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Hasta ahora, la fuga de petróleo del Deepwater Horizon es uno de los mayores derrames de petróleo en el mundo. Pero, ¿cómo ha podido suceder? Toda la operación comenzó con cinco semanas antes del incidente y se produjeron varias señales de advertencia seria en las horas antes de la explosión. Además, previamente hubieron numerosos derrames e incendios en el Deepwater Horizon. Las medidas de seguridad en caso de explosión no se habían instalado correctamente para su uso en caso de una emergencia y estaban dañadas por un accidente anterior no informado, a finales de marzo de 2010. Por otra parte, a raíz de una flexibilización de las regulaciones en 2008, BP no estaba obligada a presentar un plan detallado de estallido. Sin embargo, una declaración de la Casa de la Energía señaló que BP parece haber elegido los procedimientos con más riesgo para ahorrar tiempo y dinero, tal vez desoyendo los consejos de su personal o contratistas. De acuerdo con las declaraciones de los trabajadores de la plataforma petrolera, es posible que algunos trabajadores hayan sido despedidos por quejarse de las medidas de seguridad.

Escrito por:

Sarah Bruckhaus

Dpto. de Redacción 

Deepwater Horizon oil spill - accident or crime?

The oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico leads worldwide to indignation and makes people's blood run cold. The Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling rig, was owned by Transocean and leased to BP. On April 20, 2010, 11 crewmen were killed by an explosion and the drilling rig sank two days later. Until now, the oil is still flowing and BP is not able to seal the leak. At the moment, many people living near to the Gulf lost their job or earn less money, because the spill has also damaged the fishing and tourism industries. Birds, turtles and other marine animals suffer from the oil flowing every day into the water. Now people are calling for the boycott of BP, because according to reports, there were several incidents before and BP didn't prevent other possible ones just for saving money.

By now, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is among the largest oil spills in the world. But how could it happen? The whole operation was already running five weeks late before the incident and there were indicated several serious warning signs in the hours just before the explosion. In addition, there had been numerous previous spills and fires on the Deepwater Horizon. The blowout preventer was not installed enough for use in case of an emergency and damaged in a previously unreported accident in late March 2010. Moreover, following loosening safety regulations in 2008, BP was not required to file a detailed blowout plan. Nevertheless, a House Energy statement noted that BP appears to have chosen riskier procedures to save time and money, sometimes against the advice of its staff or contractors. According to a number of rig workers, it was understood that workers could get fired for raising safety concerns that might delay drilling.

As of June 25, there had been 1,539 dead animals found in the spill zone. Whales and thousands of dolphins are forced to breathe the toxic fumes on the ocean surface. There will be direct effects on these species and all this incidents lead to a loss of culture. Moreover, nobody knows about the influences deep beneath the water's surface. Many people cancelled their vacation and therefore, hotels and shops, dependent on the tourism, have to close putting up many workers on the street. It will be difficult for fisher, shrimpers and oysterman to win back customers, because they fear that food like fish will be infested. Nevertheless, the disaster threatens the oil rig workers and the clean-up workers, too. Many oil rig workers are unemployed because of the temporary prohibition of drilling and clean-up workers are suffering from breathing difficulties and irritated eyes. Some of them had to go to hospital.

But there exist other fateful catastrophes caused by humans. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Alaska, on March 24, 1989. The oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled 40.9 to 120 million litres of crude oil. Thousands of animals died immediately. At the helm, the third mate would never have collided with Bligh Reef had he looked at his Raycas sonar, which would have indicated an impending collision with the Bligh Reef. But the tanker's sonar was left broken and disabled for more than a year before the disaster, and Exxon management knew it. It was just too expensive to fix and operate.

It is indisputable that there have to be new regulations and measures to prevent such incidents. But despite the fact that a blowout plan was no obligation, BP had the responsibility. They had no emergency plan and ignored all the accidents before. Just because of the saving of money, people were killed and the catastrophe leads to unemployment, financial damages, illness, the dead of thousands of animals and immeasurable effects on species. Specialists presume that the oil will continue to spill until at least August. No one knows the long-term effects of this contamination. But how much does a whole ecosystem cost? How can people measure the pollution? Just one thing is clear: Man is a wolf to man! 

By: 

Sarah Bruckhaus

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