Won't You BP My Neighbor?

For the last 6 weeks or however long it has been since the oil leak in the gulf began, my feelings were basically summed up in one sentence, "That's bad, someone should really do something about that."  I admit I didn't know much about it for a few weeks because I had alot going on and the news wasn't talking about it constantly.  Since then the coverage has been ramped up to basically 24-7-365 and I think I've formed an opinion about it, somewhat.


First of all, the only party responsible is BP.  they would like to blame Halliburton and the other contractors who built the rig, but I am not letting that slide.  As a business owner who uses subcontractors I know that it is our job to vet those companies and individuals because ultimately the finished product either belongs to us or has our name on it.  BP was the one paying to build the rig therefore any problems with the construction or design is solely their responsibility, unless the contractors hid crucial information from them, which at this point does not appear to be the case. 


The government only bears any responsibility if there were regulatory provisions "relaxed" or ignored, or inspections that did not meet the regulatory standards.  There also appears to be a little of this in the mix, but beyond this limited area of responsibility, what BP did or did not do is not the government's problem or responsibility.  Regulations are *supposed* to be in place to protect those individuals outside the metaphorical area of self-interest to the company or industry in question.  In this case that would be the employees on the rig who were not qualified or informed enough to know about any engineering problems with the rig.  It also applies to any and all people living on or near the coast who make their livings off of a clean and healthy ocean.  In a broader sense it should include all Americans because territorial waters belong collectively to the people of the United States. 


what regulations are NOT supposed to do is protect companies from themselves.  This is a common misconception, that is now invading all areas of our economic system, from the bailouts to financial reform to healthcare and now energy.  Companies have the ultimate incentive to perform well, not have massive, costly accidents and to keep press coverage of their company positive.  It is called survival.  And profits.  Take for example the recent floods in Nashville.  Had the floods wiped out our business I would have been heartbroken for the customers who lost their vehicles.  However, my main concern and fear was for our business because losing those vehicles means nothing to me personally, to be blunt, but it means everything to the survival or death of our business.  I have every incentive to make sure that our employees are trustworthy individuals with character because if they steal from a customer or us, or damage a customer's vehicle, it harms my business.  Period. 


BP wants this oil leak to stop more than anyone, believe me.  Oil is natural, and despite the damage it is causing to the environment at the moment, and for a few years to come, it will be cleaned up and what is not will resolve itself.  There are multiple scientific studies that show this to be the case.  In time the Gulf Coast will return to normal and the people living there will move forward or move on.  Such is life.  Now we are discussing an end to drilling in the Gulf or any other territorial waters and even on land.  We are talking about massive new taxes and volumes of new regulations on the oil companies.  The effects on BP will be worse and longer lasting than any effects to the environment or the residents of the Gulf Coast.  That is a fact.  BP wants this to stop.  If they had any way to stop it, they would have by now. 


That brings me back to my first point that the only responsible party here is BP.  It is abundantly clear today that they never had even a Plan A for this situation, let alone a Plan B or C.  Again, in my experience as a business owner I recognize that it is completely impossible to imagine every single scenario that could go wrong and have a plan for dealing with it.  Some things are simply unprecedented--just like the flood was here.  It had never crossed our minds to even consider what we would do in that circumstance because it never seemed like a credible threat.  However, for the rig to become damaged in some way causing oil to leak should have been the number one scenario BP should have had a plan for.  Duh.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or in this case a geological engineer, to figure that one out.


It is true that this is unprecedented in size.  It is true that it is unprecedented in the fact that it is the deepest underwater rig ever built.  But BP should have anticipated that a deepwater rig would pose new challenges should something go wrong and they should have had a plan.  I don't mean that from a Big Brother telling you what to do standpoint, I mean it from a smart business point of view.  BP made a terrible, stupid, bonehead, rookie business mistake and that is unforgivable from any point of view.


I don't believe the government has any responsibility in this other than ensuring BP does not shirk its responsibility to compensate the victims and clean up this mess as best they can.  I don't even think that new regulation is needed, but of course its coming down the pipeline--no pun intended.  I'm no expert on federal regulations regarding deepwater drilling, but if there is not a provision that requires companies to submit TESTED and PROVEN disaster plans then that should be enacted.  Beyond that, what we had was good enough, it just wasn't enforced.  It doesn't take new laws to enforce the old ones that we had right in the first place.  Part of the reason laws don't get enforced is because we have literally hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of pages of federal regulation.  Has anyone ever looked at the Federal Register where proposed regulatory changes are published for the required time before being acted upon?  Probably not many of you, if any.  I have, and just a single page will simultaneously make you want to stab your eyes out, pull your hair out, fall asleep and go on a homicidal rampage.  If you think I'm joking, go read a page.  Then go see just how many pages of that exist.  You can call me from your jail cell and I'll post bail since I told you to look at it.


In conclusion, I don't want President Obama to do anything except shut the hell up.  I don't want him kicking any asses and I don't want him telling me it will all be OK.  I want the executives of BP to shut the hell up, stop pointing fingers and making excuses and get the shit fixed.  And I want them to cop to the terrible management of their business that led to this incident.  Accidents of this magnitude are not the norm, and they should not be held out as the rule, but the exception to it.  We can learn from it and we can proceed with caution, but to halt all progress or forward movement because of one accident is childish, ignorant and reactionary.  Do we stop driving all cars each time there is an auto accident, and wait until we have all the answers as to what caused the crash and determine if cars are generally safe before we allow everyone to start driving again?  No, we do not.  Finally, I want the people of the Gulf Coast to suck it up and admit that there are risks associated to living on the coast, this being one of them, among millions more that are mostly beyond man's control.  We all make choices, good and bad, and then we face the consequences of those choices like grown ups.  Or at least that's the way it should be.