Parker Milum
5th Hour
The Gulf Oil Spill (officially named the “Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill”)
Background:
On April 20, 2010, an explosion rocked the Deepwater Horizon oil rig located near the
Mississippi river delta off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico (3). The rig was owned by
Transocean under lease to BP (formerly known as British Petroleum). Eleven people were
missing and are presumed dead (4). The remainder of people on board was evacuated.
Before the spill actually happened, there were blowout preventers (BOPs) to prevent this
from ever happening. The blowout preventers have many independently operated cutoff
mechanisms, but this time they failed (5). So after the disaster occurred, remote-controlled robots
were sent down to close them, yet the robots didn’t accomplish their mission. There were several
further failed attempts to stop the gushing oil. These attempts included: the Top Hat (a cap for
the valve), the Hot Tap (a valve closure attempt), and the Junk Shot (literally shooting trash into
the fissure) (1). There were also attempts to burn off the oil, but it wouldn’t burn fast enough, so
there was talk of explosive use, to burn it faster, but BP said if it failed it would be impossible to
fix after that, so the idea was dropped. Finally, on July 15, 2010, a Valve Cap that fit correctly
and could handle the pressure was put in place (2). It is intended to be the permanent solution.
The biological issue(s) and competing interests:
An analysis of this disaster has many dimensions. First, there’s the issue of what to do
about the environmental impact of the oil spill now and in the future. One argument is to simply
stop oil drilling altogether to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. This could
save billions of dollars in potential cleanup costs in the future, but cost thousands jobs. The
alternative is to keep drilling oil but make the rigs safer by adding an emergency valve so if the
pipe breaks, the oil will stop pumping. This should save jobs but could have unforeseen risks
similar to this case.
There are (at least) two sides of the biological issue of how animals covered in the oil
should be treated. On one hand, we can spend millions of dollars on physical and human
resources to clean the birds and other animals so they don’t die. On the other hand, we can just
let the animals try to work it out themselves to save us money, yet later contend with the
ecosystem ramifications (not to mention the backlash from concerned animal rights activists).
Then there is the issue of the survival of BP as a company. We could remove BP from the
market to punish them, but economically, that might make everything worse. For example
without BP’s competition, gas prices would probably rise. However if BP becomes insolvent, a
government bailout is unlikely given the level of national debt.
Opinions to Resolve the Issue(s):
Personally, I think we should keep drilling oil in the near term because America is not yet
ready for revolutionary energy sources. In so doing, we must ensure a higher level of safety and
accountability. As to the wildlife affected by this disaster, I believe we must find volunteers to
wash the seagulls and other wildlife thoroughly to get rid of the oil.
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Parker Milum
5th Hour
Bibliography – Works Cited:
1. BBC News. "Timeline: BP oil spill." BBC - Homepage. BBC. Web. 04 Aug 2010.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10656239>
2. BBC News. "BBC - Search Results for BP Oil Spill." BBC - Homepage. BBC. Web. 05 Sept.
2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/bp_oil_spill>.
3. CNN. "Timeline: Oil Spill in the Gulf - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking,
World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. CNN, 28 July 2010. Web. 05 Sept.
2010. <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/03/timeline.gulf.spill/index.html>.
4. CNN. "Coast Guard: Oil Rig That Exploded Has Sunk – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs."
This Just In - CNN.com Blogs. 22 Apr. 2010. Web. 05 Sept. 2010.
<http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/22/coast-guard-oil-rig-that-exploded-has-sunk/>.
5. The New York Times. "The New York Times Log In." The New York Times - Breaking
News, World News & Multimedia. The New York Times, 30 May 2010. Web. 05 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31spill.html?_r=1>.
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