Gulf Oil Spill Impacts Washington
When an explosion destroyed the billion-dollar oil rig Deepwater Horizon, thousands of gallons of oil began spreading across the Gulf of Mexico eventually reaching the Louisiana coast and its fragile wetlands and economically significant fisheries.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the giant oil slick was growing at a rate of 5,000 barrels of oil per day, as authorities worked to put in place a giant dome-like device to cap it temporarily while a more permanent fix was sought. In the meantime, the oil shut down some Gulf fishing and, if it continues to spread, could hit the Florida coast where tourism is king. But the impacts of the disaster also have spread far beyond the Gulf’s waters to Washington; where Congress has summoned British oil giant BP, which operates the rig with other companies, for a little chat. Environmental groups have held up pictures of oil soaked sea birds and vowed to push even harder to stop offshore drilling. And that new energy and climate change legislation the administration had been angling for has been complicated at the minimum.
With an oil spill so large it can be seen from space fouling a critical international waterway, it would seem a no brainer to demand an end to offshore drilling. But with America’s thirst for oil hardly in decline, it’s not a simple thing to cut off drilling. Banning drilling in the Gulf of Mexico alone would cut America’s domestic oil production by one-third. Before the spill, the administration had been willing to accept new offshore exploration as part of an energy and climate change bill. That could change. The outcry from opponents already has caused the governors of Florida and California to withdraw their backing for offshore drilling projects.
Some lawmakers, like Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), want to raise the limit on the amount of third party damages the responsible companies could face from $75 million to $10 billion. This makes sense as a means of prodding the oil industry toward enhanced environmental and safety standards.
As damaging as this latest disaster has been -- it did, after all, claim 11 lives even before the environmental toll began to mount -- it could lead to tougher regulations, more informed safety standards and better industry practices. And it could bring a new spotlight on America’s reliance on foreign oil and spur new efforts toward conservation, to the benefit both of the environment and the economy.