Since Oil Corporations reap record Profits when everything "goes Right" --
Shouldn't they also be responsible when everything "goes Wrong" too?
When Murphy's Law strikes again -- as it always does -- will the Oil Drillers be READY to stop the environmental damage, caused by THEIR mining operations?
It's NOT like they can't afford it ...
Exxon Mobil: Biggest profit in history
Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500), the leading U.S. oil company, said its third-quarter net profit was $14.83 billion [...]
The company's prior record was $11.68 billion in the second quarter of 2008.
Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com -- October 30, 2008
http://money.cnn.com/...
And it's not like, we can just "Trust Them" to do the right thing, now is it?
Shouldn't there be a Law or something, to INSURE that innocent by-standers (and maybe the Planet, too) are protected?
Exxon Valdez: 20 Years Later – Lessons Learned
Richard Frank -- March 24, 2009
It’s taken nearly all of the two intervening decades to sort out the legal liability for the Exxon Valdez disaster. Exxon has paid out over $1 billion in legal damages for the spill, and twice that much has been spent by private and government sources to fund Alaskan clean-up and recovery efforts.
[...]
Oils spills, alarmingly, still occur. The 2007 Cosco Busan spill in San Francisco Bay, though far smaller in scale than the Exxon Valdez disaster, had its origins in pretty much the same type of human judgment errors and substance abuse that caused the latter spill. The plain fact is that transporting crude oil and petroleum products by sea remains a very risky business.
Oil Spills still occur -- so the rapid response to such Spills -- still needs to occur as well.
That Response Readiness needs to be massive -- since the areas of potential damage areas are So Massive, as experience as shown ...
The Exxon Valdez Disaster should have taught us many lessons, on how Corporations see THEIR Role in Society --
But HAS Society learned, we must "Trust but Verify" -- that Oil Drillers will be "Responsible Corporate Citizens", as this next round of "Energy Exploration" goes forward -- as we usher in a new era of Offshore-Gold-Rush?
When the Next Exxon happens -- will they WE be ready, to contain the damage?
20 Years After the Exxon Valdez Disaster (pdf)
WorldWildLife.org
Little Has Changed in How We Respond to Oil Spills in the Arctic
Were it to happen again today, a spill the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster would likely prove equally as devastating.
[...]
"One of the most stunning revelations of Trustee Council-funded monitoring over the last ten years is that Exxon Valdez oil persists in the environment and in places, is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill."
Source: www.evostc.state.ak.us/facts/lingeringoil.cfm
[...]
A 2006 report by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, which tracks the status of fish and wildlife and other resources affected by the spill, found numerous species still not fully recovered, as well as lingering negative impacts upon commercial fishing, subsistence cultures, and recreation and tourism.
[...]
Improvements in Safety and Prevention Since the Spill
As a direct result of the Exxon Valdez spill, the U.S. Congress enacted the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990, which included numerous provisions designed to improve our ability to prevent and respond to oil spills in U.S. waters. OPA included provisions that:
-- Created an Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, to compensate victims of oil spills; provide quick, efficient cleanup; and minimize damage to fisheries, wildlife and other natural resources. The fund serves to pay for containment and oil spill removal activities and prevent or mitigate substantial threats of oil discharge among its many functions.
-- Required owners of oil tankers and localities where oil is extracted, stored or transported to develop detailed contingency spill response plans.
-- Required the phase-in by 2015 of double hulls for new and existing tankers traveling in U.S. waters, a precaution some estimate could have reduced the Valdez spill by half, had it been in place at the time. The International Maritime Organization followed suit by adopting a double-hull requirement, through the MARPOL convention, that was agreed to by all member states.
-- Required stockpiling of chemical dispersants and equipment for cleaning or containing spills to ensure adequate resources would be on hand to respond to emergencies.
[...]
Improvements in technology have also helped to reduce the number of spills from oil platforms, by moving oil and gas handling from the surface to the ocean floor. However, it remains unclear how the noise created by this new technology may be affecting fish and wildlife, as studies have not yet been conducted to determine its environmental impacts.
Congress was SO Shocked after the Exxon Disaster, that they put in several important safe-guards -- SO that it would never happen again --
Thing is, WHO is now guaranteeing, that those "ancient history" safe-guards in the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990, WILL NOW BE FOLLOWED?
In this era of Deregulation, and Corporate Interests knows Best -- WHO is providing the Regulation to insure that the OPA Law is kept?
I wouldn't be so worried about the Liability Trust Funds to provide "provide quick, efficient cleanup" in the event of another Massive Oil Spill -- If it weren't for Multi-National Oil Corporations -- being the "weak link" in these Contingency Plans.
(Just how much of those Record Profits, HAS Exxon BEEN REQUIRED to tuck away into that "Trust Fund", anyways? -- IS anyone counting??)
You see, their Track Record, IS NOT all that CLEAN, with regards to civic Responsibility ... with that Exxon Disaster we HAVE a Track Record, of HOW Corporations Respond to Murphy's Law -- and NOT just what they say they will do, in their PR Statements:
Initially a jury ruled that Exxon had to pay punitive damages to the local communities in Alaska;
BUT after stalling, and working the Appeals courts the penalty went from
$5.0 Billion ... to $2.5 Billion ... to $0.5 Billion
-- and The Locals, well they still haven't been Paid, by Exxon!
20 Years Later and Nothing?!? [as of March 2009]
That's one Great Track Record -- nearly Spotless, in their acceptance of Responsibility.
Read the excerpts of forever-effected Alaskans in the Amy Goodman interview:
Happy 20th anniversary (Exxon) ... Corporations still make the rules ...
I would argue that Corporations are lifeless, soulless, mechanical Abstractions, that exist to Maximize Profits -- No matter the Costs (Visible or Otherwise).
Unlike us real People, who must follow laws, who must plan for the long-term future, who must avoid harming other people -- Corporations can usually escape such "personal responsibilities" by hiding behind that banner of Quarterly Profits -- by claiming it's what the Shareholders WANT!
Corporations hire lawyers, and accountants, and consultants -- to AVOID Responsibility, to avoid Social Costs -- It's what they were designed to do!
In a phrase, Corporations exist to Maximize Profits!
So exactly WHO
is Responsible for cleaning up their mess --
while they are busy with all that "Maximizing"?
Why do "Corporate Persons", why do they get to "Externalize all the Negative Costs",
leaving it to future generations, and by-standers, to bear the ultimate Costs of their hidden Externalities (aka Pollution, Carbon Footprint, Resource depletion, Wage constraints, etc.) ?
If WE are waiting for Corporations to "Grow a Conscience" -- history would tell us, WE HAVE ONE VERY LONG WAIT, ahead of us!
So again I will pose the Question:
Since Oil Corporations reap record Profits when everything "goes Right" --
Shouldn't they be Socially Responsible too, when everything "goes Wrong" too?
It's only Fair!