environment Politics: British Petroleum criminal irresponsibility Eric Holder
by Warren
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Month 6, Day 2: I Hope They Grind Exceeding Small
The Attorney General is going to the Gulf. String ’em high, Mr. Holder, string ’em high!
Dear Attorney General Holder,
I’m glad to learn that you’re looking into a possible criminal investigation of British Petroleum and the other companies which are partnered in the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig. As you and your staff begin your investigation, please keep in mind that BP may reasonably be suspected of not acting in the public interest — something President Obama said last week. To be sure, we need the company to continue mitigating the environmental damage it has caused, but it is terribly naive to think that this will be their primary concern. BP’s principal focus will be on maximizing return to its shareholders and protecting its management — and these goals (while inherent in the capitalist system) emphatically do not serve the public in a time of crisis.
BP has been limiting media access to the devastation it has caused, making it more difficult for press and broadcast media to get a clear picture of the destruction of the Gulf Coast. Furthermore, there are ample reasons to suspect the company of the possible manipulation and destruction of physical evidence. Their response to the disaster has been conditioned by the requirements of public relations from the very beginning, and you should expect that they will continue to try to “game the system” as your investigation continues.
While no formal statement of guilt is possible from your office until the wheels of justice have turned, you and your staff need to keep in mind that British Petroleum has displayed criminal irresponsibility toward the needs of environmental protection for years. Do not trust these people; they are not America’s friends.
The fact that BP continues to control clean-up efforts and mitigation processes is tainted by the likelihood that they have been attempting to limit the visible damage, thereby reducing the likelihood of significant penalties.
Because BP has practical authority over the people of the Coast who are involved in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, they can now intimidate witnesses and workers, conceal damage, and stall investigations. As long as the company is considered essential by the government, there is a strong likelihood that your investigation will be forced to compromise. This cannot be allowed to happen.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment: conservation Dick Cheney Nathan Myhrvold
by Warren
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Month 6, Day 1: A Sign Of Personal Virtue.
I am a great fan of appropriate technology, and as such I don’t respond in a reflexively negative way to people like Nathan Myhrvold — even when he comes off as dismissive of environmental concerns, as in his interview with Fareed Zakaria in this week’s Newsweek:
Zakaria: Why do you think that people in the environmental community dismiss geoengineering?
Myhrvold: They have this attitude for two reasons. One is that much of the environmental movement is anti-technology. They’ll say, “Isn’t there going to be an unintended consequence?” And I say, yes there is! When a heart surgeon does bypass surgery on you, you’re left with a big scar—but it saves your damn life. I think another reason is more political. A lot of environmentalists feel that if everyone believes there’s a simple fix, they’ll demand that. And then they’re never going to get rid of their SUVs and they’re never going to tax carbon.
The interview reads like the transcription of a television appearance, further illustrating the inability of our media (even with someone as perspicacious as Zakaria involved) to handle intellectual complexity. But to me, what was significant was a word that never appeared. This is the first time to my knowledge that I have used the phrase “vocabula non grata” in my discourse. I am pleased.
Nathan Myhrvold is correct in stating that America’s energy needs can never be met completely through the use of renewable sources, but his interview with Fareed Zakaria is notable for a significant omission: neither man ever mentions energy efficiency and waste reduction. Ever since Ronald Reagan took the solar panels off the White House roof, discussion of conservation has been ridiculed by politicians and the media, and the word is now vocabula non grata in “serious” discussion. Which is, to put it bluntly, stupid. In every single area of our national patterns of energy usage there are opportunities for significant reduction in demand, most of which would actually improve our quality of life. If Americans decided to make carpooling into the rule rather than the exception, petroleum use would diminish drastically and traffic congestion would ease. The fact that these measures are not now the norm in our country shows how the disdain for conservation has crippled our ability to respond to circumstances like B.P.’s destruction of the Gulf of Mexico. When Dick Cheney sneered, “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy,” he illuminated the mindset that has brought us to this pass. The likelihood of catastrophic climate change may not be a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive conservation policy, but it should be.
Warren Senders
environment: British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 31: Too Tired To Write A Clever Headline
Hadn’t written to USA Today in a while, so I went over there and found an AP article on (surprise!) BP’s incompetence, which by now calls to mind a phrase from Ken Weaver’s Texas Crude: “Dick-fingered,” defined as “stupid with an undercurrent of malice” — or, put crudely, “what he can’t fuck up, he shits on.”
