"A Big Fat Mess"--The BP Oil Spill

It's incredibly sad to witness a disaster of this magnitude occur out in the gulf. Millions of gallons of oil are ruining our wildlife and our oceans as we speak. On top of this, many fishermen are out of work and peoples' lives were lost when the deepwater horizon exploded. A terrible decision was made on that day to use seawater instead of mud which would allow the drilling to take place at a faster rate at the expense of safety. BP were the ones who made this call and other terrible ones like it. Now, the worst oil spill ever in our history has happened and it looks to be a problem that we won't be able to solve anytime soon. BP's failure to take adequate safety precautions and their inability to take responsibility for this catastrophe leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. The one person who really has been an eyesore to both look at and listen to is BP C.E.O. Tony Hayward. If you look up the word "Phony" in the dictionary, odds are you'll see a picture of this man right next to its definition.

A few weeks ago, Tony Hayward went before a congressional subcommittee to answer some hard questions about this oil crisis. For those of you who were not able to see this Q&A live on television as it happened, I will provide a rough transcript of what occurred. Basically (and I'm obviously paraphrasing here), the Q&A session went a little something like this:

Subcommittee Member: Do you take any responsibilty at all for this oil spill?

Tony Hayward: Ummm....Well, we have to wait until the evidence comes out as to whether or not 
                            BP played any role in....

Subcommittee Member: You idiot!!!! You'd have to be living under a rock to not realize that your 
                                             company played a major role in this devastation of our waters!!! So I ask 
                                             you again Mr. Hayward. Does your company take ANY responsibility at
                                             all for what happened????

Tony Hayward: Uuhhhh...

Subcommittee Member: I'm waiting, Mr. Hayward.

Tony Hayward: Well.....see.......we need....to wait.....for evidence.......

Subcommitee Member: You keep dodging my questions, Mr. Hayward.

Tony Hayward: No, I'm not. It's just.......well......

Subcommittee Member: Did your company make the decision to drill with seawater instead of
                                               mud in order to get the drilling done faster?

Tony Hayward: I don't know.

Subcommitee Member: Did BP knowingly build that well without the most up to date safety
                                            mechanisms built in so that it could be constructed quicker?

Tony Hayward: I don't know.

Subcommittee Member: Well, if you don't know, Mr. Hayward, then who does?

Tony Hayward: I have a technical expert I brought with me who knows this stuff.

Subcommittee Member: Well then, let's talk to him.

Tony Hayward: Uuuhhhh....I don't think that's a good idea.

Subcommitee Member: Well, why not?

Tony Hayward: Because he'll incriminate my ass. We can't have that.

Subcommitee Member: You have failed to provide any information at all in this hearing. You
                                            mean to tell me that you're the C.E.O. of a major oiling company and you
                                            don't know ANYTHING about what your company does at all??

Tony Hayward: Yep, that's pretty much it.

Subcommitee Member: Do you know anything about anything, Mr. Hayward?

Tony Hayward: No, not really.

Subcommitee Member: What day is it today?

Tony Hayward: I don't know.

Subcommittee Member: When is your birthday?

Tony Hayward: I don't know.

Subcommittee Member: Who is the President of The United States?

Tony Hayward: I don't know.

Subcommittee Member: What kind of car do you drive?

Tony Hayward: I don't know.

Subcommittee Member: What is your name?

Tony Hayward: I don't know.

Subcommittee Member: Well, what DO you know, Mr. Hayward?

Tony Hayward: Not much apparently.

Subcommittee Member: Get this clown out of my sight.

(Hearing ends)

This ducking and dodging technique is pretty disgusting to watch. He's not willing to take a single shred of ownership for what happened. Even though the above conversation is my own exaggeration of the events, it pretty much describes Tony Hayward's approach to this hearing. Don't directly answer any question and everything will be fine. What a load of baloney! This guy was so lawyered up during these hearings that it was impossible to believe that anything coming out of his mouth was either genuine or factual. BP's insistence on not taking the proper steps to deal with this issue is jaw dropping and I'm worried about how worse things are going to get as the months roll along.

I also feel that we need to be looking into alternative sources of energy rather than just relying on oil. Drilling in deepwater (and drilling for oil in general) is not only dangerous, but the end result can be quite damaging to our ecosystem as a whole. Maybe the idea of looking at other energy sources may be too idealistic and unattainable perhaps, but considering the scope of this disaster, I feel we really need to do something more to better the conditions on our planet. There will need to be a lot of planning and our politicians will have to consider making major changes to how the oil industry operates, but I do feel that we need to at least begin looking in a new direction energy wise since doing that is ultimately in the best interest of earth as a whole.

I think it's safe to say that this oil spill has become a big fat mess which doesn't look to be improving soon. I'm hoping for the best from all this, but unfortunately, I believe that things will get worse before they get better.