After a 50-day stretch of failure to manage the oil spill crisis, President Barack Obama must hold someone responsible for the greatest environmental disaster in American history. BP has shown a woeful lack of accepting responsibility for their actions.
2008 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who criticized President Obama, wrote in an opinion piece in USA Today: “The president is meeting with his oil spill experts, he crudely tells us, so that he knows ‘whose ass to kick.’ We have become accustomed to his management style — target a scapegoat, assign blame and go on the attack.” From the beginning of this catastrophe, BP turned more attention to preserving its profit margin and saving face than any legitimate attempt at solving the problem. Damage control consisted of misleading the American public, by estimating the flow rate to be roughly 1,000 barrels of crude per day.
This was a lie.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., read from a confidential BP document that estimated the spill could be as high as 14,000 barrels. It turns out the actual size of the spill may be as much as 50,000 barrels per day, according to latest government estimates.
Markey said, “Are you ready to apologize to the American people for getting that number so wrong, for being so incompetent or deceptive?”
His question is entirely fair and was supported by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs who said, “I think the criticism that somehow we’ve been too harsh — I don’t think that matches up with the reality or the rhetoric that we’ve used.”
Markey also pointed out the irony that four of five companies Gulf spill-response plans contain plans for walrus protections, which do not live in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rep. Bart Stupak criticized all of the oil companies at the BP oil spill hearings for devoting substantially more time and effort to establishing procedures for handling the media, rather than limiting environmental damages after a spill. He pointed out that ExxonMobil’s plan includes a 40-page appendix on managing public relations in the wake of a disaster — far more material than it devotes to protecting wildlife.
As an unsurprising result, the oil spill has already wreaked havoc upon wildlife. A June 7 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states the deaths of 594 birds, 250 sea turtles and 30 mammals as direct results of the oil spill. Obama is justified in demanding the responsible party to face consequences.
When Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., asked BP executive Lamar McKay if BP created a $20 billion independent escrow account to pay for economic and environmental claims, McKay answered, “I cannot comment on whether there will be a fund set up or not.” As blame continues to be dodged, it becomes evident a guilty party must be forced to accept responsibility.
They ravaged the ocean. The full scope of impact cannot even be imagined as repercussions are only just beginning to emerge. They must pay for every single dollar of damage they ignorantly allowed to occur. Markey pointed out that the companies spend less than one-thousandth of their profits on safety and spill response. It is about time that companies redirect their massive profits to restoration of their offenses Obama has made the right moves by holding BP accountable and attempting to work toward comprehensive energy and climate change legislation to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. To hold BP responsible for its actions is not scapegoating. It is good policy, and it is the law.