Open Writing

So far this year there have been two calamitous events that have dominated world news for weeks – the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the mine collapse in Chile. Both events involved human tragedy, and the employment of extreme engineering solutions that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago. In a world saturated by war news and human suffering, the reporting has seized and held the attention of people everywhere.

The factors that differentiate these two events are to do with the way they were handled by the responsible parties, and that speak volumes about the cultures from which those parties sprang. In the case of the BP disaster, the oil well collapse and subsequent leak, peeled back a layer of protective skin from a corporate culture and an industry that everybody instinctively knows is lacking in “right thinking,” but only occasionally has such stark proof.

Almost from the first hour after the oil well caught fire and sank, the implications were clouded in obfuscation and falsehoods, and characterized by a cynical disregard for the victims on shore and the eleven workers who died in the initial explosion. The BP Company’s spokesman at the time was CEO Tony Hayward. In a statement after the oil rig sank, he claimed that “The environmental impact of the disaster would likely be "Very, very modest." He later described the oil spill as an "environmental catastrophe."

In a statement to the Guardian newspaper, he said that the size of the spill is "Relatively tiny in comparison to the very big ocean." Taken to task later for his poorly worded apology for the disruption that the largest oil spill in U.S. history has caused, he said "There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back." In response to which, Christopher Jones, a brother of one of the 11 workers killed in the oil rig explosion, told the Senate Judiciary Committee, "Mr. Hayward, I want my brother's life back."

In a letter to Hayward from the US House Energy and Commerce Committee, Chairman Henry Waxman told him that a congressional investigation alleges that BP took a low-cost, speedy approach to drilling the now-broken deep water well responsible for the growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico. More serious than the PR gaffes of an insensitive spokesman were the hastily cobbled together pieces of equipment that were supposed to stop the leak, but didn’t. This seemed to indicate that BP had made no provision for such an eventuality.

Not that BP was the only blameworthy party. The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), the organization that has responsibility for regulating off-shore drilling, was also doing a far from sterling job. Since its inception in the 90's, the BOEMRE has been embroiled in numerous scandals. It has notably been described as a dysfunctional organization that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior and a free-for-all atmosphere. This description characterized their response to this catastrophe.

In 1990, bureau employees were linked to prostitution, and in 2008 the Department of Interior's Inspector General reported that employees participated in drug use and sexual activity with employees from the very energy firms they were supposed to be regulating. A May 2010 inspector general investigation revealed that BOEMRE regulators in the Gulf region had allowed industry officials to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil, and then turned them over to the regulators, who traced over them in pen before submitting the reports to the agency.

Contrast all this with the way the Chilean mine disaster unfolded. Though it wasn’t without its political grandstanding and regulatory failures, the overall impression one gained was of dignified and careful handling, as deserved by the 33 trapped miners’ stoical bravery. The public statements that were made were clear and factual, with no attempt to deflect the limelight away from the problems.

The engineering solutions that were brought to bear on the rescue were methodically conceived, carefully introduced and unstintingly provided by both Canadian and US companies. The spotlight that shone on this heart-stopping drama also revealed a lot about a country and a people that were not well known to the rest of the world.

The conduct of the miners and their families was outstanding, and even though the Chilean president Sebastián Piñera Echenique made good use of worldwide interest to promote his country, he did not let that get in the way of the rescue work.

After such a praiseworthy undertaking , everyone involved could justifiably walk away with feelings of pride. Something that BP and its cohort are unlikely ever to experience.

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