Perspective on Problem Solving: Gulf Oil Spill
By Wayne Pearson
The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is said to be the greatest ecological disaster
ever to hit our country, and we knew that was the case from the get go. The question is
why has the response of the US Government been so casual and non-chalant? Much has
been written about problems and how to solve them, and the oil spill could and should be
added as a case for study.
Fundamentally, you cannot solve any problem until you can define it. So what was the
problem?
A deep well in the Gulf exploded sending massive amounts of oil into the Gulf. There was
no known way to stop the flow except to drill another well which would take 90 days.
First, let’s set aside the question of whether we should be drilling for oil in the ocean a
mile deep. Dealing with that would be like being upset over spilled milk. Therefore, that
is a question for another day. We need to deal with the spilled milk (oil) right now.
What Happened?
We learned on April 20, 2010 that British Petroleum’s (BP’s) rig in the Gulf of Mexico
exploded killing 11 employees, injuring 17 others and destroying the rig. At the same
time we learned that oil was escaping from the well at an estimated 50-100 thousand
barrels per day, (roughly to 2-4 million gallons per day). BP immediately announced that
it was drilling another well to by-pass the flow from the damaged well and that it would
take 90 days to complete.
Based on this flow rate and the 90 days needed to plug the well, a grammar school child
could calculate the amount of oil that would be in the Gulf. The answer is 90 days times
2-4 million gallons per day or 180-360 million gallons. One should have said: “WOW!
That is a Hell of a lot of oil!!” Right, it would be enough to cover about 10,000 square
miles of the Gulf: enough to reach the barrier reefs of Louisiana and all of the beaches of
Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. In other words, many times the size of the Exxon
Valdese spill. The damage to businesses in fishing, shrimping, beaches, tourist attractions
and fish, fowl and other marine life could be expected to be gigantic at a cost of billions
of dollars.
In other words this would be a crisis of astronomic proportion; one requiring immediate
and round the clock attention of the top leaders of both the oil company and the US
government.
Immediate Actions Required
· The damaged well would need to be by-passed and/or plugged as soon as is
physically practicable.
· A massive force would need to be organized to collect and/or contain the massive
amount of oil that would flow constantly for 90 days.
Who Should Take Charge?
· Only BP and/or other oil drilling companies have the technology and tools to plug
the leaking well.
· Only the US Government with its vast resources and ability to commandeer and
manage the resources of all the parties, including Corporate, State, and Federal
and Foreign entities and have the power to waive regulations that might hinder
efforts would be capable of taking charge of the massive organization needed to
contain the spill and conduct the cleanup.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE RESPONSE?
By BP:
· They began drilling second and third wells aimed at plugging the initial well.
· They have been working 24/7 to employ every technique known to plug the leak
· They have been doing what they can to contain the spill from the leak.
· They are gathering evidence to determine what caused the problem
· They have agreed to pay all reasonable expenses for the damage to beaches, wild
life and businesses.
By the US Government:
· The Administration initially refused to take any responsibility for the oil spill, the
analysis of it or for actions required to deal with the consequences of the spill
· It placed a moratorium on all drilling in the Gulf for six months.
· It had the Attorney General tell BP that they had performed criminally regarding
the alleged lack of safe guards, and that the government would bring criminal and
probably civil suits.
· The President badgered BP into agreeing to a fund of $20 billion to pay for all
costs, including pay for the unemployed caused by the drilling moratorium
· Henry Waxman convened his committee to interrogate the CEO of BP, each
member individually asking such “do you still beat your wife” questions such as:
“Were the short cuts you took designed to save time or money?”
Some 40 days after the leak the Administration began to grasp the fact that the
magnitude of the problem exceeded the physical resources of BP. Then it acted only
half heartedly in the development of and implementation of a plan to deal with the
effects of the spill.
· They let the bureaucrats in the EPA block the efforts of the Gulf governors to
build berms and take other such actions to prevent the oil from reaching the
critical beach and river areas.
