July 1st, 2010
12:48 PM ET

Gulf Dispatch: Gulf oil disaster proves reform is needed now

Editor's note: Philippe Cousteau Jr. is the grandson of legendary ocean explorer and filmmaker Jacques Yves Cousteau. Philippe heads the nonprofit organization EarthEcho International (www.earthecho.org). Philippe, who has been working in this field for years, is an advocate for the people and the wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico during the oil crisis, visiting the area and learning first hand the impact the disaster has had not only on the ecosystem but on the people who suffer as a result of the catastrophe. Read more about Philippe's background.

I remember my first trip to see the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. A few weeks after the rig exploded I traveled to survey the spill both above and below the surface. Seeing the impact from the shore as well as being the first one to dive and film the oil spill from beneath the waves was a horrifying experience. Wave after wave of oil/chemical dispersant mix washed over us - a chemical soup that is toxic to countless creatures and still spreading through the Gulf, wreaking havoc on the lives of animals and the livelihoods of people.

It was made all the worse because less than 18 months earlier, in partnership with the Ocean Conservancy, I had testified in front of the House Natural Resources Committee to address the deficiencies of the laws that govern oil and gas development in the oceans. The echo of that testimony is still haunting me as I have watched the devastation unfold first-hand over the past 70 days.

One of my favorite writers Mark Twain once wrote, "A man's first duty is to his conscience and his honor." There is no honor in this catastrophe, and its consequences are unconscionable. Nor is there honor in the circumstances that created it.

There is a lot of talk in the media about the moratorium the Obama administration recently put in place; but the truth is that a moratorium would not have prevented this tragedy. What I testified about more than a year ago and what is still needed today is to reform and strengthen the existing laws to ensure that they protect ocean health and coastal economies, and that science - not profit - should guide any oil and gas development.

This spill reminds us we are in desperate need of a policy that recognizes that in our ocean environment, everything is connected - from industrial uses to the health of our ocean and the health of the coastal economy. The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster exposes a fundamental flaw in our nation's approach to oil and gas activities in the ocean.

Specifically, we have to do three things:

First, we must reform the way the planning and leasing process happens so that the appropriate environmental analyses are done. Clearly the health of the environment was not taken seriously when disaster response plans named animals such as walrus and polar bear, exclusively arctic species, as some of the ones that would be impacted during a Gulf spill.

Second, we must ensure that we have both the baseline scientific knowledge as well as the technology to clean up a spill. And we must flat-out prohibit oil and gas activity in important ecological areas, as well as those areas where oil spill containment and cleanup is not feasible, places like the Arctic where floating ice would make the feeble skimming and booming efforts in the Gulf completely futile.

And third, we must ensure that revenue generated by activities that put our oceans at risk, like drilling for oil and gas, are reinvested in protecting, maintaining and restoring ocean health. This would help to combat another problem, namely that we have underinvested in the oceans for decades. The federal budget for space exploration is exponentially larger than the budget for ocean exploration. Knowing if there was ever water on Mars is not critical to life on this planet: Healthy oceans are. This is part of the reason no one knows the long-term impacts of this spill; we don't have enough understanding of the ecosystems and species that inhabit the Gulf in the first place.

June 11 would have been my grandfather's 100th birthday, and I know that both my father, Philippe Sr., and my grandfather would have been covering this story if they were alive, and that they would have been just as horrified by what they saw as I have been. I can only hope that we learn from this and start to truly take the kind of drastic action necessary to begin the decades-long road to recovery.

As my grandfather often told me: History will not only judge us by our mistakes, but by what we do to fix them.

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Filed under: Gulf Coast Oil Spill • Gulf Coast Oil Spill economics • Gulf Coast Oil Spill environment • Gulf Coast Oil Spill politics • Gulf Dispatch
soundoff (71 Responses)
  1. Patrick R

    Am with the Coastguard on this one the media make thing's worst than they are!!

    July 2, 2010 at 7:19 pm | Report abuse |
  2. ronald gochenour

    to the news media show the test on air quality and water test in the gulf .SPECIAL REPORT VERY BAD NEWS TODAY we cannot help all the half DEAD wildlife in the water and on land who is cleaning up all the dead fish. why don't you show the clean up on the shore and in the water. why don't you show all the people in the gulf that don't have food no money for bills ,some may loose home or business and BP not paying the workers and why the grove not stepping in and making BP pay faster why the news media not stepping up for all the people in gulf. why not call out names of government people not doing a good job.WHY DON'T YOU SHOW ALL THE OIL.HAVE A SPECIAL REPORT EVERY 2 HOURS AND UP DATE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. EVERY HOUR IS A DISASTER IN THE GULF WHY NOT REPORT IT.FOX news.....CNN.....CNBC......MSNBC...news media not made any difference in the gulf oil spill. come on news media show some hope for the people in the gulf they deserve better from you

