Worrying developments

by Kath Noble

(June 09, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Somebody asked me the other day why there has been so little coverage in the local press of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It is said to be the worst ecological disaster in the history of the United States. And it concerns an industry into which Sri Lanka is about to jump headfirst. That would seem to be reason enough for journalists to follow developments. But they aren't. My interlocutor wanted to know whether a reporting ban had been imposed by the Government.

I will get to BP in a moment.

Media freedom has been discussed at such length in this country that most people are deeply confused about the issue. Questions like this are put to me all the time. They are so prevalent that it is actually quite hard to keep things in perspective.

Of course there are problems. I have written about them in previous columns, and I am sure there will be plenty of opportunities in the future to add to those words.

But it isn't that bad.

The Government doesn't control what is published. Anybody who believes there to be a blackout on particular subjects is welcome to send me the details.

Having cleared that up, let's return to oil exploration.

In the Gulf of Mexico, all is very far from well. An oil rig called Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank - killing 11 crew members - nearly two months ago, and it has been leaking between 500,000 and 800,000 gallons per day into the ocean. We aren't exactly sure. That's up to 40 million gallons in total so far. And it hasn't stopped gushing yet. BP - the company that uses the platform - finally managed to put a cap on the leak this weekend and is now siphoning off a proportion of the oil to a tanker on the surface, but it doesn't expect to be able to stop the flow altogether until a couple of relief wells it is digging are completed, another two months from now.

That means serious damage.

To put it into perspective, remember the Exxon Valdez. That devastated thousands of miles of coastline when it ran aground in Alaska. Hundreds of thousands of birds and thousands of marine animals were killed, and they continued to die for years afterwards. A study released by the authorities on the 20th anniversary of the accident stated that toxic materials could still be found in some places, and that it might even take centuries for them to disappear. Many species had yet to recover. Fish stocks were badly hit and tourism suffered.

About 10 million gallons were released on that occasion. That's about a quarter of what has already escaped in the Gulf of Mexico.

I won't go on about the impact, because I suspect that many people in Sri Lanka regard environmental destruction as just an unfortunate and indeed inevitable result of activities that are necessary for the development of the country.

There is a feeling that only the rich can be interested in protecting the environment.

I see it rather differently. I think it is people who have money who can afford to do what causes the most damage to our world.

It is certainly so with oil exploration.

BP made $14 billion in profits last year. It was not through lack of funds that it ended up in its current rather sorry predicament, but through desire for even more.

The Guardian has reported that internal safety records dating back nearly a year show problems with the very equipment that went awry. The company opted for a higher risk at lower cost. A congressman is quoted as saying that it then chose a particularly unpleasant and yet less effective chemical for use in the clean-up operation simply because a former BP executive is on the board of the company that makes it - it is banned in the UK. Meanwhile, the Huffington Post says that the wife of one of the crew members who died in the blast has filed a lawsuit claiming that the company didn't provide suitably competent staff for the oil rig and didn't properly supervise their work.

It also reports that BP had been resisting proposed strengthening of industry safety rules.

The worst case scenario in the plan for Deepwater Horizon that was submitted to the regulators - the Minerals Management Service - involved a leak of just 162,000 gallons per day. BP claimed to have the capacity to respond to any eventuality.

In reality, they have needed the assistance of the Coast Guard and a host of federal agencies, not to mention thousands of volunteers.

Throughout the history of the industry, it has been only in the aftermath of major disasters that advances have been made in its oversight. Given the number and severity of incidents that have occurred in other countries, Sri Lanka ought to be in a good position to manage activities in its waters effectively. There is plenty of experience to learn from, coming so late to the work.

However, we know how ineffective regulation has been in other sectors.

What's more, even in the United States it has proven difficult to keep the oil companies in check. The main problem has been politicians, who tend to get far too cosy with them.

It will not be through lack of funds that BP fails to hand over the compensation it is now promising the affected people either.

The Exxon Valdez settlement was supposed to be $5 billion. That was what a jury decided soon after the accident happened. But the company then spent two decades fighting it in court, during which time the 33,000 Alaskans who had been judged worthy of damages received nothing at all. The final ruling required them to pay only $500 million.

The point is that oil exploration is a very risky business that Sri Lanka cannot afford to get wrong. To understand this better, go to www.ifitwasmyhome.com.

This is why we need to pay attention.

The Government has identified three areas - practically encircling the island - in which it plans to allow drilling. One block in the North West has been leased to an Indian company, and they intend to start work on test wells in January. They are said to be expecting to spend about $100 million on the endeavour, so they will be going all out for results. If they are successful, that will draw many others in, and quickly too. The Mannar Basin could be full of oil rigs before we know it.

Discussion of how this process is going to be managed should have begun already.

Instead there is a deafening silence.

I know there is nothing unusual about that. The authorities in this country are used to hiding everything other than their highly imaginative predictions of wealth, fame and glory, to which we have to listen at regular intervals and very great length.

It is up to the local media to seek out the necessary information.

This is a task they are more than capable of tackling. So let them get on with it.

In a rather cruel twist of fate, it is the United States that is supposed to be helping Sri Lanka work out how to avoid an ecological disaster of the kind precipitated by BP. It awarded a grant of $500,000 to the Ministry of Finance and Planning some time back through the agency in charge of advancing its commercial interests in Low and Middle Income Countries. What the Government has done with the cash is a mystery. But given that these experts couldn't prevent what happened in the Gulf of Mexico, it probably doesn't matter.

We have been warned.