04/23/10 Baltimore, Maryland – “This stuff is damn hard and very dangerous,” says our resident oil patch veteran Byron King, reacting to news that searchers have given up hope the 11 people missing from an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico are still alive.
It was just a few weeks ago that Byron suited up for a visit to an offshore drilling ship operated by the same firm Transocean. “I saw safety up close and personal. I had to go through two days of safety training just to set foot near the helicopter, and just to go out and set foot on the rig. After the training, I sat for specific safety briefs about the helicopter rides, as well as more safety briefings about shipboard operations. This is what they do. This is how they do it. So I know that safety is a value at Transocean.
“We don’t know what happened on the Deepwater Horizon, and I don’t want to add to the speculation.” Yet a news release from the United Steelworkers union is already calling for “an overhaul of health and safety within the oil sector.”
Says USW International Vice President Gary Beevers, “This is the oil industry’s fourth health and safety incident involving worker deaths or injuries in the past 2½ weeks. How many more workers have to pay the price for the industry’s lack of a safety culture? The industry is long overdue for a complete overhaul of its health and safety provisions.”
Tragedy in the Gulf: Rush to Judgment?
“Mr. Beevers,” Byron explains, “is referring to six workers who died as a result of an April 2 explosion and fire at Tesoro’s Anacortes, Wash., refinery. Three more workers were injured April 14 at Exxon Mobil’s Baton Rouge, La., refinery fire. Another worker was killed April 19 due to a crane accident on the Motiva Enterprises expansion project in Port Arthur, Texas.
“Based on my inspection of the Discoverer Inspiration a few weeks back, I disagree with Mr. Beevers’ assertion of a ‘lack of a safety culture.’ I saw just the opposite. Then again, we’ve got a sunken rig, and 11 missing workers. Something went wrong.
“For now, we wait and see. We’ll watch what happens with the search, salvage and environmental effort.”
Addison Wiggin
for The Daily Reckoning
Addison Wiggin
Addison Wiggin is the executive publisher of Agora Financial, LLC, a fiercely independent economic forecasting and financial research firm. He’s the creator and editorial director of Agora Financial’s daily 5 Min. Forecast and editorial director of The Daily Reckoning. Wiggin is the founder of Agora Entertainment, executive producer and co-writer of I.O.U.S.A., which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the 2009 Critics Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature, and was also shortlisted for a 2009 Academy Award. He is the author of the companion book of the film I.O.U.S.A.and his second edition of The Demise of the Dollar… and Why it’s Even Better for Your Investments was just fully revised and updated. Wiggin is a three-time New York Times best-selling author whose work has been recognized by The New York Times Magazine, The Economist, Worth, The New York Times, The Washington Post as well as major network news programs. He also co-authored international bestsellers Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt with Bill Bonner.
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I worked many years on drilling/production platforms/rigs. I would say safety was not high on the list.
Of course, what do you expect them to do when a reporter investigates? My guess is they would be very safety oriented…
In fact, in my 40 years of working for various employers, safety was /is highly talked,, rarely walked.
The environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sinking into the Gulf of Mexico will be felt for years to come. The financial impact is already being felt.
As it sunk, the rig began spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil into the water per day. Nearly a half-million gallons have already spilled and the toll could be worse than that of the Valdez accident.
Fears are that oil from the well on the sea floor will begin making its way to the surface. Just 41 miles from the coast, the rig is situated so that this incident has brought a lot of business to a halt on the seas, and for those who depend on the Gulf along the shores. As the slick spreads across the Gulf, more and more business is impacted each day. This delay is likely to total in the millions of dollars until the site is cleaned.
And clearly, the impact of sea life in the Gulf is immediate and could be felt for years. Those waters serve as home to numerous fish species and shellfish like shrimp, mussels and oysters we find at markets. Not only is it next to impossible to farm these animals under such conditions, the water quality is sure to be jeopardized by the massive oil spill.
Please read this site for more information on the environmental and economic damages this explosion, fire and spill have caused: http://www.oil-rig-explosions.com/