The infuriating decision by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to end the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is today’s installment of On Stupidity. In giving his reasons for ordering the injunction for the Plaintiffs the Judge continually notes the “irreparable harm” done by the government on the companies and the “arbitrary and capricious” decision by the Secretary of the Interior in ordering the moratorium, and shockingly links the public’s interest with that of the Plaintiffs. In his entire decision, Judge Feldman ignores the “irreparable harm” being done currently by the oil spill in the Gulf to the thousands of affected industries, wildlife, environment etc. across four States, which of course is the Federal Government’s responsibility to protect and is completely within the legal rights of the Secretary.
The fact is, the moratorium effects only 33 currently operating drilling platforms of the over 3600 in the Gulf. (there are several available numbers for operating platforms in the Gulf, I used the number Judge Feldman used in his ruling of the somewhat vague “over 3600”) That’s 0.92% of the platforms in the Gulf. Yes, that’s right, the moratorium effected less than one percent of the industry in the Gulf. Which can be shocking in 2 ways, one being less than one percent is hardly irreparable harm to the industry and two that there are over 3600 platforms in the Gulf and the entire seafloor from Texas to Alabama is a giant industrial site. Here’s a few more numbers to digest: More than 50,000 well heads have been drilled in the Gulf since 1947. There were 331 wells drilled in 2009 (one platform can produce oil from a number of wells at the same time). There are over 7000 active leases in the Gulf, 64% of which are in water deeper than 1000’. Nearly 4000 wells have been drilled in depths greater than 1000’ and nearly 700 in depths of over 5000’. While supporters of unabashed drilling will point to such numbers in support of their “safe” drilling practices, one only needs to point to the largest number to prove their point false, the millions of barrels spilled into the waters of the Gulf.
While the Judge was hell bent on protecting the oil industry from irreparable harm, the seafood industry in Louisiana has already suffered that and worse. 1 out of every 70 jobs in Louisiana is related to the seafood industry, with an estimated economic impact of over 2.4 billion dollars. To highlight two of the most effected sectors of the seafood industry here are the statistics for oysters and shrimp. 70% of all the oysters in the US come from the Gulf Coast. The total impact in Louisiana is over $317 million and 3565 jobs. The Shrimp industry accounts for more than $1.3 billion and 14,384 jobs. How many of those people have been destroyed by the disaster? The seafood industry garners special attention because this is not just an industry like oil that can be moved to where ever the oil is. These people, indeed their entire culture and way of life reaching back generations depends on the unique ecosystem that makes of the coast of Louisiana. This incredibly fragile and unique nursery for thousands of species has already been irreparably harmed and has untold decades of harm ahead. The spill is only the latest example of harm caused by the oil industry on the environment at the expense of the seafood industry. The oil pipeline “highways” that the industry cut through the marsh in the 60’s and 70’s have become “highways” for salt water intrusion which kills the marsh, causes erosion, and brings Louisiana’s population centers ever closer to the Gulf waters and the storm surge from hurricanes.
It is the Federal Government’s job to protect industries like the seafood industry and the many others across 4 States and the Secretary was completely in his right to do so and he was hardly arbitrary in his decision as the Judge claims. The broader interest is in protecting these numerous entities over the economic impact of 33 wells. That much is clear and how the Judge found in favor of the oil industry is beyond me. Not to mention Judge Feldman’s numerous cases of conflict of interest for which he should have recused himself.
I also dismiss the Judge’s claims of blanket heavy handedness and his comparisons to plane crashes shutting down all airports and the like. He might be right if the oil industry wasn’t so completely incompetent in dealing with the current disaster, or if they weren’t so insultingly careless in the planning of spill response. One look at the industry wide identical response plans, with the same idiotic walrus protections, deceased engineer’s phone numbers, graphically appalling cover page and anyone can see their utter disregard for spill management combined with their hubris that there wasn’t a need for such things anyway. No one could have predicted the Deepwater Horizon explosion, so who’s to say another one can’t happen tomorrow? And then what happens when say Chevron opens its handy dandy spill response plan so find the same woefully inadequate mitigation methods with its Flying Circus-esque Containment Dome and Top Hat? The Federal Government has every right to be suspicious of the entire industry and would be negligent not to be. And to point out the ridiculousness of the Judge’s plane comparison, once a plane crashes, the damage is localized and complete, thousands of other planes then don’t kamikaze into the same yet ever widening spot.
This brings me to the broader political issues at play. When taking into account all of the effects of the of the oil spill on Louisiana and it’s neighboring States, how can the political leaders, Governor Jindal in particular, continually scream about lifting the moratorium? There must be some compelling reason because it’s not just the usual suspect Republicans yelling “drill baby drill” - Mary Landrieu is pushing for it as well. Surely the Statewide interests are not outweighed by the temporary loss of jobs on 33 drilling platforms? Of course it’s money and the thousands upon thousands every Louisiana politician takes from the oil industry, but if there was ever a time to be able to push against their money and lobbying surely it’s now. There is also the Republican governors from their very red States playing the hero to the Tea Party types of pushing back against the big bad Federal Government. There is also the simple GOP v. Dem at play as well. But I am really at a loss for the total disregard of the overall interests of the very people in the background of all Gov. Jindal’s television appearances. I would never expect a Republican to be concerned about the unfathomable environmental damages despite the lip service they give it, but I would expect them to be concerned with the people they claim to be for, the middle / working class. The only obvious answer is the oil industry holds so much power that they have practically every political leader in the Gulf Coast openly at war with the Obama administration over the jobs on 33 rigs while millions of barrels of oil gush from an identical rig just off their shores. It’s disgusting behavior and someone needs to start holding them accountable.
One final point that never gets enough attention in the arguments for renewable energy production and ending the addiction to oil. The Drill Baby Drill crowd loves to preach about using “America’s resources” and “reducing our reliance on foreign oil” and it’s all about “protecting America” reducing the debate into stupid patriotic drivel just like the oil industry wants. Make no mistake, every politician who yells about drilling and drilling everywhere is in the back pocket of the oil industry. The US has an estimated 22,450,000,000 barrels of oil in its domestic reserves of the 1,349,417,153,000 barrels in reserve globally, that works out to 1.66% of the global supply of oil is in American land. The US consumes 20,680,000 barrels a day. Every drop of oil that is pulled from the Earth worldwide is on the open market. Americans don’t necessarily use “American oil”, it’s completely indistinguishable once it’s on the open market, so “reducing our reliance on foreign oil” is utter nonsense. If we as American’s decided to completely destroy untold environments to suck every last drop of domestic oil, and somehow keep 100% of that oil only for Americans, we would be completely out of “American oil” in just under 3 years time. The only way to “protect America” and “reduce our reliance on foreign oil” is to completely stop using it and we need to start the transition yesterday. We should end every government subsidy the oil industry gets today, and take those millions and subsidize batteries for electric cars, subsidize car manufactures, build wind farms, and get solar panels on every roof in America. That is an energy policy for the future.
