IDEO: Political and Social Commentary

Disaster/Politics/Spin "It has been said that Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." - Winston Churchill As the calamity in the Gulf of Mexico continues, the outlook appears bleak— The newest estimates on the volume of the spill indicate that the flow rate may be three to four times what has heretofore been reported. The results of a deep-water sampling mission performed under the auspices of NOAA confirm the presence of underwater plumes of oil and chemical dispersants, a toxic brew that seems likely to make its way to the Gulf Stream and beyond. Every day brings more reports and photographs of oil saturated wildlife, beaches, and slick-covered bays and marshlands along the Gulf Coast. Commercial fishermen, shrimpers, marina-owners, seafood wholesalers and processors, and a large chunk of the tourist industry all appear to staring at short-term doom. BP's official word on the status of the two relief wells started last month—probably, though not definitively, the only solution to the problem—predicts completion dates in mid-August. And, of course, the finger pointing and political spin continue with no end in sight, too much talk and too little action. As I watch the greatest environmental catastrophe in American history unfolding, a disaster also likely to wreak a fair amount of additional damage on our already struggling economy, I feel the real shame is that none of this surprises me in the least. To begin with, a spill of this type is not without precedent. On June 3, 1979, an exploratory well in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout that led to the release of an estimated 3 million barrels of oil, a spill that remains the third largest in history. It may be worth noting here that this wellhead was at a depth of 160 feet (not 5,000 feet, as with the Deepwater Horizon) and staunching the flow only took nine months! In other words, while it has been a very long time since "this" event, and while offshore drilling has been largely incident-free for years, this type of worst-case scenario will always exist. Did British Petroleum cut corners in the interests of profits? Was oversight by the Minerals Management Service somewhat less than energetic? Is it possible for large corporations to wield undue influence with our lawmakers? Based on what we know, or ought to know about how our government works, should we expect anything different? I suspect the answers are yes, yes, yes, and no. While this view may be interpreted as cynical, I see myself as a realist. Our economy is based on cheap oil, and until we can come up with a realistic plan to wean ourselves from this commodity we will continue to run the risk of facing catastrophic system failures as currently represented by the Deep Horizon Spill. Even imagining a structure where everything worked as envisaged—no human error, all contingency plans considered and prepared for, perfect oversight, etc., bad things are going to happen, it is not a matter of if, but rather when. Where do we go from here? Apart from the obvious—stop the wretched thing as quickly as possible, protect and/or cleanup the affected areas, compensate those with legitimate claims—I would hope that this disaster would spur rational, bi-partisan support for a realistic plan placing us on the path toward a "cleaner" energy future, but don't count on it. Our elected officials, at least at the national level, seem more intent on watching the newest polls to decide their next move, which generally means pointing the finger at the other guys, spinning the news to benefit the next election cycle, and taking little, if any real action. Yes, they hold widely publicized hearings ostensibly to identify problems (recall the grilling of ratings agencies, Goldman Sachs employees, and, most recently, BP officials), it just seems that little of consequence emerges afterwards other than more spin and posturing. At times such as these, when my overall disgust for politics seems poised to carry me into the abyss, I am comforted by Mr. Churchill's quote above. Not only could things always be worse, but we need to be thankful to live where we do. My views about our government and politics are clear enough at this point, but the good news is that we can make it better; we can help bring positive change. I once heard a saying that "we get the government we deserve," and I have come to believe in this wisdom. We have to get involved and make our voices heard, and we are going to have to be very loud indeed to overcome the special interests, but I have to believe that it can be done! --John Stegall