Why The Oil Spill May Be The Biggest Challenge This Decade

By William C. Probus

The Exxon-Valdez disaster occurred in March of 1989 and spilled 10.8 million gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean, damaging the ecosystem and fishing industries in the process. The entire tragedy lost Exxon $2billion in cleanup costs. Effects on sea life and biological diversity in the Pacific are felt even now more than 20 years later. The Exxon-Valdez disaster was hailed as the greatest human-induced environmental catastrophe ever.

The current oil spill threatens to leak three times that amount of oil into the sea before British Petroleum will be able to stop the flow from the bottom of the ocean. It is unclear the specific amount that is leaking into the ocean, but estimates range from 500,000 gallons per day to BP’s worst-case scenario, where 2.5 million gallons are released every day. Worst of all, all previous attempts to stop the flow have floundered. BP has tried two domes that are utilized to siphon off leaked oil; both have failed. The complex “Top Kill” plan, in which BP planned to utilize solvents to disperse the oil, has failed. The next plan is to cut the piping with underwater robots and cap the well with yet another dome. This new dome may work, but if the new plan is implemented, a temporary 20% increase in oil leakage will occur, which will be of greater concern if the new measures fail. Simultaneously, BP is working on two separate secure tanks to create a permanent solution to the leak, but these will not be finished until August.

Fixing this problem will require not only the will of British Petroleum, which has thus far failed to fix its own grave mistake and has lost nearly 25% on the stock market in the last year, but also the will of government and of the American people. The response by the federal government has been slow and ineffective to date. The leak is poised to hit the coasts of Alabama and Louisiana in the next few days. At one point, forecasters mapped out possibilities that oil would wash up on Miami Beach sooner rather than later. This problem affects our community directly. It is unconscionable that leaders in business and government are continuing to negotiate details and rehash the same plans that have failed. Make a call to your local representative. Organize efforts to help fix this problem. We may be cleaning and paying for this mess longer than any one of us anticipates.

William C. Probus is a Marketing and Leadership Development Staff Member at The EDGE. He can be reached at 706.267.9186 or at William@theedgeeducation.com.