The Macondo well accident in the Gulf of Mexico, which marked its fifth anniversary on Monday, was a true tragedy. Eleven oil rig workers lost their lives, and no well is worth the loss of a single life. Tens of thousands of people in hundreds of communities were affected directly and indirectly by the ensuing oil spill.
But even as we study the Obama Administration’s newly issued blow-out preventer and well control regulations, at least four of the lessons we already have learned from this accident have and will continue to make offshore oil and natural gas drilling safer.
First, prevention is a key element. Federal regulators and the oil and natural gas industries have spent much of the last five years assessing methods for avoiding accidents. Safety evaluations and audits are becoming the norm and industry leaders have re-emphasized that safety starts in the Board Room and extends to all segments of the industry, including workers on drilling rigs, on production platforms and on vessels supplying goods and services. The industry-created Center For Offshore Safety works with the regulatory agencies to ensure that the latest advances in safety technology and practices are identified and implemented.
Second, the industry is better equipped to contain a Macondo-like spill. At the time, many highlighted initial failures to staunch the Macondo well as signs of apathy or ineptitude. Research since then has revealed there was a determined and coordinated effort to first shut in the well and then seal it — all while engaging in exceptional efforts to mitigate the spill’s impact on sea life and coastal communities. Today, two new containment and gathering systems stand ready for deployment. Hopefully, there will never be any need to use the new equipment.
Third, the spill provided an opportunity for coordinated response and research. Responses work best when experts in various sectors work together. Even in the background of the ill-conceived and disastrous federal moratorium on drilling that occurred in the aftermath, scientists, engineers and first responders representing federal, state and local agencies and the private sector worked together when the spill happened to determine its nature and the best means to address it.
The response to the spill was unprecedented in terms of size and scope, and there was a lack of knowledge about environmental baselines and potential impacts of dispersants to treat the spill. Today we know much more about the biology in that part of the Gulf, and better understand how to effectively use dispersants, skimming methods and in situ burning. But we need to continue researching these and other issues so responders can more quickly diagnose the problem and move on to treatment.
Finally, the spill reminds us that offshore oil and natural gas represents a valuable resource that provides jobs and economic growth and reduces our dependence on foreign sources of energy. We know billions of gallons of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas await us in waters off the East, Gulf, Pacific and Alaskan coasts. We also know there are risks associated with acquiring these resources, but the lessons of the Macondo well demonstrate that those are risks we can — and should — accept, minimize and manage.
Randall Luthi is the president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which held its annual meeting last week in Washington, D.C. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions for editorials, available at this link.
