- For all of us who live on and near the Gulf Coast of
Mexico, we exist in a state that alternates between exasperation and incredulity,
between anger and grief, between shock and awe at what this oil spill has
come to represent. Where do we start? How do we begin to express our
collective disillusionment with so many instances of betrayal and letdown?
As well as the relentless falling short of what used to be considered
reasonable expectations of government and corporate social responsibility.
-
-
-
-
- Is it unreasonable to expect our governments
federal, state, county to ensure that industry (Oil & Gas in
this case) complies with the laws of our land. Should we be concerned
that basic regulatory oversight, put into place to protect people, property
and environment, were completely ignored, suspended and not enforced?
-
- Do we accept that such disasters occur through a highly
unlikely series of human errors, bureaucratic mistakes, equipment malfunctions
and technological breakdowns? How can everything go wrong, at the worst
possible time, in the perfectly wrong place, unless
-
-
-
-
-
- The BP Gulf Oil Spill was created by man; it was not
an act of God as some would have us believe. It was an utterly manmade
event; not an accident or conspiracy of circumstances where fate would
have everything accidentally go wrong that could go possibly go wrong.
- Not only have these disasters happened many times before;
they will happen many more times in the future, if the status quo does
not change quickly. When the prevailing mentality (Drill Baby Drill),
which so dominates certain sectors of the Energy Industry, is defined by
an Operate to Failure MO, what else could be expected?
-
- Here we are on Thursday, July 8, day # 79 of this
nonstop oil gusher and what has occurred to instill confidence in the hearts
and minds of the people regarding an enduring solution? Let's put aside
the gushing well, as it is clear that BP and the Coast Guard are completely
out of their league on that one. We're now talking about a coordinated,
deliberate and well thought out response to the polluted waters and tainted
coastline of the Gulf of Mexico.
-
- What have the US Government and BP really endeavored
to do in order to protect coastlines, embargo estuaries and pluck the still
living marine life from the depths of this petrochemical cesspool? Have
they at least released pertinent and vital information on a timely basis,
which can assist many of us in our mitigation efforts?
-
-
-
-
-
- These are our beaches, after all. We live here.
We play here. We work here. For many, the Gulf is like a second back
yard a place where we go for fresh seafood and fun in the sun, on
the beach and in the water. For boating and fishing, swimming and snorkeling.
We go to the Gulf when we seek the peace and comfort that only the Gulf
and Her beautiful beaches and wetlands can bring. And now that is all
gone, with no prospect of returning in our lifetime. Truly, many are silently
weeping in the privacy of their homes due to the sheer enormity and gravity
of this heart-rending event.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- So, where are we today? Or, where will we be tomorrow
with this completely unacceptable state of affairs? More importantly,
where will the BP-US Government tag team be on day # 80. Will BP still
spray poisonous dispersants in and on the Gulf? Is the Coast Guard now
spraying toxic dispersants from their own planes, as we have been told?
Has BP relinquished any control over what is essentially a federal disaster
area, as well as a crime scene theirs? Given these facts, any official
response should be legally and operationally directed by the US Federal
Government?
-
- As Dr. Thomas B. Manton, former CEO/President of the
International Oil Spill Control Corporation, has wisely pointed out in
his articles British Petroleum is an oil company that makes its money
drilling for and extracting oil. They are positively not in the oil spill
control business, as their history clearly demonstrates. And yet the US
Federal Government has given BP complete command and control over the Gulf
of Mexico. For all practical purposes, a foreign multi-national corporation
is enforcing Martial Law in US Territorial Waters. BP, the largest corporation
in the UK, is to this day the chief component of a unified command structure
from which all concerned US jurisdictions are taking orders.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Please know that British Petroleum has hired on a
security staff and small paid-for-hire mercenary army that would make most
small nations jealous. They allocate more time and resource in securing
than they do in cleaning up. They spend more in marketing warm and fuzzy
slogans around this PR disaster than they do mitigating and remediating
the water and shoreline. They direct more personnel in the affected geographic
area toward tasks that are peripheral to oil spill control than they do
toward protecting the fragile Florida wetlands, Louisiana bayous or Alabama
beaches.
-
- Now we get to the real kicker here. The reader will
find four proposals formulated by two different organizations (at the hyperlink
below), which have a great interest in capping the gushing well and, at
the very least, containing and capturing the leaking oil. Both groups
have an equally strong desire to implement an integrated implementation
plan to protect, mitigate and remediate all affected areas in the Gulf
of Mexico. The challenge has been to get a response from anyone at BP,
the Coast Guard, the concerned State governments or the impacted counties
in North Florida, Alabama or Mississippi. These proposals have also been
sent to the White House, specifically to the Office of Energy and Climate
Change policy, as well as to the Co-Chair of the Gulf Oil Spill Commission
Investigation.
-
- As of today, Thursday, July 8, we have yet to receive
a single response or acknowledgement from any of the aforementioned parties.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Should we be concerned!? The consensus from those directly
impacted and observers alike is that those who created this problem cannot
be relied upon to fix it. Therefore, We The People are left with no alternative
but to take matters into our own hands, wherever our lives and property
have been put into jeopardy. We will act, and hopefully the unified command
structure will follow our lead.
-
- What would all the citizens and seasonal residents
who populate the SouthEast say if they knew about this complete lack of
response from the very governmental agencies which are tasked to protect
them and their property? We also try to imagine what must be going on
in the minds of those who staff the unified command structure, every time
they receive a perfectly sound and efficacious proposal to get this job
done right and expeditiously. In this same regard, we ask ourselves why
the offers of assistance from various foreign nations have been either
turned down or outright ignored, as have those from other international
entities and NGO's.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- We wonder out loud about whether it is now time to
establish a Regional Citizens' Initiative (NGO that effectively functions
as a parallel government) to step in where government and industry have
completely failed the people.
-
- Concerned Citizens of the Gulf Coast
- http://oilspillsolutionsnow.org
-
- POC:
- Dr. Tom Termotto
- National Coordinator
- Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference (International
Citizens' Initiative)
- (850) 671-1444
- OilSpillSolution@comcast.net
-
- Sir Daniel Bilbruck
- CEO/President
- Bison Resource Development Group
- bisonpetroleum@yahoo.com
-
- Dr. Thomas B. Manton
- Chairman/President
- International Oil Spill Control Organization
- tbm.ioscc@gmail.com
|
