Month 5, Day 23: Multitasking is Necessary!

Yesterday’s letter was primarily to Ed Markey and secondarily to the President, so I’ve sent him another one for Sunday. More on the Deepwater Horizon — truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Dear President Obama,

The ongoing tragedy of the Gulf of Mexico calls for aggressive governmental action in multiple areas.

We must move rapidly to contain the spill, which is fouling the Gulf with catastrophic implications for human and animal populations. The public statements made by British Petroleum spokespersons suggest that the corporation at fault for the disaster has failed to take its responsibilities seriously. This cannot be allowed to continue.

We must move rapidly to determine the magnitude of the catastrophe. B.P. is again acting in bad faith, as demonstrated by their refusal to allow scientists to conduct accurate measurements of the leak. Since assessment of liability is contingent on the amount of the spill, they stand to save many millions of dollars by relying on an estimated flow rate that is several orders of magnitude too low. This, too, cannot be allowed. Your administration needs to be very forthright in asserting that B.P.’s estimates are no longer considered valid.

We must uncover the cause of the tragedy. At least three different corporations behaved irresponsibly in the leadup to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and their subsequent behavior is further demonstration that in this case, We The People have absolutely no reason to trust these companies and their representatives to tell the truth. BP, Transocean, and Halliburton have killed eleven people and are now putting the lives of millions more at risk. Prosecutions with stiff penalties are called for.

And finally, we must move rapidly to get America and the world off fossil fuels completely. The threats of global warming, arctic methane release and oceanic acidification are all brought about by our destructive habits of taking carbon out of the ground and putting it in the atmosphere. America needs a crash program to develop renewable energy sources, and we need it yesterday.

There is no time to waste. The Gulf of Mexico is yet another “canary in the coalmine” — but the way we are going, it’s not going to be long before all the canaries are dead. Mr. President, we elected you to be a leader. Please lead.

Yours Sincerely,

Warren Senders