WNJ Opinion: Help Us Stop Another Disaster in the Gulf
Photo credit: foodandwaterwatch.org
On Monday, August 2 a group of 19 New Jersey-based labor, disability, environmental, tenant, fishing and community organizations sent a letter to Senators Lautenberg and Menendez asking them to call for oversight hearings on the BP Atlantis platform (Click Here to Read the Letter). However, this is not where the story starts.
BP Atlantis, located over 150 miles from New Orleans, produces from a depth of 7,000 feet—deeper than the Horizon.
Last year, Food & Water Watch learned from a whistleblower that BP lacked proper up-to-date and engineer-approved safety documentation for Atlantis—a situation that could cause “catastrophic Operator errors,” according to one manager at BP.
In other words, in the case of an emergency like the one that befell the Deepwater Horizon before it exploded, workers on the production facility would be without the proper operating manuals—or road maps of how components of the platform actually worked—to prevent the emergency from escalating to disaster-like proportions.
Food & Water Watch began informing policy makers and regulators about the situation on Atlantis more than a year ago, when it first asked for the facility to be shut down until the documents could be independently verified. The Minerals Management Service (MMS)—now called the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE)—would not even look into this issue until Congress started raising the issue.
In February of this year, NJ Representatives Holt and Payne, joined Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and 16 of their colleagues calling for MMS to investigate BP Atlantis. MMS finally got the message and said it would investigate the matter in March. Unfortunately, the April 20th tragic explosion and sinking of Horizon has delayed the results of the investigation until September.
Now, over 100 days into the spill, all the MMS/BOEMRE has done is deflect and delay the investigation. Instead of simply checking to see if the documentation is currently in order, a process that should take hours to a few days, in June they responded that an investigation of Atlantis would take three months to complete. In the meantime, the facility continues to produce 200,000 barrels of oil and 180 million cubic feet of gas per day. It appears the cozy relationships that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar vowed to battle upon taking over the Department of the Interior are continuing even after the spill and a stinging Inspector General’s report that uncovered egregious ethical violations during the Bush Administration.
To date, over 34 congresspersons have urged president Obama to shut down the Atlantis platform until it can be proven safe to operate. Senators Menendez and Lautenberg have been strong defenders of our oceans and critical of BP’s actions, but they remain silent on the Atlantis platform.
Some modeling shows that the Horizon spill could impact New Jersey. A spill from the Atlantis would only add to the danger our state faces from Gulf oil. Even if the spill does not make it to our shore, NJ leaders in Washington must stand in solidarity with those in the Gulf if we hope to protect the long-term health of our oceans and coastal communities. If this lax oversight is allowed to continue in the Gulf, who knows where it will stop. By speaking up for oversight hearings on the Atlantis, our NJ Senators will send a strong message to the oil industry: follow the law, operate safe or we will shut you down.
Beyond the environmental impacts of the spill, we must also consider the impact a platform shutdown will have on workers. Workers should not be punished for corporate malfeasance or ineptitude. In the event that Atlantis is shutdown, BP should be fined and required to pay all the costs related to the shutdown including reimbursing taxpayers for fees related to the investigation and compensating rig workers and other workers associated with production for their lost income. This will not only protect workers and their families, but it will create a disincentive for the oil industry to cut corners where public health, worker safety and the environment are concerned.
Please take a minute to email Senator Menendez and Senator Lautenberg. Tell them you want oversight hearings for the Atlantis and that you are standing in solidarity with the Gulf coast fishermen, workers and their families who have seen the full impact of lax oversight and regulation of the oil and gas industry.
For more information on Food & Water Watch’s campaign to protect the Gulf from another oil disaster go to: www.spillthetruth.org.
Jim Walsh currently serves as the Eastern Region Director for Food & Water Watch. He has over ten years of experience working in local and national movements to empower communities to work for social, racial and economic justice.
Food & Water Watch is a non-profit organization that advocates for common sense policies that will result in healthy, safe food and access to safe and affordable drinking water.
Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 8/4/2010 10:00 AM 
Categories: WNJ Opinion
Tags: bp atlantis bp food and water watch deepwater horizon lautenberg obama menendez
Categories: WNJ Opinion
Tags: bp atlantis bp food and water watch deepwater horizon lautenberg obama menendez
Hi, Jim,
It's Donna - we spoke on the phone re fracking. I just donated to the campaign to air the tv ad in LA. and sent the link to my friends and family to sign the letter to Pres. Obama. Am I too late? Today is 9/23/10.
Best regards for all you do,
donna
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