WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — As hurricane season began, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government’s top guy at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said there is a “robust contingency plan” for hurricanes.
That was scary. The only other thing reputed to be robust in the gulf is BP’s recovery plan.
Hurricane Alex didn’t make a personal appearance to the spill site. Its passage at a distance led to reactions that gave a peek at what the robust plan must be: “Unplug everything and head for the hills.” Scary.
The fireworks this year were almost drowned out by the shrill sound of public officials whistling past graveyards. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told shrimpers the other day that BP’s accountability won’t end until “they’ve restored our wetlands and our wildlife back to what it was pre-spill.”
Hmm. Such restoration will not be completed in Jindal’s political career if ever, and he is a young man.
This is not to single out Jindal for misplaced optimism. Whistling past graveyards is universal in the Panhandle and beyond.
The whistler-in-chief, President Barack Obama, talked about “a wrenching anxiety” among gulf residents “that their way of life may be lost.” He boldly announced: “I refuse to let that happen.” Obama can refuse to let the 20th century end, too. The gulf is way past the point where his refusals have an effect. Mother Nature’s laws are tougher than the Interior Department’s, and more strictly enforced. That reality doesn’t stop people from expecting BP or its money to “make this right,” as the company’s ads proclaim. Americans, as Obama said, are optimists.
One of the oil industry’s people in Congress earned notoriety by comparing the BP compensation fund to a shakedown by the government. The fund, though, might protect BP from the optimists.
Before this is over — you can bet on it — we will hear of beach-cleaners going to Disney World for R and R on BP’s dollar, Utah ski resorts compensated for lost sales, and prison inmates cashing BP checks.
Florida blew through $25 million from BP to do what the state always does — promote tourism — and wants $50 million more. It will be a surprise if at least one gulf state doesn’t get a new statehouse out of the spill. And that is with someone watching the money closely.
That is not to say that oystermen, net menders and seafood-shack owners who were really hurt will get back all they lost. They won’t. We must be realistic, even if presidents and governors aren’t.
Speaking of realism, governors and even some of the victims want to go right back to deep-sea drilling in the gulf. They don’t know how the gulf spill came about, but they are sure there is no risk.
Not to single out Jindal, but because he is typical, here is his written non sequitur: “We absolutely do not want another spill or one more drop of oil on our coast or in our water, but thousands of Louisianians should not have to lose their jobs because the federal government can’t adequately do their job of ensuring drilling is done safely.”
Jindal says that another spill will occur because the feds can’t do their job right, but he still wants to drill. Even if the feds were able to do their job right, if Jindal absolutely doesn’t want another spill, someone absolutely has to change what BP did wrong.
As congressional hearings showed, whatever that is, all the drillers do it, and don’t know what to do when the worst happens.
One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.
From all reports, few important Americans differ much with the propositions that anything that gets broken can be fixed, and it is safe to resume our follies so long as we have robust contingency plans. That would be BP chief executive Tony Hayward’s view, too. He even has more nuance than some domestic optimists. If everybody sees it his way, why are they mad at him?
Tom Blackburn is a former member of The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board.
Tina Griego’s column will return soon.