    news media with out a heart to fight for the people in the gulf oil spill

    Ronald GOCHENOUR

    July 2, 2010 at 7:30 pm | Report abuse |
  3. rubber chemist

    I have listened to about all I can take about the oil spill and thought I needed to say my piece to someone and this was sent to Rush Limbaugh. I know BP is the ultimate party in charge, but the blame should be shared as stated.
    This note is to let a little untalked about information about the BP problem that no one has mentioned to be heard. First I have been in the manufacture of rubber products for the oil field for 62 years. My credentials are as a graduate with a BS in Chem. E. from Texas A&M in 1949 and went to work for a tool manufacturer that year as a rubber chemist to design formulations to be molded into products used in many different down hole applications. My experience has brought me into contact with all types of tools including blow out preventers. This is to give a little credence to my idea as to what happened on the current well problem.
    First we must realize that this was the outcome of an accident. The well while work was being performed on it a gas pocket was hit with high pressure and the well started to blow out. The blowout preventers were attempted to be closed and could not create a seal because the rubber was missing. The metal gates in the preventers could not seal metal to metal and the pipe was blown out of the hole causing an explosion. This type of accident was caused not because BP was negligent, but because the manufacturer of the preventers did not state that the rubber seal elements had a certain useful life and do not exceed this life. It is my experience that the preventers were closed for testing and treating in the well too many times and the rubber was gone prior to the well blowing in and the preventers had no rubber to cause a seal. The useful life had been surpassed and the operators had no chance of closing off the well flow. This is not the first time this has happened and wont be the last unless the bop manufacturers state the actual useful life (how many times the rams can be set) before they must be replaced. A similar accident happened to a land based gas well in 1977 (W. C. Parlange Jr. Et Al #1 Judge Digby Field Pointe Coupee Parish, La). After a study of all procedures and pictures it was proven that the bop elements were void of the rubber needed to make a seal well prior to the blowout. Loose rubber parts were recovered from the pit similar to the rubber particles found on the BP well (as shown on 60 minutes). The well being on land was worked on by Red Adair and the well head was sealed off and the gas flow was stopped.
    Rubber is not an exact material and it starts to loose useful life as soon as it comes from the mold. All of the metal that goes into preventers can cost millions of dollars and the rubber parts only cost hundreds, but the rubber is what makes the product work. In my 62 years of experience, I have witnessed many cases where rubber parts were miss used and caused many failures due to not knowing the exact useful life and correct usage of the parts.
    Thank you for letting me get this to someone that might care. Bp is not without blame for this incident, but the drilling contractor and the preventor manufacturer should share equally.

    July 3, 2010 at 8:46 pm | Report abuse |
  4. ronald gochenour

    To the president of the united states
    Oil disaster day 76 in the gulf. go to the gulf today you have the right not to go to the gulf. you don't have the right not to send everything we have to fight the disaster in the gulf. we will not and cannot trust BP. it is hard for me to believe that the oil is on shore and BP and the government are not making every effort to clean up the oil. I would like to see you make EPA show air and water test. we need to know why people are getting sick. help the people in the gulf with food, loans, work, make sure no one looses their home and boats from BP oil spill. I need to know how much wildlife is died from the oil spill the people need to see all the dead. how many people in the water clean up all the dead fish. news media not showing all the dead and all the oil I thank someone in the fed government making it hard for them to do their jobs. I thank it is hard for people to believe that the fed government has made a bigger mistake in the gulf this time. what I would like to see happen is the president go to the gulf and make it clear the news media can go anywhere to report on the oil spill. call up all national guard to go to the gulf and make sure that BP is not doing anything wrong like putting sand over oil on the shore. call up all the wildlife people to go to the gulf to help with saving all the wildlife that has not died.call up all the people that know how to clean up oil on the sand. do not call up people that only want to say No to everything and remove the ones in the gulf. If someone has a good idea how to clean up the oil on shore try something........my name is Ronald GOCHENOUR I have lived in VA all my 55 years I vote democrat .2 times now I have seen on t.v.the worst of what can happen in the gulf and the fed government very poor job.so many people lost their life and lost everything they loved I am so sorry for the loss of love ones

    thank you
    Mr president

    July 5, 2010 at 6:05 pm | Report abuse |
  5. ronald gochenour

    To the president of the united states
    Oil disaster day 76 in the gulf. go to the gulf today you have the right not to go to the gulf. you don't have the right not to send everything we have to fight the disaster in the gulf. we will not and cannot trust BP. it is hard for me to believe that the oil is on shore and BP and the government are not making every effort to clean up the oil. I would like to see you make EPA show air and water test. we need to know why people are getting sick. help the people in the gulf with food, loans, work, make sure no one looses their home and boats from BP oil spill. I need to know how much wildlife is died from the oil spill the people need to see all the dead. how many people in the water clean up all the dead fish. news media not showing all the dead and all the oil I thank someone in the fed government making it hard for them to do their jobs. I thank it is hard for people to believe that the fed government has made a bigger mistake in the gulf this time. what I would like to see happen is the president go to the gulf and make it clear the news media can go anywhere to report on the oil spill. call up all national guard to go to the gulf and make sure that BP is not doing anything wrong like putting sand over oil on the shore. call up all the wildlife people to go to the gulf to help with saving all the wildlife that has not died.call up all the people that know how to clean up oil on the sand. do not call up people that only want to say No to everything and remove the ones in the gulf. If someone has a good idea how to clean up the oil on shore try something........my name is Ronald GOCHENOUR I have lived in VA all my 55 years I vote democrat .2 times now I have seen on t.v.the worst of what can happen in the gulf and the fed government very poor job.so many people lost their life and lost everything they loved I am so sorry for the loss of love ones

    thank you

    July 8, 2010 at 12:18 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Eli Ally

    sometimes spongebob is stingy and annoying",

    October 6, 2010 at 5:04 am | Report abuse |
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