One thing we know now: BP wasn't prepared for a massive spill, but neither was the Federal Government.
The BP disaster in the gulf is a battle with three fronts: plug the hole; protect the environment; and prevent a recurrence. I think no-one disputes that BP has to plug it's own hole; only an oil company has the skills are resources to do that. No-one disputes that our government needs to fix their regulatory failures. But we are utterly failing at the essential task of limiting the damage, which is getting worse every day. We need a massive change in how our government handles oil spills.
This disaster was caused by the negligence of BP, but it could have come from a hurricane that toppled rigs, or it could have come from terrorist attack on an oil rig or a tanker. The US needs to be prepared to tackle a massive oil spill, no matter what the cause, and we're not. We need to fix this.
Here's one frustrated reader's thoughts about how it oughta be.
I wrote a week ago about the need for a "Department of Cleaning Up" . Another week's worth of floundering and inaction convinces me more that the feds need to 100% own oil-spill cleanup. But they aren't prepared or equipped for it, and that has to be fixed.
The applicable law is the 1990 Oil Pollution Act ("OPA"), which defines liabilities and authority, and establishes requirements for the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan ("NCP"). (EPA overview of the OPA).
Under the OPA the Federal government is required to direct all public and private response efforts for certain types of spill events. (The OPA is also where the $75M liability limit for off-shore platforms is specified.)
The NCP sets up the response plans to a spill at national, regional, and local levels. It seems to contain the right stuff. (EPA overview of the NCP )
So given all that planning, why has it gone so wrong? Why is BP controlling the press? And why are there huge expanses of oil-covered water with no skimmers in sight? Why are fisherman filing claims with BP and hoping for something to happen? Why are booms not being placed correctly or serviced frequently? Why are the miles of coastline with no-one there? Why aren't there tens or hundreds of thousands of people and boats battling this scourge? Why don't we have a steady stream of reliable updates? Embedded reporters? Why doesn't Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser have resources at his disposal?
I've outlined below what I think the key elements of the response should have been. (Or should be; it's not too late.) Nothing seems inconsistent with the OPA or NCP. It just hasn't been done this way.
- When an incident happens, the feds need to immediately set up a command structure, consistent with the NCP. They kind of did this, although it seemed to take weeks before anyone quite knew who was doing what. All activities need to be done under this command structure. No-one should ever need to ask BP for anything. The command structure should be responsible for a) executing cleanup and defending turf; b) processing loss claims; c) acquiring and distributing assets; d) managing communications and media. All operations are run by the command; all claims are processed by the command; regular status updates and press support comes from the command. The command determines who gets paid how much, and sends a bill to the responsible party. If there's a dispute over who's responsible, that can get sorted out later, but it never can interfere with the need for immediate action.
- The operational structure needs to be de-centralized and localized. That is, there needs to be response coordinators in every affected locale with authority to make decisions, get resources, and act. This is a war, not a tea party. I think every state's National Guard should be trained and ready to take on this role for any disaster. You need a trained command and control structure ready to put in place on a moment's notice. No-one can fill this need better than the Guard.
- Every state should have oil cleanup equipment available in proportion to likely need. That means skimmers, booms, chemicals, Costner's centrifuges, and whatever else makes sense. Taxes on oil exploration should fund this. In the event of a disaster, the state's equipment should be available immediately, and resources from other states can be quickly brought into play. The spiller has nothing to do with this; it's entirely a federal response.
- Local incident commanders from the National Guard should be able to quickly gather and deploy volunteers to respond. It is critical for National Guard to be trained in the management, safety and security side of the disaster management, so large numbers of people can be quickly trained and put to work.
Finally, the federal government should conduct research to develop and test new ideas. It's unconscionable that we don't know the effects of dispersants, or that, as CNN points out, we fight oil spills now the same way we did it 30 years ago. It is silly to expect the oil companies to conduct research on clean-up; the government should do it with funds they pay. The government should be researching disaster scenarios and acquiring tools to manage for disasters due to oil, nuclear, storms, viral, and even electronic disruption.
Tthe NCP seems to put the EPA in charge of oil spills, but in this case we seem to have the Coast Guard in charge, and what the hell is FEMA for anyway? Doesn't this disaster require the same kind of federal response that a hurricane or terrorist attack might? The details are different, but core requirements like command and control, asset management, claims, and communications are the same, no matter what kind of disaster it is. I frankly don't see why all disasters don't fall under the same basic organization. But then maybe I'm ignorant.
America has been hit by some kind of disaster every few years; something that requires a massive coordinated response. I thought that's why we had FEMA. But wherever it lies, we need to be able to respond to an environmental disaster with the same kind of resource commitment and management that we would use to respond to an old-fashioned foreign invasion.
This is war. Let's be prepared.