The explosion that destroyed the offshore oilrig, Deepwater Horizon, at a well owned by British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico has been an environmental catastrophe. A surge of gas and oil burst through safety valves and exploded, killing 11 of the 126 crew on April 20. The rig, owned by the BP contractor, Transocean, and partly equipped by Halliburton, then sank on to the well-head itself and is at a depth of about 1,500 metres. Current estimates are that 210,000 gallons of oil are flowing into the ocean every day. All attempts to cap the well have so far failed. A relief well to intercept the damaged one would take about three months to drill. The technicalities are extremely challenging, as only robot submarines can do work at these depths. The oil spill will cause the extensive death of marine and related wildlife, and could seriously harm the entire coastal economy of Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida, as well as parts of Texas. Oil that strikes the coastline could enter the food chain through the vegetation. Recovery from this huge setback will take years.
The catastrophe is also changing the political climate. There is rising public anger against the oil industry and a widespread demand for federal government action. BP's initial evasiveness was a repetition of its conduct over the 1989 stranding of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaskan waters. Then, 10.8 million gallons of oil were spilt and investigators later found that BP had neither the rubber booms (as it had claimed) so that the oil could be contained, nor the teams to deploy the booms. This time, some nine million gallons have already been spilt, and many people involved are speaking out. Some of the rig survivors have said they felt coerced by company officials to sign statements that they had not seen what happened. When in office, U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, a former Halliburton executive, exempted the oil industry from using expensive safety switches. The Obama administration, however, is moving with commendable speed to bring the industry in line. BP will have to pay all costs, including those for U.S. Navy and Coastguard help; President Obama has suspended permission for new offshore drilling; and federal regulators are to inspect all relevant installations. Congress has drafted legislation to raise oil company liability from $75 million to $10 billion. Significantly, the American States most affected by this calamity have been governed, in recent years, by Republican leaders who have been ideologically committed to doing away with governmental regulation. Now the people living in these States are paying the price.
Keywords: explosion, oil burst, environmental disaster
Though reading was interesting but for a while I forgot do I read Indian news paper or the American one?
Like the life style of general public,media also is getting Americanized.I know Hindu has innumerable readers in USA.They crave to know what is happening in India.
When it suffers,the US raises oil company liabilities from $75Million to$10billion.The same applies to nuclear plant suppliers to India also.Their liability is a pittance at about $300million,and India is mindlessly toeing US interest in trying to table the bill,which,every Indian will disapprove.Democracy is of the people,for the people and by the people,only till one casts his/her vote.Then it is for the MPs/MLAs,by the MPs/MLAs,of the MPs/MLAs.Ironical.
Dear Sir
With this timely editorial, you have once again proved why “The Hindu" remains probably the only newspaper in India, true to its journalistic moorings. The analysis is very succinct and excellently sumps up the background and implications of the tragedy.
However, I am surprised by your reference to rig being partly equipped by the Halliburton. Truth of the matter is- modern day complex drilling operation requires various vendors/service providers on the rig and while Halliburton was indeed rendering one specific service in the well construction phase (i.e. cementing), they were not associated with any aspect of the " Well Control hardware &associated control system"- the failure of which is the most putative cause of this tragedy.
Let me clarify that I don’t work for Halliburton or associated with them in anyway but I don’t expect “Hindu" to throw in names based on unsubstantiated conjectures. Beside, as Halliburton name is synonymous with crony-capitalism, corrupt & underhand practices of all sorts (& probably rightly so), any reference to them in this article is likely to be believed by people who are not conversant with upstream drilling business. In the same vein, your reference to Dick Cheney, being an ex- Halliburton executive, with regards to granting exemption to oil industry for using “expensive safety switches”, is totally unnecessary. While, his decision does smack of favouritism & needs to be questioned- his Halliburton connection is irrelevant here as Halliburton would not have gained anything, directly or indirectly, from that exemption.
Regards
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