Posts Tagged ‘ Oil Spill ’

Mmmaybe not…BP up for Safety Award, Ceremony Quietly Postponed

May 7th, 2010. By Hunter West

If it wasn’t so tragic—with loss of life and the almost certain environmental threat—the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon would have taken on a completely unexpected spin with an irony so delicious you could taste it.

Instead, it’s just sad.

That’s because BP, the multinational oil company that had leased the Deepwater Horizon and is now scrambling to stem the flow of millions of gallons of crude oil beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, was a favorite to win an environmental award last Monday that celebrated the safety and efficiency of the offshore drilling industry.

Needless to say, in the wake of the ongoing crisis, that ceremony was quietly postponed.

Somebody is thinking at the federal Minerals Management Service, the sponsor of the awards. Whomever handles their public relations over there deserves a raise in pay and a pat on the back, as going through with the ceremony in light of what has happened would be a gaffe of major proportions capable of reverberating around the world.

Can you imagine? Everybody from Jon Stewart to Jay Leno would be all over it. If people are already saddened and angered over the accident and the environmental impact, such an ill-advised decision to forge ahead with a self-serving glad-fest would leave the rest of us seeing red as we watch the Gulf of Mexico turn brown, as Mother Earth bleeds green.

Make no mistake, in any other scenario and at any other time the annual Industry SAFE Awards would be—and is—an important incentive for an industry that plays with fire as far as the Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BP Oil Spill, Deepwater Horizon, Environmental Damage, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Drilling, Oil Spill
Posted in Accidents, Emerging Issues, Environment | 4 Comments »