Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: The Minerals Management Service
Potential to slow down the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is getting closer as the containment dome designed to catch the leaking crude is being lowered into the water.
The containment dome could begin to catch approximately 85% of the oil being released by Monday, but it could also damage the pipe and significantly increase the flow of oil if things go wrong. The leak is located 5,000 feet underwater, but the containment dome has only been tested at depths of around 2,000 feet.
The US Coast Guard confirmed that oil officially reached the Louisiana coast on Thursday, according to a BBC News article. On uninhabited Chandeleur Islands, the 2nd oldest wildlife refuge in the United States and home to many endangered birds, pelicans and other wildlife have been found drenched in oil.
As of Friday, the oil mass has drifted to the west of the Mississippi Delta, but weather conditions should keep heavy concentrations away from the coastline until the weekend.
BP, the oil giant taking responsibility for the spill, may feel a drop in public pressure thanks to a New York Times article published Friday. The article outlined the actions of the Mineral Management Service, an Interior Department Agency created to regulate the oil industry and its safety measures.
Government officials have been warning the Minerals Management Service of safety problems and potential disasters in the oil industry since 2000. More specifically, the Minerals Management Service ignored warnings to install back-up systems for the blowout preventers given to them over ten years ago, the same device that failed to work properly on the Deepwater Horizon. The agency never created any new regulations or requirements for the blowout preventers.
Past investigations of the Minerals Management Service show a history of shady behavior. According to reports, agency officials were close with oil industry officials and together partook in bribes, sex, and drug use. It was also reported that the Minerals Management Service altered reports in order to avoid the publicity of serious environmental concerns in Alaska.
BP is the face of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but claims that they are not to blame for the disaster are becoming more believable.
The current situation involving the Mineral Management Service is a result of their officials overseeing both the operations of the oilrigs as well as the safety standards. In this situation, the thought of greater profits due to increased operations will often outweigh the thought of lower profits due to safety.
To solve this problem in the past, other similar agencies have broken apart and distinguished safety supervision from operations supervision. This way, an entire branch is dedicated to supervising the safety of the oil rigs and will not be distracted by also supervising the operations.
The finger of blame can point in many directions, but the Mineral Management Service’s repeated negligence is not acceptable and changes to the agency should be made. With past reports of such unprofessional, illegal behavior, it is a surprise that something wasn’t done sooner. 1,443 offshore oilrig disasters between 2001 and 2006, causing 356 oil spills and 41 deaths, were not enough to inspire change. We only have ourselves and our procrastination to blame.
Let’s just hope that the dome works. I really don’t want to find out what will happen if it doesn’t. Thanks for the information on oil disasters, I had no idea there were that many problems! It is always so sad to me that it takes a disaster of this proportion to get something changed. The part that makes me mad is that will all those previous disasters there was not thought about doing something, I mean really doing something to help correct the problem!