I promised myself that I wouldn’t write another word about this fiasco until the top kill procedure had at least been confirmed to work, up or down. But I see so much irrational optimism about the top kill coming from both the media and BP that I had to rant a bit.
So according to the latest reports across the mainstream press, the top kill approach seems to be working. I would be overjoyed if this were confirmed, but I think we all have reason to be seriously skeptical of any such preliminary reports.
Reason #1: BP was calling this approach a tentative success yesterday even as I and many other millions of people watched oil continue to gush from the well head at its usual torrential rate. BP said it was brown, gooey drilling mud that was spewing forth instead of brown gooey crude, but they couldn’t confirm it. Right.
Reason #2: Are we really expecting transparency from BP, who has mishandled the rig from the moment they tried to put it in operation? I understand our hopefulness that this can finally be brought under control, but let’s not be naive. BP has already been misleading the public about the actual flow rate and openly deceiving people about the amount of oil they are capturing.
Reason #3: The full top kill operation will still take days to literally cement into place, and it’s anyone’s guess how many things could go wrong during that period. The line could spring a new leak somewhere else, the oil could push its way back through the drilling mud… or something else that BP hasn’t planned for.
Reason #4: The top kill has never been effectively implemented at these depths. The most directly relatable oil spill was the 1979 Ixtoc oil spill off the coast of Mexico. Top kill was attempted then at less than one tenth the depth of water column and was not successful.
And perhaps the best reason of all…
Reason #5: Even when it’s over, it won’t end. Focusing on the end of leakage is myopic. Life does not go back to normal the second the tornado leaves the trailer park or the moment the firemen put out the fire. With some scientists saying that the delicate wetlands of the Gulf coast can effectively never be cleaned up, we should be prepared to live with the aftermath of this spill for generations to come.
So where does that leave me? I’m going to stop paying attention to the spill itself, because in the big scheme, the damage has already been done. We all need to get our focus away from the latest PR blitz from BP or White House press conference and back to where it needs to be: pushing for “soft energy” paths that will decrease the need for risky drilling and reduce the need for high risk crude.