So I wrote ’em a letter.
Is anyone surprised that BP CEO Tony Hayward disputes scientific evidence of undersea oil plumes, or that he cites a study by his own company while refusing to disclose any details? It is by now glaringly obvious that British Petroleum had no workable contingency plan in the event of a catastrophic failure. Not one. Nada. Zip. Which raises the question: why entrust our nation’s energy future to a company that rewards incompetence?
In 1962, President Kennedy gave us a goal: put a man on the moon and bring him back safely, and seven years later Neil Armstrong’s small step became a giant leap for the world. It’s time for another giant leap: we need to get off fossil fuels entirely, and it needs to happen by 2030. The probability of more catastrophic spills and the certainty of devastating climate change starkly illustrate the necessity of ending our reliance on oil and coal.
Warren Senders
Personal: New York Times
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Ta-Daaah!
The second time so far this year.
Education environment Personal: consumerism parenting
by Warren
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On Consumerism and Daddying
I am alone.
My wife and daughter are in India, dealing with the recent passing of my father-in-law. The past two weeks have been hysterical; as the stay-at-home-and-work component of our marital pair, I’ve been responsible for organizing tickets, organizing passport renewals (thanks to Ed Markey’s office for their support!) and emergency visa authorizations. And, because I have massive amounts of work (including a Very Important Concert), I couldn’t go with them.
I am, instead, trying to clean and straighten the house, so that when they return in mid-summer there is order instead of uproar. Which means that I’m currently dealing with a problematic epiphenomenon of 21st-Century American Childhood. To wit, a serious stuffed toy problem.
My daughter is five, and I think her teddy-bear count is somewhere in the low thirties, with stuffed penguins running close behind. How in Sam Hill did this happen?
environment Politics: Barack Obama John F. Kennedy Moon Landing Renewable Energy
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 30: Remembering The Fallen
This one is going to my local paper, the Medford Transcript. But I’m also sending a copy to the President.
In 1962, President Kennedy gave America a meaningful goal: by the end of that decade, we would put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. Although JFK couldn’t live to see it, we succeeded with time to spare, and the world was never the same. It is time for a new American president to give America another meaningful goal: shifting our energy economy entirely to renewable sources by 2030. Voices of political pragmatism will deride this as “unrealistic,” and point to all the reasons we can’t. But the ongoing geocide in the Gulf of Mexico is one of many reasons that we must. The laws of physics don’t adjust to political exigency, and the choice is ever clearer: if we don’t kick the fossil fuel habit, we will kill the planetary ecosystems upon which we all depend. The transition will call upon all of our ingenuity and resourcefulness, and it may well be the biggest challenge our nation has ever faced. But as John F. Kennedy said, “We do not do this because it is easy, but because it is hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.” We need to hear those words again. President Obama, are you listening?
Warren Senders
environment Politics: idiots legislation Scott Brown
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 29: In The Warmer Climate, ALL Our Senators Will Be Nude
I was having dinner with friends tonight and one of them mentioned a campaign called something like “Make Brown Green” — aiming to persuade Massachusetts’ junior senator to jump Republican ship on climate and energy issues. I don’t have much hope of that happening (if he were capable of careful thought on climate issues, he wouldn’t be a Republican), but it made the hook for a fun letter. I brought back the Kwashiorkor analogy for a little cameo.
Dear Senator Brown – I write to urge you to make a firm commitment to supporting meaningful, strong climate/energy legislation.
On energy: the disaster in the Gulf is a clear indicator that our current energy policy is fatally flawed; we cannot sustain our present level of oil consumption without risking more and more Deepwater Horizons. How much of the ocean are we going to kill in order to continue powering our SUVs, manufacturing disposable plastic commodities and blowing leaves into our neighbors’ yards?
On climate: despite what Republican leaders wish to believe, global climate change is a reality, and a terrifyingly dangerous one. An anomalous blizzard in Washington, DC no more disproves global warming than a starving child’s swollen belly disproves world hunger. Your party leaders’ readiness to ignore factual scientific evidence when it conflicts with their ideological agenda would be humorous if it were not hindering our national effectiveness in contending with the gravest threat humanity has ever faced.
