A blog from Washington
Posted on | May 20, 2010 | 1 Comment
I have been in Washington, DC for the past few days, watching the legal and political reaction to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I would say that the clearest lesson to be drawn from the reaction of the U. S. government is that techniques for the extraction of oil at great oceanic depth are more advanced than those for the prevention of leaks or blowouts, as well as response and remediation afterward.
Closely associated with this lesson is a growing awareness that risk exists. It must be managed; and most important, it must be planned for, and be adequately funded. The Gulf of Mexico blowout demonstrates how costly failure can be.
For the future, hydrocarbon extraction in the Arctic, particularly in oceanic zones, will depend on the ability of industry to successfully solve these risk management problems.
Standing in the way is a problem common to many industries: the belief that prevention of environmental risk is a matter for “tree huggers” and other traditional cultural enemies.
Another harmful factor is the tendency of budget to control policy; protection from environmental risk, and its consequences, may involve costly research and development of “layers” of safety systems.
The funding of additional systems to reduce or eliminate the possibility of an accident at sea, as on land, may be, and often is, deemed to be an optional luxury by project planners. Normally, the implications of such a decision do not become apparent until something goes terribly wrong.
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May 23rd, 2010 @ 9:12 pm
Many people had forgotten that risk still exists.
This accident (as well as the economic crisis) reminded us that everything we do involves risk.