oversight committee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee:

STUPAK: So if you can’t handle 40,000 [barrels of oil a day], how are you going handle 166,000 per day?

TILLERSON: The answer to that is is when these things happen, we are not well equipped to deal with them.

STUPAK: So when these happen, we can’t handle them?

TILLERSON: There will be impacts as we are seeing. We have never represented anything different than that. That’s why the emphasis is always on preventing these things from occurring because when they happen we are not well equipped to deal with them. And that’s just a fact of the enormity of what we’re dealing with.

STUPAK: We call upon the same resources. No matter which one of the oil companies before us had the blow-out, the resources are not enough to prevent what we are seeing day after day on the gulf. Not only the loss of 11 people, but we — we are on day what? 56 or 57 of oil washing on shore. There is no way to stop it until we cap the well? Correct?

TILLERSON: Right.

STUPAK: But it could be Exxon tomorrow or Chevron tomorrow?

TILLERSON: Not if we follow our practices and procedures it won’t be.

STUPAK: But if it does we can’t handle the spill. This worst case scenario is pie in the sky and oil in our waters.

TILLERSON: The MMS and Coast Guard require us to calculate using their methods and that’s why it’s in there. I think that’s all that matters is the point is we have to take every step to prevent these things from happening. When they happen, it is a fact that we are not well equipped to prevent any and all damage. Damage will occur.

Does this admission make you want to encourage even more off-shore drilling? There are over 6,000 drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico alone. And any one (or more) of these could be another oil disaster waiting to happen. And if another disaster strikes it won't matter what company is doing the drilling because none of them have the capability to deal with it.

It's time for the government to stop giving permission for new off-shore drilling ventures, and to sink some real money into finding and establishing new and renewable sources of safe energy. We got to the moon within 10 years once we put our efforts into it. Why can't we do the same with energy?