Stan Geiger

Lube Job in the Gulf

I watched video of oil sloshing up on the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama over the weekend in disgust. Due to family ties, that video hit home. My brother-in-law's father has owned a vacation home in Gulf Shores for many years. Recently, my brother-in-law and sister purchased a place there. Just about the time the ink was dry on that deal, an offshore rig went boom.

One of the striking things about the video aired was a pan of the horizon. Nary a boat could be seen in the water. The oil had been left to invade the beaches unmolested.

I'm quite disappointed in the containment efforts. I find them completely inadequate. Word is, thousands of suggestions have been offered. It seems there is always some excuse fronted as to why they won't work.

I say turn it loose. Hell, try them all. Will it make anything worse if something is tried and doesn't work? I think not. On the other hand, a particular method might actually help. Try them all!

One of my favorites is the armada of tankers and skimmers. That, according to reports, has been successful elsewhere.

I see three lessons coming out of the current disaster.

First, Obama is being shown to be a facade, an inept shadow of a chief executive. One of the biggest questions being asked these days is, "Who's in charge?"

Obama's ineptitude should come as a surprise to no one. He was made the chief executive when he had never managed anything. Not to worry, though. He's going to make a speech tomorrow.

Beyond talking, the only thing the president has done has been the elimination of good-paying jobs in an area that is already being economically rocked by shutting down offshore drilling.

As bad as the BP disaster is, the industry as a whole has a pretty good record. There are thousands of offshore operations in the gulf. To penalize everyone for one blown operation is unreasonable.

Second, big government is being shown to not work. The Gulf disaster isn't the only example, just the latest.

Big government's levies failed to stop the flooding of New Orleans when Katrina showed up. FEMA failed to be effective in the wake of the storm.

Big government failed to stop the financial crisis. While people drawing six-figure salaries at the SEC spent their time viewing Internet porn, greedy bastards on Wall Street nearly drove the world's economy off a cliff.

I believe it is called the Minerals and Mining Service that is supposed to make sure offshore drilling operations are done properly. It failed.

Now, in the midst of disaster, big government hasn't got a clue.

Third, it is clear there is offshore drilling and then there's offshore drilling. In other words, drilling in 200 feet of water is a lot different than drilling in 5,000 feet of water.

I believe everything done to this point to stop the leak has been nothing more than placation. I think people in the know have known since the start that the only solution to the leak is the so-called "relief well." A relief well takes time. Originally, they said 90 days. Many experts today say that was an overly-optimistic projection. The leak might go on through the end of the year. But the company and the government couldn't sit around with thumbs up butts looking like they were doing nothing, so a bunch of silly stuff was thrown out to give people hope for a couple of weeks.

I'm certainly no expert on the matter of oil drilling, but I'm going to throw out a suggestion for future deep-water drilling operations. Maybe if a company wants to tap an oil deposit 5,000 feet under water that company should be required to drill two holes at the same time. That way, a relief well will already be in place should anything go wrong with the primary hole.

Yes, that would cost money. But judging from oil companies' profits, I'd say they can afford the added cost. Besides, from the sound of things, I'd say a little extra money put toward avoiding a disaster is cheaper than paying for the disaster.

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