Oil Spills a NECESSARY RISK

As an oil explorer of 45 years experience, I look at the BP and Exxon oil spills as unavoidable  to an industrialized society. Oil,and Coal are absolutely essential to our economy and our personal well being.The problem is with the hysteria and naive solutions being recommend. Rachel Carson embarked on a similar path with her book “silent Spring” which succeeded in eliminating DDT from our environment. The unintended consequence was the death by starvation of perhaps millions of children in the third world as insects devoured their crops. Every major change in the world has unintended consequences. The fall- out from the BP oil spill will undoubtedly lead to less drilling and production of oil and gas in the US. The unintended consequence will be vastly greater importation of Arab oil. This will keep our balance of trade negative and we will all suffer at the gas pump and the general economy will suffer severely. Don’t think that alternative energy can quickly step in and save the day because if it could have made a difference it would have done so long ago. Most of the alternative energy either requires oil and gas for it’s manufacture (hydrogen, bio-fuels, etc.), has no infrastructure to distribute the energy to the cities (solar, wind, geothermal) or has serious environmental problems of it’s own (nuclear). In short, we are trapped by urban sprawl which requires oil to transport us to work, we don’t have a rail system thanks to President Kennedy’s political debt paying to the teamster union which spelled the end of significant rail and made us dependent upon the car and truck. In a nutshell, we have to move forward with our techno-industrial society. We need to learn and improve after a disaster but massive punitive response will always lead to serious unintended consequences

Can anyone doubt that the environmental damage of both the Santa Barbara and Exxon Valdez were monstrously over stated by hysterical environmentalists? There were no mass fish or bird kill and the numbers of cleaned up birds was tiny compared to what exists in the wild. The estimates are wildly inflated in most articles to inflame public opinion. Our legal system functioned as it should have and damages were paid for claims of loss. This will happen again. Lawyers are streaming into New Orleans in hopes of finding work on claims against BP. We do not need hysterical claims of environmental disaster until it has happened. I predict that the final effect will be 10% of what is being said now. After all, this is not the first wild well in the Gulf and natural oil seeps have always been spewing oil and gas into the water. It is time to sit back and watch unless you are one of those on the front lines. Bobby Jindal and Billy Nungesser strike me as quite competent in their efforts and the dredged sand island may become a reality thanks to their efforts.

A major impediment to domestic production is just around the corner. Oddly, this will increase chances of the next big oil spill. Imported oil comes to us by way of Supertanker. The likelihood of an accident will increase as our imports incrfease. Terrorism is also a threat to the tankers.

Fall-out from the BP oil spill

There is not much question that the radical anti-carbon groups will seize upon the tragedy to promote their alternate energy schemes and conservation ideology.. This is inevitable and probably beneficial from a global perspective. Environmentalists will seize upon this tragedy as an opportunity to further turn public sentiment against the " Big Oil" companies.What should our response be as members of the fraternuty of oil worker and investors?

Over my career, I have  continually been amazed at the lack of understanding the general public has about the oil business. We need to arm ourselves with facts about oil employment, economic share and etc.and begin to makes appearances on liberal and environmental blogs and web sites. I suggest that we take a firm but unemotional stand on the value and importance of oil and gas to our economy. I further suggest that we compare the cost of the current BP spill to the cost of drunk driving accidents annually. If rig explosions are a "fixable" wrong then so is drunk driving.

Another thing to drive home to the public is the % profit of oil versus groceries, movies, cars, and etc. Our detractors have made much of gross profits without mention of % return on investment. The radical liberal promotes the idea that companies exist to serve the public and that profits should not be a goal or requirement. We must promote the idea of free markets. The profit motive has always been the driving force behind our successful economy and the radicals would take that away from us. It is important that we not allow that to happen.

Here are some facts that I've found on the net .In 2004 there were 316,000 workers in the Oil and Gas Industry. Their pay scale was from $12 to $50 per hour. The link: Oil Company Earnings has excellent information on Oil Company earnings as compared to other industries. Oil Companies actially are less profitable than many other industries. The charge of obscene profits is definitely a Red Herring.Earnings for a large company are always huge sounding to the lay person. Percent return on investment is a much fairer statistic for comparing companies and industries. One figure that stood out for me was the spending on Carbon Mitigation. The Fed has spent next to nothing on it compared to Industry..
Another link: Oil & Gas Investment  gives fact about the investments that O & G makes in the U.S. Economy. In 2006 new investments amounted to $174 Billion. This is a very significant part of the Total U.S. economy. The current administration is constantly trying to demonize the industry and especially its profits..Armed with the facts we need to fight back, not just for our own sake but for the poor innocent citizens who do not understand the economics of energy and have been swayed by the most heinous missrepresentations of "Big Oil".
Here is the best set of figures yet: Oil Jobs and GDP share . Nine million jobs and 7.3% og GDP depend on the O&G industry. Lets all arm ourselves with the facts and go out and fight for our industry.

Obama, Jindal and the Oil Slick

These men face the trial of a life time. This is what they were elected for. It is time for the rest of us to back off and give them a chance to do their jobs. There is no way that we can be kept informed of the progress so stop clamoring for updates. When they can, the people in charge involved will update us. Also, let's forget the politics for now. Rush was out of order with his rash statements. Those of us who can, should volunteer to help physically with the effort to protect the marshes. If the oil does go onto the beaches of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, then the impact on fishing and birds will be somewhat less and cleanup will be much easier and very much faster than if it comes ashore in the Louisiana marshlands. I don't wish this on anyone, but contaminated sand can picked up and disposed of but contaminated marsh is a decades long process of cleanup and much more devastating to wild life and the fishing industry.