C15.V.9.1 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
Assignment 8_08,
BP GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL
The blowout of British Petroleum's (BP) Macondo well in the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico was the largest accidental oil spill in the world, greater than both the Ixtoc blowout off the coast of Mexico and the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. Eleven crew members of the deep water horizon drilling rig were killed, others were injured, the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen were impacted, countless marine animals and organisms were destroyed and marshes and beaches in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were fouled. The Gulf oil spill is recognized as the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Within days of the April 20, 2010 explosion and sinking of the deep water horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Under water cameras revealed the BP pipe was leaking oil and gas on the ocean floor about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The investigation team working for BP avoided many references by name to Transocean in its summary but claimed that "multiple companies" and mistakes were at the heart of the deep water horizon blowout. Hayward made clear that he felt the report partly exonerated his own company. "The investigation report provides critical new information on the causes of this terrible accident. It is evident that a series of complex events, rather than a single mistake a failure, led to the tragedy. Multiple parties, including BP, Halliburton and Transocean, were involved," he said.
The current regulatory framework for oil spill response to a large degree reflects reactions too earlier oil spill disasters. The Exxon Valdez spill in March of 1989 led to the enactment of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90 or the Act). OPA 90 amended section 311 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1321, which was enacted after the 1969 Santa Barbara blowout. The Port and Tanker Safety Act of 1978, which also amended section 311, was a reaction to the Argo Merchant tanker spill off Nantucket in 1976. OPA 90 was the capstone of fifteen years legislative effort to “consolidate and rationalize the oil spill response mechanisms under various federal laws” that was pushed to completion in reaction to Exxon Valdez. OPA 90 provides a comprehensive legal framework that establishes federal management and control of oil spills, and federal control of containment, removal, recovery and clean-up efforts. It holds each “responsible party” liable for the costs of containment, clean-up, and damages sustained as a result of the spill. It creates a single, unified fund called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to pay clean-up and removal costs of up to $1 billion, and it creates stronger enforcement authorities, penalties, spill prevention countermeasures, and response mechanisms. Answers to many of the questions raised by the media can be gleaned from OPA 90 and its implementing regulations. From the above statement, it was unclear who among various federal, state, and local officials and private parties had primary responsibility for responding to a major oil spill. To remedy this, section 4201 of OPA 90 clearly requires that the federal government take control immediately in order to ensure that containment, removal, and remediation measures are undertaken in a timely and orderly fashion.
The reason it took so long to stop the spill is that there was no capability in place to do so, despite the existence of contingency plans for that very purpose. The NCP requires that each offshore drilling facility have in place, prior to drilling, a facility-specific oil spill response plan. That plan is supposed to be the principal tool for containing any spill. BP's response plan was wholly inadequate.
The NCP regulations adopted to implement OPA 90 require that:
The NCP regulation cross references a Department of the Interior (DOI) regulation, which sets forth detailed requirements for facility specific response plans for offshore oil rigs. DOI's regulations in turn require that if you operate an oil rig seaward of the coastline, you must file with the Mineral Management Service (MMS) for approval a spill response plan, and “our spill-response plan must demonstrate that you can respond quickly and effectively whenever oil is discharged from your facility.” The DOI regulations address equipment, maintenance of equipment, personnel, training of personnel, and periodic exercises to test the personnel and equipment. The rig operator must identify the worst case spill, the natural and environmental resources threatened by a worst case spill, and detailed steps to contain a worst case spill. For example, the response plan must include.
There is a lot of precautionary principle, which would be the most helpful to this oil spill that was disturbing and which indicates that decision-makers didn't follow the precaution. It has been revealed, for example, that the Mineral Management Service, the group responsible for overseeing drilling in the United States, is also the group responsible for encouraging offshore oil drilling and collecting the royalties from it. If there was a proper control manage system, the disaster may not occur. It can also called the failure of management. "The disaster likely would not have happened had the companies involved been guided by an unrelenting commitment to safety first," commission co-chairman Bob Graham, said in a statement. And it likely would not happened if the responsible government regulators had the capacity and will to demand world-class safety standards. If the related management of BP had think about the future impact on the environment from their worst activities, the disaster would have been control.
The disaster that struck America in April 2010, will affect many different aspects, from money to the environment. It will affect BP, tourism, and fishing industries, causing them to lose money. It will also affect the animals, and cause long-term affects on the environment. As you can see the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010 has changed America forever. Due to the irresponsible behavior of some people, the life of many humans and animals was finished. It is one of the worst disaster made by man. The proper precaution method should be used by the companies to stop this type of horrible disaster.
References
Guarino, M. (2010). Gulf oil spill update: What's known now about cause and effects, Christian Science Monitor, vol. no. pp. N.PAG.
Black, B. (2010). On BP's Deepwater Horizon live video feed: Environmental History, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 741.
Bourne Jr., Joel K., (2010). Gulf Oil Spill: Is Another Deepwater Disaster Inevitable?, National Geographic Magazine, pp 48-51.
