The Greatest Man-Made Disaster

The situation we have been watching in the Gulf of Mexico over the last two months has brought forth the greatest man-made disaster I have seen in my lifetime. Even today as I write this piece the crude oil and methane continue to spew forth from the pipe remnant sticking out of the ocean floor. When will it ever stop? I am certain no one will wager much of their own money as to when that may be, but one thing is certain; this calamity will be utilized to its fullest to continue to expand the Greatest Man-Made Disaster ever.

What? I thought the Greatest Man-Made Disaster refers to the colossal environmental damage impacting the sea life and coastlines of Louisiana and other adjacent coastal beaches. Aren’t you referring to the tremendous amount of sea life that will be lost, livelihoods in jeopardy and coastal property ruined?

Unfortunately, as bad and as ugly as all of those things are, they pale in comparison to the Greatest Man-Made Disaster I refer. This calamity is simply a symptom of the Greatest Man-Made Disaster. The Greatest Man-Made Disaster, as we are all too painfully aware of now, was the election of Barack Hussein Obama to the White House in conjunction with overwhelming Democrat majorities in both Houses of Congress. The Greatest Man-Made Disaster are the policies these Leftists have implemented over the past year and a half to completely destroy whatever free enterprise system still remains in the United States of America. And unfortunately for all of us, like the BP rogue well, we are only at the outset of this nightmare.

The ocean always contains oil. Petroleum continually seeps from the ocean floor all over the world from natural sources. Petroleum is a natural product manufactured in the Earth’s crust and interior. The oceans handle petroleum outflows all of the time. And believe it or not, it will handle this one as well, alot sooner than most of us can believe. These observations do not to minimize the disastrous consequences this gusher continues to create now and in the immediate future. There is real damage, and we are feeling it.

Petroleum really gets an unfair rap by many people. Often referred to as fossil fuel, of which a more incorrect name could not be manufactured, the assertion that it is some kind of dirty, unclean energy source could not be more wrong. Many times I have stated that petroleum has done more to clean up the planet than any other chemical. Coal used to be the workhorse of transportation. Have you seen any smoke trails from steam engines lately? What about piles of manure stacked along the sidewalks of cities? How has the air quality gotten in the last 30 years as the number of automobiles on the road has more than doubled? How about all of the plastic, recyclable containers and bags that have improved the efficiency of packaging and transportation? Get the picture?

Petroleum truly could be the elixer of life. It is a magical substance. No liquid at room temperature contains more energy per unit weight than petroleum distillates like kerosene and gasoline, basically about 20,000 BTU/LB. (Ethanol has only about 12,890 BTU/LB or about 65% - no wonder formulated fuel mileage stinks!) The energy density of petroleum coupled with the fact that it has a high autoignition temperature (over 800 F - paper is 450 F and ethanol near 500 F) allowing for relative safety in handling makes this chemical the ideal transportation fuel. So ideal, in fact, that to find better may never happen. At least not for a long time.

The good news is that there is lots and lots of petroleum right now in the Earth and continually manufactured therein. Peak Oil theory presents as much nonsense as the man-made global warming alarmism from carbon dioxide emissions which we have seen to be fully and completely discredited. So what’s the problem?

The problem is the Federal Government. Yes, the Greatest Man-Made Disaster ever. Drilling bans and Federal land acquisitions put the vast majority of these petroleum resources off limits. These restrictions cause BP and other energy companies to pursue deep-water drilling in the Gulf instead of tapping on-shore sources like ANWR or the vast fields in the Mountain West or deposits right here in Wisconsin. There are several hundred years of known petroleum reserves in these areas, and probably much, much more. So the Federal Government is doing its best to protect us from them.

So what about the current Gulf situation? Incompetence and political opportunism could not be displayed in grander fashion. Being an environmental contractor who deals with on-shore spills routinely on behalf of insurance providers, I can identify decisions made in response to this emergency that should never be repeated. The first mistake BP and others in this situation make is to rely on government regulators and agency personnel to provide a pathway or approval for any needed action. This pathway will always lead to disaster. Regulators do not want to be on the hook for making a decision or authorizing anything. They are very comfortable, however, with taking credit when things go right or placing blame and extracting money when things don’t. Therefore, as I have personally done, a company and its contractors need to define the path that NEEDS TO BE TAKEN and implement it with or without approval. You are in a no win situation so you may as well pursue the pathway that actually solves the problem. When dealing with state regulators, you tell them what you plan to do, why this should work, where it has been done before successfully, and the time frame involved. I have never had a regulator not get on board nor end up to be anything but a hero to his or her department. Another beauty of petroleum lies in the fact that it does not mix with water and in fact floats upon it. This chemical property lends for retrieval of the petroleum from the system with a minimal effect on aquatic life. Removal can be accomplished using booms to contain the area, absorbents such as hay or polypropylene in conjunction with the most important tool of all - the vacuum pump. Vacuum pumps can quickly remove the oil into tanks for separation where the oil can be recycled for future use.

So how come all of this oil is coming on-shore throughout the South? BP in conjunction with the Feds refused the offer of some European countries to provide these vacuum pump equipped sea tankers which could have been dispatched to the site within days and been able to vacuum up and separate a tremendous amount of the discharged oil, greatly reducing if not eliminating the threat to the beaches. Why this was not done is a mystery. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal waited over a month for Federal approval to construct berms to mitigate coastline damage. Approval was never granted. Jindal went ahead with construction anyway (as he should) but has been forcibly halted by the Feds in the last few days.

So now the people perpetuating the Greatest Man-Made Disaster ever, you know, Barack Hussein Obama and the other leftists known as Democrats, are not going to let this beautiful crisis go to waste. Obama tried to implement a 6 month ban on almost all off-shore drilling - boy, now there’s a logical response to this situation. Let’s put hundreds of thousands of people out of work and further limit our domestic energy production and increase our dependence on foreign oil. Thank God a judge in Louisiana had the courage to overturn this insanity. But they will be back. They never stop.

Next they will attempt to use this crisis to pass Tax n Take, aka Cap and Tax, so they can get a firm hold on all energy production with the goal of rationing individual energy use. Let’s see - Take over of the Banking system and Home Mortgages, Healthcare, Energy (we’re up to about 95% of the economy), what’s left? I know. Free Speech and National Sovereignty (they already got most of the guns). And they are working on that fast and furiously. All that’s left is to see what old trick they may try or if they come up with some new one (like deem and pass).

Don’t put ANYTHING past these guys. Thomas Sowell wrote this week that these folks are trying to turn the USA into a dictatorship. Boy, it sure seems like he’s on to something. We will all know for sure what’s in store before the year is done. Just be prepared - it may get real ugly. These guys are ruthless, and they mean business, in the most Chicago-style way.