If ever there was a time to break ranks with Republican orthodoxy, now is it. There is no time to waste and none to lose.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
Profile: Dominique Eade
I first heard Dominique Eade sing around 1980, when Matt Darriau and I had put together a short-lived big band. She sang on one or two of the charts, and I was bowled over by her musicianship. I still am, and I find it amazing that we have not shared the stage since then. Thirty years, huh?
This post duplicates the information about Dominique on the “Singing For The Planet” page, but it includes some music. Listen. She’s an extraordinary artist.
About Dominique Eade
Since her arrival in Boston in the late 1970s, vocalist and composer Dominique Eade has stood out as a musician of exceptional quality. Combining conceptual daring with superb technique, she has won admirers around the world for her fearlessness and artistry.
Dominique Eade — “Go Gently To The Water”
environment: British Petroleum climate change Deepwater Horizon Evil
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 28: Looking The Other Way
FishOutOfWater has his usual mind-bendingly scary diary at Dkos. That motivated me to sit down, but what came out was a response to a New York Times article from a couple of days ago. It’s more in my “Oil and Coal Reward Evil, Stupidity and Irresponsibility” series. I will write something on the Arctic, perhaps tomorrow.
We learn once again that there were warning signs of the impending disaster on the Deepwater Horizon, but that they were ignored. This should surprise no one; the oil and coal industries have had a lot of experience ignoring the signs of impending disasters. The siren call of quick profit drowns out the voices of caution, care and conscience, leaving our nation’s energy economy under the control of forces motivated entirely by profit, unhindered by any sense of responsibility to the greater good. British Petroleum’s behavior has been shameful, yes — but the entire fossil energy sector has a history of rewarding shameful, callous and irresponsible behavior. If ecocidal oil spills, coal mine explosions, and terrifying increases in world temperature levels can’t persuade us to kick our fossil fuel addiction, then we too are ignoring the signs of a planetary emergency that will make the Gulf spill seem small.
Warren Senders
environment: Barack Obama British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Tony Hayward
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 27: A Pair of Hobnailed Doc Martens?
A good dkos piece outlining a variety of environmental/climate action items prompted this letter to the POTUS.
Dear President Obama — I’m glad to hear you’re going to “keep a boot on B.P.’s throat” until they take care of their responsibilities. That’s a big collection of responsibilities: they have to close the oil gusher, clean up the mess and pay the claims of those who suffered loss. Why am I doubtful that British Petroleum will follow through?
Look at B.P.’s record. They evaded regulatory oversight and took advantage of the Bush-engendered culture of corruption at the Minerals Management Service. They ignored safety procedures at the Deepwater Horizon site. After the accident, they held rig workers incommunicado for many hours and forced to sign nondisclosure agreements before being released. They steadily underestimated the flow of oil from the leak on the ocean floor, and refused to allow specialists to measure the flow more accurately — a position which will make it easier for them to evade paying their full share of disaster costs. Their CEO, Tony Hayward, has cynically stated that “it’s a big ocean,” and the environmental impact will be “minimal.” They used unprecedented quantities of highly toxic dispersant chemicals, and simply ignored instructions from the EPA. Their drilling disaster is well on track to destroy huge sections of the Gulf of Mexico, and may well contaminate other ocean areas as well.
You’re going to need a pretty big boot. These are not good people. These people are liars and criminals, and there needs to be more than cosmetic action taken against them. Accountability for the Deepwater Horizon disaster must include substantial economic damages, debarment, criminal prosecution, and civil fines under the Clean Water Act. The management of British Petroleum, as well as that of TransOcean and Halliburton, must be compelled to testify under oath both in court and in Congress.
And, ultimately, we need to put British Petroleum out of business. Not just because they’re avaricious, sleazy, conscienceless environmental criminals, but because we need to put all the oil companies out of business. It is obvious to anyone who’s paying attention that all of these companies reward antisocial behavior — behavior that is now putting the entire planetary ecosystem at risk.
The time is now, Mr. President. Address the nation, and make it clear that all of us will have to work hard and contribute to the common good — and that our survival depends on finding alternatives to fossil fuels.
The Deepwater Horizon is just one of countless examples which illuminate why we can no longer afford oil and coal’s so-called “cheap energy.” It’s time for us to start learning and stop burning.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders