A Brief Political Diatribe

I know that those of you who follow my blog come to it to read about running. But, sometimes there are more important things on my mind than running. Truth be told these are just the sort of things that run through my mind while I am out on my long runs. If you don't want to read on, feel free to skip this post and return to the blog later where you will again find information on running. But, I just cannot keep silent any longer with regard to the BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Chalk it up to my son's attending Tulane in the fall or my hippie sensibilities coming to the surface. I just feel strongly that our government has not done enough to find ways to fix the problem and to punish a company who clearly has show disregard for the environment in the past.

Let me share with you some of the side stories that have not come to the surface with regard to our government and their response to the crisis. Have any of you heard about the Jones Act of 1920? The Jones Act is a maritime law that was created to promote U.S. shipping interests. The law prevents foreign crews and foreign ships from transporting goods between U.S. ports. Unfortunately, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander for the oil spill cannot seem to get the waivers of this act needed to allow foreign skimmers to come into the gulf to help clean up the spill. The law as it is currently being interpreted in the Deepwater Horizon case considers the "ports" to be where the oil is collected offshore. This is severely hampering the foreign skimmers from coming into the gulf even though they are ready willing and able to do just that. It is not uncommon for this act to be suspended in the case of a natural disaster. In fact, President Bush suspended the act after Hurricane Katrina to allow international support to help with the rebuilding efforts.

The Jones Act isn't the only problem. We can't even get enough of our own domestic skimmers to the gulf due to the The Oil Pollution Act of 1990. This act requires regions to have minimum levels of equipment such as booms and skimmers, making it difficult for every oil-fighting resource to be directed to the Gulf of Mexico. It seems to me that our administration is not pulling out all the stops to get the right equipment to the gulf to start the clean up process while BP is still figuring out how to stop the gusher. As of last week, no Jones Act waivers had been granted. The administration also has not chosen to override the Oil Pollution Act. Based on these facts, it is my opinion that our government has created too many administrative hurdles and barriers that are allowing the crisis to deepen further and allow people's livelihoods, fish, birds, animals and entire ecosystems to be destroyed.

I would think that this administration would do everything in its power to try and prevent this crisis from becoming Obama's "Katrina". While I disagree with most of the right wing pundits who say that our government's response was slow, I do think that they are not doing enough to force BP to find a way to stop this leak. Remember that BP is the same company who in 2005 suffered a major explosion in its Texas City refinery killing 15 and injuring 170. They were fined $87 million for their negligence. BP is also the same company who in 2006 was fined $20 million for a leak of approximately 4,800 barrels of oil into Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, due to a corroded stretch of pipeline. BP knew about the corroded pipe four years earlier but did nothing about it. It is obvious that BP has a total disregard for the environment and the safety of its associates. Apparently, the fines were not large enough to force BP to change its methods of operation.

Currently, the Obama administration and congress are debating whether or not to take away BP’s control of its U.S. oil and natural gas wells and bar them from doing business with the federal government as punishment for the oil spill. In my opinion there is nothing to debate. BP has been convicted 3 times since 2000 of environmental violations. Now they are responsible for what will be known as the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history. Yet as of today, I can still find nothing that states what the Administration and Congress are going to do. I suspect that we will continue to see Congressional hearings where a lot of blow hard politicians pontificate in front of the cameras to make us believe they are actually doing something. In the end, they will probably not punish BP in the way they should be punished. As of this date, 96,302 claims have been opened against BP, from which more than $148.7 million have been disbursed. It seems a small drop in the bucket compared with the clean-up estimates rising to $3 billion and BP doesn’t seem to be stepping up to foot the bill.

Sadly, the effects of this spill will be felt for decades. Tar balls and oil slicks are now showing up in Lake Pontchitrain as Hurricane Alex pushes the Deepwater Horizon's oil into its waters. Families in the Gulf Region cannot enjoy their normal summer activities. There is no avoiding the fact that as the oil continues to leak we will see entire ecosystems destroyed in the region. I have seen many reports on the loss of wildlife. One of the more credible sources stated that approximately 30 mammals and 600 to 1,200 birds have been killed as a result of the spill with dolphins and pelicans being hit hardest. It has been more than 70 days since the rig burned and the crisis began and we are no closer to a solution.

I encourage all of you who read this blog to write your congressman, senator or our President and tell them how you feel about this crisis. Look at what our “leaders” are doing. They are putting forth bills to crack down on oil drilling equipment and the granting of subpoena powers to disaster investigators. Wow! Now that is important. It is akin to closing the barn door after all the animals have escaped. Obama, instead of trying to solve the problem and help the region, saw the crises as a chance to gain support for his energy bill and pushed, in a speech, for passage of the Cap and Trade (tax) bill. Again, is this what needed to be done? We need real leaders to step up and make those who were responsible for this disaster accountable for their actions and punish them accordingly. It won’t bring back the region any faster. But, it may make other corporations pay a little more attention to their associate’s safety and our environment.

Here are my training totals:
July 1 – 4.20 miles (39:33, 9:25 pace)
July 2 – 4.10 miles (36:42, 8:57 pace
July 3 – 9.30 miles (1:21:27, 8:45 pace)

Total Miles: 17.60 miles
2010 YTD Miles: 841.30 miles