Worst Oil Spill in U.S. History Will Devastate the Ecosystem, Economy, and Culture

Two weeks ago a British Petroleum oil drilling rig operating in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, and the riser oil pipe which transported the oil from the sea floor to the surface collapsed, and began gushing oil in three separate rupture points. A video illustrating how the rupture occurred, and potential engineering solutions to stem the oil flow is available here. Two days prior to the explosion Halliburton (former VP Dick Cheney’s company) had successfully completed cementing the oil pipe rig to the sea floor and connecting the riser to the oil rig on the surface or so everyone thought. Some are beginning to blame not only BP but Halliburton as well for their negligence. As a result of the explosion and subsequent pipe rupture, approximately 200 gallons of oil is gushing out of the three rupture points into the Gulf, and the wind is quickly pushing the oil towards the Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coast lines.

The enormity of this oil disaster is difficult to comprehend. I am myself struggling to grasp all of the variables that are at play. My co-blogger, Joseph Grant wrote an excellent commentary on Saturday addressing the impact of the Gulf oil disaster on the current American energy policy to allow drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. I would like to modulate the focus of the discussion a few degrees, and discuss the oil spill and its devastating impact on the environment, economy and American culture.

Dr. Robert Thomas, professor and director of Loyola University’s Center for Environmental Communication in New Orleans, explains that the BP oil spill’s impact on the environment will be disastrous. According to Dr. Thomas, the coastal wetlands of Louisiana are the most productive ecosystem along the coast in our country. Forty percent of the fisheries of the continental United States are based in the Gulf of Mexico wetlands. Alaska has extremely productive fisheries, simply think Alaska crab legs and salmon. However, holding constant the richness of the Alaska fisheries, the Gulf of Mexico, in particular southern Louisiana has seven of the top ten ports for fisheries in the United States. Ninety percent of the species of commercially important fisheries in the Gulf use coastal wetlands as their nursery grounds, including shrimp, crabs, oysters. Louisiana is the “mecca” of fisheries in the continental United States. The impact on the Gulf ecosystem can be damaging. The reality is that fish can possibly swim away from the oil. So can whales and possibly dolphins. Hopefully, they will return in the near future but for oysters who grow on the reefs, and crabs and shrimps that lay their eggs in the wetlands, when the oil comes in on top of them it’s just going to be devastating. Sea birds such as pelicans and gulls will also be devastated. They could simply fly away and some will. But what of those that have built their nest and laid their eggs in low lying barrier islands, which are just barely above sea level, throughout the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, when the oil-enriched waters arrive. Like any parent, the adult birds will not leave their young, and the eggs and the baby birds will be completely covered by oil along with their parents who will try in vain to protect their young. None of them will survive.


Residents in coastal communities in Louisiana have begun reporting that the oil sheen has washed up on some parts of southern Louisiana. Local residents working alongside the U.S. Coast Guard have created more than 218,000 feet of boom (orange cylindrical devices designed to prevent the oil from reaching the coast line) has been placed throughout the Gulf, most of it off Louisiana's coast. People are beginning to question not only BP's slow response to the spill but also the Obama Administration’s response, which has been measured. Sally Brice-O'Hara, Coast Guard Rear Admiral, was questioned on Friday morning about whether the government has done enough to push BP to plug the underwater leak and protect the coast. Admiral Brice-O’Hara stated that the “federal response led by the Coast Guard has been rapid, sustained and has adapted as the threat grew since the drill rig exploded and BP has failed to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf… The Coast Guard has been closely monitoring efforts led by BP to contain and stop the oil spill and has filled in gaps where needed.” We may be witnessing the death of American seafood industry for the next few years, which is estimated to be approximately $2 billion per annum. We forget sometimes that every industry is comprised of not only the product or commodity being sold, but also the people within the industry. The seafood industry like many industries is people intensive, it is viewed by many as an inter-generational industry. For fourth-generation oyster farmer John Tesvich, looking out to sea off the coast of Louisiana, the future is daunting. For Tesvich, the future looks very bleak. "It's just like what we saw with Hurricane Katrina... At first, it was just another storm, just like this was just another oil spill. But by the time they realize how bad it really is, it's too late." A video illustrating the impact, of the reality of the BP oil spill on people’s livelihood and future is available here.


I am a little baffled by BP‘s and Halliburton’s inability to control the oil that is spewing out of the riser pipe. I understand the basic argument that a pipe ruptured. I also appreciate that the engineers are working with sensitive robotic equipment in attempting to cap the leaks, and that they are working under extreme oceanic pressure in pitch blackness. But why is it taking soooo long to fix? I am most astonished by BP’s and Halliburton’s apparent lack of preparedness for the magnitude of this catastrophe. Where is BP’s and Halliburton’s risk analysis and corresponding contingency plan to contain the damage? An oil pipe rupturing is not a “force majeure” or an “act of God.” This was a completely foreseeable catastrophic “worst case scenario.” BP and Halliburton should have been better prepared to handle this catastrophe. In 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil spill caused billions of dollars of damage to the Alaska coast line. The Alaskan ecosystem is still dealing with the damage to this day. Have we learned nothing from Exxon Valdez?


Risk and actuarial experts will argue that the extent of the damage caused by Exxon Valdez and the current Gulf oil spill were not properly calculated because they are the "worst case scenarios" and the "probability" of a disaster of that magnitude occurring fall into the category of “wildest dreams.” Therefore, there is no contingency plan for a disaster of this magnitude. But in the last few years one thing has become certain, when it comes to energy exploration and transportation worst case scenarios do happen—-coal mines collapse, “freak” waves destroy oil rigs, oil ships run aground, oil pipes rupture, oil rigs do explode, and people really do die. A video illustrating the harsh reality of when "wildest dreams" come true is available here. The time has arrived when energy companies must be held accountable not only for clean-up costs but also for failing to be prepared for foreseeable "worst case scenarios" that cause severe damage, destroy lives, and threaten the very survival of the ecosystem, economy and culture. In the words of Hugo Voltaire, “greater than the might of a thousand armies is an idea whose time has come.”

Lydie Nadia Cabrera Pierre-Louis