More than a month has passed since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up off the coast of Louisiana, April 20, then sank two days later to spew more than seven million gallons of oil into Gulf of Mexico.
The spill, which is already being touted as one of the worst environmental disasters in United States history, may completely destroy the Louisiana fishing and tourism industry as well as the habitats of hundreds of species of birds.
“Just under 70 miles of our coast have been hit by oil,” said Louisiana Gov. Boby Jindal. “Let’s make no mistake that what is at threat here is our way of life.”
While questions about how to stop, contain and clean up the spill remain unanswered, it may be some comfort to know that those in charge are attending to that which matters most: blame.
“The administration has done everything we can possibly do to make sure that we push BP to stop the spill and to contain the impact,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “We have also been very clear that there are areas where BP and the private sector are the ones who must continue to lead the efforts with government oversight, such as the deployment of private sector technology 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface to kill the well.”
“This wasn’t our accident,” said BP CEO Tony Hayward. “This was a drilling rig operated by another company. It was their people, their systems, their processes. We are not responsible for the accident.”
“If the government felt there were other things to do it is clearly within the power of the government to do that,” said BP’s chief operating officer Doug Suttles. “Everyone is very, very frustrated.”
Everyone is getting so frustrated, in fact, that some of the comments coming out of the oil spill are trending toward the ridiculous. Near the end of May, BP CEO Hayward stated “it's a relatively small leak compared to the volume of water in the gulf” and “come on, this is America, there will be frivolous lawsuits.” At the same time, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin accused the president of dragging his feet because of his close ties to the oil industry; which is ironic coming from a Republican who once campaigned on the slogan “drill, baby, drill.”
As with any disaster of this magnitude, there is plenty of blame to go around. Up until the spill, the well

dug by the Deepwater Horizon rig was hailed as an engineering marvel, the deepest in history at a vertical depth of 35,050. But like engineering marvels before it, including the Titanic and the Hindenburg, hindsight is 20-20. BP America, Transocean and Halliburton all had a responsibility to ensure anything that went wrong could be fixed, and the government should have double-checked the plans, but watching all four accuse one another is laughable, when it isn’t just sad.
In particular, the accusation that the government needs to or should have taken a more active role is pure hypocrisy on the part of Obama’s detractors, who have sought to limit government intervention in everything from the stock market to health care.
In all honesty, there isn’t a lot politicians can do right now, which is why they engage in an endless game of finger pointing to give the illusion of action. It is the scientists and engineers who created this mess who must be tasked with cleaning it up.
If there is one good thing that comes out of Deepwater Horizon, it will be a quicker response when an accident of this type happens again. For the time being, every minute that passes without plugging the leak means another oil-choked pelican washing up on the shores of the bayou.