The oil spill in the gulf of Mexico will be one of the greatest environmental calamities in history. The administration needs to do more than record videos from the Oval office.
Dear President Obama,
You may be waking up this morning thinking about sanctions for Iran, or the pointless waste of lives and money in Afghanistan. Or maybe you’re putting your finishing touches on a speech about financial reform. It’s a Saturday, so maybe you’re going to spend some time with the kids or get in a round of golf.
WAKE UP. The greatest environmental catastrophe in history is currently unfolding along the gulf coast, and terrified citizens are desperately looking for some kind of leadership. We currently sense NO urgency from the administration. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING in the world right now. It requires your IMMEDIATE AND TOTAL ATTENTION. This is an all hands on deck moment. Every possible avenue of mitigation and containment must be tried. BP cannot and will not be responsible for the consequences of this spill: WE WILL.
The consequences of inaction are too horrible to contemplate. But we must see them clearly. Excuses about technology gaps or legal responsibility or whatever are useless and infuriating. This disaster has exposed a corrupt system of graft uniting industry and their supposed regulators, as corrupt and destructive as that uniting the financial industry and their supposed regulators. When we hear that new drilling leases are being granted as we speak, when we hear that alternative and potentially more effective methods of mitigation exist but are not being tried, when we hear that BP has a shameful safety record in general, and that they systematically short cut the safety process on Deepwater horizon, and yet BP is still thought fit to manage the response, that says that your administration does not take this issue seriously, that your administration is abdicating it’s basic responsibility to protect the public trust and welfare. Because one thing is sure: BP is in no way shape or form qualified, entitled, or justified to handle this spill. And we have every reason to believe they will A) Lie about what is happening B) pursue their own self interest at the cost of the public’s interest. You MUST step in, you must show that YOU are in charge, not BP.
This is not a political issue where you can wait a few months to carefully plan your strategy. This is a CRISIS that requires the total effort of your administration RIGHT NOW, that requires you gather every possible resource, technique, and expertise, and, just as important, that you communicate honestly and emphatically about the scope and meaning of the danger.
GET ON THE BALL RIGHT NOW!