· They allowed the 1920 Jones Act to block foreign skimmer ships from coming
to the Gulf to help.
BP may be responsible for not employing all the safety features that would have been
prudent to minimize the prospect of such an explosion. This is not clear at this early
point, especially since the US Government’s Mineral Management Administration
(MMA) gave clearance to BP’s protocol just weeks before the explosion. Of course the
Administration fired the woman in charge of this MMA activity as soon as the problem
arose.
Needless to say, spending any major effort to get answers to these questions at this time
cannot be a major priority while one is trying to stop the leak and organize the necessary
cleanup. Moreover, the last thing you want to do is distract the managers who are
working 24/7 to figure out how to solve the problem. The investigation and how to
prevent future incidents can and should be left for another day. Any prudent and
competent manager knows this instinctively.
So, what explains the actions or lack of by the President and his Administration? Let’s
hypothesize:
· They are ideologically driven and want to take advantage of such a catastrophic
event to initiate another program to transform America.
· They have no practical experience in how to do things, and thus are technically
incompetent.
· They are both ideologically driven and incompetent.
What are the Clues?
Ideologically Driven
Their first actions give us the direction of their thinking. They immediately blamed BP
and the Bush administration for the cause of the explosion. Then they promptly placed a
six month ban on off-shore drilling. This was followed by the President’s Oval Office
talk about the need for an energy bill that included “cap and trade”. Their argument for
the ban was that we must cut our dependence on foreign oil.
This does not pass the laugh test. How does reducing the production of oil from United
States owned resources cut our dependence on oil from foreign suppliers? Moreover, has
anyone noticed what our sources of foreign oil are? Surprise surprise, 85 % of our
imported crude oil is provided by counties that have to be considered as friendly to us.
This especially includes our first two primary sources, Canada and Mexico respectively,
who together, provide 35% of our imported oil.
The fact that the Administration made no effort to waive regulations on environmental
issues or the Jones Act, which was intended to protect US maritime union jobs, tells us a
lot about their penchant to think and act ideologically.
Incompetence:
They have manifested their incompetence. There were many needed actions that did not
require an ideological framework to determine what to do. For example, they could have
immediately taken charge of what was needed to control the oil spill and arrange for the
clean up. This would have required them to organize an armada of ships, equipment and
personnel from all over the US and the world. Instead they dilly dallied for over forty
days, while their only actions were to vilify BP and harass the management of BP with
the threat of law suits and congressional investigations. At a time when BP management
needed to focus on the problem of stopping the leak and containing the released oil, these
government led distractions were irresponsible if not criminal in themselves.
Both Ideological and Incompetent
Based on the above discussion, it must be clear to anyone that they are driven by
ideological desires to transform America to order to spread the wealth. At the very same
time, they are staffed by ideologues that have little if any experience in doing practical
things. If you have no experience that is pertinent and required to deal with the problem
at hand, that is the definition of incompetence. The fact that the person or persons have
fabulous educations and diplomas of all types do not make them capable of handling the
job they have been assigned.
We the People are the bosses of these ideologues and incompetents. We the people can
decide whether we have to put up with their insubordination as regards to not doing our
bidding and their demonstrated incompetence. We the people have been polled, and our
wishes are perfectly clear:
· As a top priority we want this Administration to encourage private enterprise to
create jobs.
· We do not want a 2000+ page health care bill that cannot be understood by
anyone.
· We do not want a 2000+ page bank regulation bill that also cannot be understood
by anyone.
· We do not want our deep indigenous supplies of coal and natural gas to be
replaced by deminimus supplies of expensive solar and wind.
The world is becoming an increasingly complex place and problems of the magnitude of
the Gulf oil spill require the highest level of experienced competent managers. So, what
Action Should We the People Take?
FIRE THE ENTIRE BUNCH. Begin this November by replacing the incompetent
ideologues in Congress. Then FIRE THE BOSS in 2012.