Not a Record To Be Proud Of

Largest oil spill ever into the ocean. Official word came today that the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster released more oil into the marine environment than any other oil gusher ever.

Nearly five million barrels of oil have gushed from BP’s well — and about 800,000 have been captured by containment efforts —since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, according to the latest data. That amount outstrips the estimated 3.3 million barrels spilled into the Bay of Campeche by the Mexican rig Ixtoc I in 1979, previously believed to be the world’s largest accidental release.

I don't want to minimize the ecological damage that has occurred and will continue to occur for untold decades, nor the tragic loss of human life, nor the economic havoc wreaked on individuals, businesses and a region's economy, so I hope this doesn't sound like I'm glossing over the real world impact. But one of the most disturbing aspects of this disaster to me, is the apparent lack of substantive political impact.

In the dawn of the modern environmental movement - the late 1960s and early 1970s - much smaller, single disasters catalyzed political reactions that resulted in watershed environmental laws like the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Act, and others. The Cuyahoga River bursting into flames shocked the nation (even though it and other rivers in industrial areas routinely "lit up" due to pollution), the Santa Barbara oil spill jolted the nation awake to the possibility of oil fouling the beaches and marine areas we loved.

But now...now, it seems that we are immune to environmental shock, inured by decades of pollution events here and around the world. While there is outrage about BP's actions and malfeasance in the Gulf and the damage done, I don't detect a groundswell of real world action to address the "problem," or prevent something similar from happening. We'll be lucky if the government can keep a moratorium on the few deepwater rigs in the Gulf to ensure they've oiled their BOPs properly.

Of course, the problem is not just public consciousness, but a political system that, bad as it was in the 1970s, has been commandeered by Big Oil and other special interests.

As bad as this has been, and will continue to be for many, many years, the agenda is still Drill Baby, Drill.

I'm scared to think what magnitude environmental disaster would be needed to shock the system into action...