Publisher’s Note

Have you ever analyzed what people take for granted? I was shocked as I’m certain most people were to find out that there was an inadequate con- tingency plan in place to address the oil leak now occurring 5,000 feet below sea level in the Gulf. Does it not seem reasonable that an oil giant as big as BP would pay “one-person- or-maybe-even-two” to develop the best contingency plan possible to min- imize any negative effects of a worst case scenario?

Now after the fact, we find out that for $1,000,000, BP could have put in place an emergency backup and what…chose not to? That seems like a lot of money to us, but for BP—it’s chump change. Why would they have taken such a monumental risk? It is also shocking that in the early stages of the disaster the public was kept in the dark as to the real developments and even now it seems that ideas to help address the mess are being met with resistance.

Let’s be honest…lack of a contingency plan is not just the fault of BP, but the government that the company operates from and government that the company operates in. Every country is strapped for cash and resources, but how much is “much too little” when it comes to loss of life? Cost for creating a contingency plan although huge is peanuts compared to what BP now has to pay and what the earth will pay indefinitely. It might be somewhat impractical for every company to create a worst case scenario plan (although that would be ideal) but for a ‘might’ or ‘probable’ leak at 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean— is a backup plan even a question for a billion dollar oil company?

And where say are the U.S. environmental and government watchdogs? Shouldn’t they have a “list” of companies engaging in practices that could cause mass damage AND FORCE those companies to have a contingency plan for a worst case scenario BEFORE they do business?

A small team of regulators can populate a list of relevant companies in months. We’re not talking about millions of companies; more like hundreds. Identifying risky operations that companies engage in is worth it; worth avoiding an economic, environmental and loss of life disaster for all beings who live on earth. A handful of qualified people at each risky company could easily ddress risky practices and develop backup contingency plans. PERIOD! And just creating expensive backup plans that sit waiting to be used is not my plan. I’m talking about creating “workable” solutions so that a company knows exactly what to do if a worst case scenarios occurs. The fact that BP is scrambling for solutions after the fact is not acceptable. BP should have known exactly how to address this problem as soon as there was a problem—regardless of what it is or don’t start drilling. This is the responsibility of every company in similar positions.

As shocked as we are right now—get ready there will be more. There will be more sad and devastating and unconscionable events until governments and companies are forced to walk the talk and own up to their global responsibility. It comes down to the reality of what we are willing to take for granted. Of what we are willing to let slide. Of how blind we are willing to stay. We take for granted that a disaster won’t occur. We take for granted that people in charge know everything about what they are doing. We take for granted that qualified people are sitting around waiting with answers to address problems that come up. But when it comes to what is important we can’t take anything for granted. Just as soon as we fail to pay appropriate attention to the things that matter most—to things that we believe others are watching out for—we find that a chain of events has begun that is no longer in our power to control. It’s a scary and deadly outcome for everyone.

Stephen Takowsky
Publisher@bhtmag.com
Publisher