BP Oil Spill Fix #14 – Dutch Masters

June 18th, 2010. By AbiK

You would think in a country that not only put a man on the moon but also spawned such tongue-tripping loquaciousness as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious that we’d be able to come up with a fix—a long-term, solid solution—to the BP Oil Spill. It’s apparently been more of a challenge than the bigwig oil engineers could contend with—and, rather than bringing together the collective brain power of the oil industry to find a fix, it seems the Big Oil fraternity is steering clear of this baby in a way not dissimilar to the way everyone flees the frat brother who’s left holding the tap at an underage drinking party.

Case in point, a quote from Chevron’s CEO, John Watson, as reported in The New York Times this week, “I believe the independent investigation will show that this tragedy was preventable.” True though it may be, clearly you can kiss camaraderie—and help—goodbye. 

So, one of our readers recommends looking elsewhere for a viable solution. Namely, Holland. Here’s what he says…

Fix the BP Oil Spill Idea #14

“It is my understanding that Holland (within days) offered assistance with the spill and was debuffed. First, Holland has some of the best engineers in the world. Second, we need all the help we can get. This kind of arrogant pride is stupid and, “the stongest democatic nation” did not get to that point by acting stupid.”

I can’t speak in depth to the Dutch engineering prowess—they can certainly engineer a good beer and between bicycles and windmills they knew how to be “green” before anyone on this side of the pond knew what the word “compost” meant. But if there’s one nation that knows water management and containment and all things shipping, it’s The Netherlands. And as I think about that Dutch legend of the little boy using his finger to plug the hole in the dike—btw, that picture is from Madurodam and if you’re ever in Holland, it’s a miniature must-see marvel of the entire country—it strikes me that maybe, just maybe, we should be taking the Dutch up on any offers of assistance.

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Thanks to our reader (who didn’t leave his name)!

Tags: BP, BP Oil Spill

This was posted on Friday, June 18th, 2010 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Environment . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.