The oil spill from a rig off the Mexican Gulf coast has been hogging the headlines for quite some time now. It is now being termed the biggest industrial disaster in the history of the United States, leaving the Exxon valdez incident looking like a minor fortuity. Let’s just look at the numbers to get a sense of the magnitude of the accident – Exxon Valdez spilled 40.9 million gallons of oil, and as per the estimation on 15th June, 2010 the BP oil spill has spewed 543 million litres of oil and the figures are rising by the day. What adds to the acuteness of the problem here is the nature of the accident itself. Exxon Valdez oil spill was confined to the surface of water whereas Deepwater Horizon is releasing oil 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.
It is all about business
While I worried and fretted about the environmental consequences of this spill on the marine biodiversity, a banker friend added his own 2 cents to the discussion. His primary concern was the impact of the spill on the crude oil markets in future and how the loss of so many gallons of oil will ever be compensated. Already the exercise of finger pointing has commenced with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (a partner of BP and owner of a quarter of the Deepwater Horizon rig) dragging its feet from any liabilities and putting the blame squarely on the doorsteps of BP.
Some ingenious solutions have also been put forth. A scientist of Indian origin, Seshadri Ramkumar has created a special form of cotton fabric that can clean up crude oil up to 40 times its weight and Texas University suggests that this would be the best bet to clean up the mess. Kevin Costner the Hollywood star on the other hand proposes to put his 32 machines to work, which can separate crude oil from water at the rate of 200 gallons per minute. But this number pales in comparison to the amount of water that is to be cleansed of oil - 6.43 quadrillion gallons of water!!! Thus it would take approximately 60 million years if we solely depended on Costner’s machines.
British Petroleum or Beyond Petroleum?
What is in the name you may ask? Everything I say. The continued anti-British rhetoric by the U.S administration led by the supreme commander Obama himself has ruffled the feathers of the Britons. The whole situation is getting political overtones – with Obama giving his battle plans for the spill, attacking Britain tacitly owing to its British roots. But the oil giant is anything but British, it is a true blue MNC and has even changed its name to Beyond Petroleum long back. But I feel the reaction of the US is the typical “Uncle Sam behavior”. There is a sense of déjà vu as we see US plans to handle the situation and a parallel can be drawn to the issue of world terrorism. As long as the problem happens in the third world no one bothers and the moment the trouble crops up in your own backyard you shake the world. This irony is particularly stark as the oil spill comes at the backdrop of the delivery of sentence in the Bhopal gas disaster in which a callous US company is the main perpetrator of the tragedy.
I can’t stop myself from drawing vicarious pleasure to see the US fumbling to set its own house in order in the aftermath of a tragic chemical disaster that is bound to affect the biodiversity and livelihoods in the region for the decades to come.
It is all about business
While I worried and fretted about the environmental consequences of this spill on the marine biodiversity, a banker friend added his own 2 cents to the discussion. His primary concern was the impact of the spill on the crude oil markets in future and how the loss of so many gallons of oil will ever be compensated. Already the exercise of finger pointing has commenced with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (a partner of BP and owner of a quarter of the Deepwater Horizon rig) dragging its feet from any liabilities and putting the blame squarely on the doorsteps of BP.
Some ingenious solutions have also been put forth. A scientist of Indian origin, Seshadri Ramkumar has created a special form of cotton fabric that can clean up crude oil up to 40 times its weight and Texas University suggests that this would be the best bet to clean up the mess. Kevin Costner the Hollywood star on the other hand proposes to put his 32 machines to work, which can separate crude oil from water at the rate of 200 gallons per minute. But this number pales in comparison to the amount of water that is to be cleansed of oil - 6.43 quadrillion gallons of water!!! Thus it would take approximately 60 million years if we solely depended on Costner’s machines.
British Petroleum or Beyond Petroleum?
What is in the name you may ask? Everything I say. The continued anti-British rhetoric by the U.S administration led by the supreme commander Obama himself has ruffled the feathers of the Britons. The whole situation is getting political overtones – with Obama giving his battle plans for the spill, attacking Britain tacitly owing to its British roots. But the oil giant is anything but British, it is a true blue MNC and has even changed its name to Beyond Petroleum long back. But I feel the reaction of the US is the typical “Uncle Sam behavior”. There is a sense of déjà vu as we see US plans to handle the situation and a parallel can be drawn to the issue of world terrorism. As long as the problem happens in the third world no one bothers and the moment the trouble crops up in your own backyard you shake the world. This irony is particularly stark as the oil spill comes at the backdrop of the delivery of sentence in the Bhopal gas disaster in which a callous US company is the main perpetrator of the tragedy.
I can’t stop myself from drawing vicarious pleasure to see the US fumbling to set its own house in order in the aftermath of a tragic chemical disaster that is bound to affect the biodiversity and livelihoods in the region for the decades to come.
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