Jane Dale Owen

Precaution over speed & greed

President, Citizens League for Environmental Action Now, Jul 06, 10.

Throughout history, industry has endangered public health and the environment by ignoring early warning signs. Government and industry leaders have failed to follow the Precautionary Principle, a guide toward preventing harm to the planet and to human health. Instead, industry has been allowed to play Russian Roulette with the environment and our lives. Now 11 people have died and much of the Gulf is dying as a result of the latest outrageous industrial catastrophe.

The British Petroleum (BP) oil spill is perhaps the best example of why we must require industry to follow the Precautionary Principle and heed early warning signs. Why did BP and government agencies wait so late to drill a relief well? In fragile areas of Canada, relief wells are required to be drilled in the same season the main well is drilled. Why did they wait until after this disaster to convene experts to discuss ways to clean up this spill? Shouldn’t this team have been in place as part of the planning of a project so hazardous that it now threatens the health of the planet? They certainly knew this could happen.

Why did the government allow BP to take on this project in the first place? The negligence and lies discovered in the investigation of the 2005 explosion at a BP refinery in Texas City should have been enough to bar BP from doing business in the United States. To allow this company to pursue what now seems to be an experiment with nature, seems absolutely absurd.

Governmental agencies including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had plenty of evidence to shut down BP after the Texas City explosion that resulted in 15 deaths and 170 injuries.

After the accident,The Baker Panel, an independent panel led by then Secretary of State James Baker, reviewed the safety culture, management systems and corporate safety oversite of the company’s U.S. refineries. The review revealed that BP was perpetrating “egregious willful” acts of neglect in the maintenance and safety precautions required by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other agencies.

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Full Story: The New Rule: Precaution over speed and greed
Source: ClimateProgress.org, June 29, 2010

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