Secondly this was an environmental disaster – the “broken well” leaked crude oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico until it was successfully “killed” on August 4, 2010. The massive containment and cleanup operation that followed extended from the waters and shores of the Gulf of Mexico to our dinner tables, dens, offices, and radios via a flood of media coverage. Most of this was accurate, but some of it was “spun” according to the agenda of the reporting organization. Understandably the “spin” was generally biased to the dramatic or negative side of any issue – it’s difficult to put a positive spin on oiled seabirds, dead fish, and huge floating rafts of crude oil. Nor should anyone wish to – what is done is done and there are hoards of folks doing what they can to restore the environment damaged by this disastrous oil spill. Only with time will we come to fully understand the impact it has had on the ecosystems, flora, and fauna in the affected areas.
Thirdly this was a business and economic disaster. While there are numerous partners, contractors, and sub-contractors with a stake in the Macondo Prospect; ultimately the buck stops with the operator – BP. BP is a huge multinational oil company with thousands of hardworking, smart, and principled professionals. They are our friends, our neighbors, our daughters, fathers, and sons. I’ve tried to explain what probably happened to this well – but drilling this kind of well is very complicated and speculating about what went wrong would be ill-advised without facts. With time we may understand more (especially now that the original blowout preventer has been recovered). Let’s retreat to a high-level view to say that there are many procedures, steps, tests, checks, balances, redundant safety systems, etc. in play. For a disaster of this magnitude to have occurred many things had to go wrong at the most inopportune times, forcing reactions, triggering more critical decisions, and compressing time. Inevitably mistakes were made and short-cuts taken that contributed but alone were not “to blame”. Blame should not be our focus – our focus should be on what we can learn from the disaster to avoid repeating this outcome.
Just for the record shutting down exploration activities is an unfortunate knee-jerk reaction intended to be seen as decisive and action-taking. Certainly we have to be sure that these mistakes are not repeated but literally hundreds of wells have been successfully drilled in more challenging conditions and deeper water with successful result. I was personally involved with successful wells drilled in water nearly 10,000 feet deep; right here in the Gulf of Mexico! The Macondo well was a “Black Swan” event (sorry, you’ll have to read the book) or like a 100-year storm. To take a similar response to a 100-year storm, we should ban anyone from living less than 50 feet above sea level!!! Crippling the domestic oil industry will add economic insult to injury. While I am unequivocally in favor of developing “green” energy, continuing to develop and produce domestic oil and gas reserves is a vital bridge to a more balanced and green (energy) future.
I had an opportunity to go sailing on the Øresund last week (the straights that connect the Baltic with the North Sea, near Copenhagen, Denmark). We sailed past an offshore wind farm, saw the idle stacks of a coal-burning power plant and across the straight the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant. Somehow none of these detracted in any way from a beautiful evening sailing with friends. In the city of Copenhagen everyone walks, cycles, or rides the (electric) train to work (powered incidentally by the offshore wind farm) – residents there are fit and take a serious responsibility of making personal sacrifices to take a green approach (of course 180% tax on automobile purchases is strong encouragement to ride a bike). The point is that in the US, everyone is quick to throw stones at the earth-raping oil companies, but they still want to drive their cars, heat their homes, and consume vast quantities of petroleum products in everything from their clothes to their food, their medicines, their makeup and their bottled water. The average US citizen won’t commit to “green” behaviors, but is quick to expel measurable quantities of greenhouse gas pontificating about the evils of oil exploration and production activities – how embarrassing!
Since the first oil well was drilled by “Colonel” Edwin L. Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania (1859), the drill bit has chewing its way into 31 of our 50 states. As technologies have evolved these oil & gas projects have gotten progressively safer, cleaner, and now require a very small bit of land to drill most of which is reclaimed around a tiny little well-head that would fit in your yard. These projects have for decades been conducted side-by-side with other industrial projects, agricultural fields, national parks, city centers, and the wildest frontiers. Take a drive through west Texas sometime (or visit it virtually using GoogleEarth) and you find oil wells, wind farms, cattle ranches, and cotton fields – all happily intermingled; producing what is consumed by folks who will fight tooth and nail against anything that will be visible from their deck or just over the horizon of their beach!
Oil and Gas Fields of the US (from the US Geological Survey).
We’ve been doing this here for over 150 years, and while mistakes have been made we get better at it all the time. As a conservationist, I am vastly more proud to be a part of the oil and gas industry of today, than the one joined nearly 30 years ago. We all invest heavily to support research into renewable energy alternatives and care deeply about the environment we strive to safeguard. Next time someone pontificates about how we shouldn’t be drilling in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, in the wheat fields of Kansas, or near their favorite national park – ask them how they plan to heat/cool their home, how will they transport themselves, what will they wear, and what will they eat? I’ve drilled wells in the Arctic, offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, near national parks, and in the mid-continent of the US. I’m proud of our work, proud of our care and concern for the environment, and proud of our industry …. just don’t tell my mother!
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