Today is the annual celebration of World Oceans Day and this month is officially National Oceans Month. President Obama used the occasion last year to create the Ocean Policy Task Force and directed them to develop a National Ocean Policy and a framework for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning. The task force consists of 24 government entities and they have spent the last year conducting an efficient, thoughtful and thorough processes for policy development. It’s been done exactly how policy should be made.  Now, when the final policy should be ready for implementation the leaders of the task force are buried in 24/7 efforts to stop the BP oil disaster. Is the final National Ocean Policy another victim of the general mayhem caused by the BP oil disaster?  Big Oil strikes again.

Was there ever a better time for a National Ocean Policy? We know that a National Ocean Policy would not have stopped BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster from becoming the worst human caused environmental catastrophe since the Dust Bowl. But the  fact is crystal clear that an ocean policy would have helped with the very crisis management that state and federal governments are dealing with now. It sounds a heck of a lot like what Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen calls “unity of effort.” Prior planning should have required serious impact analysis, included labor practices that reduce safety threats, increased involvement from agencies who are not captured by the oil and gas industry that they are supposed to regulate and established a foundation of conservation that would not reduce ecosystem values to the number of barrels of oil that could be removed out of the ocean floor. So, yes, we need to stop the oil geyser and we still need the Administration to act on a final National Ocean Policy.

The best way to commemorate World Oceans Day is to take some action. Call your Senators directly or through the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask them to permanently oppose all oil drilling off of the Atlantic coast.  Today you can also attend or hold an oil disaster vigil as hundreds are being planned around the country. Another item you will want to put on the calendar now is the nation-wide Hands Across the Sand event on June 26. Stay tuned on this page for more info. Lead by example. Love, celebrate and act to protect your oceans and coasts.

As the oil disaster continues in the gulf, watch the live feed below (windows media player required).

Angry? Frustrated? Had enough? Click here to tell President Obama to take action today – and help us prevent an oil disaster in New England.

Today’s story in the New York Times regarding collusion and corruption between the Mineral Management Service and the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico is stunning. But, “stunning” is less than surprising when it comes to the many ways in which MMS and the Department of Interior has allowed the oil industry to dictate the terms of oil operations.

The BP oil disaster is well into its fifth week and the grumbling is growing that the government should move BP aside in order to shut down the oil geyser and get on with the clean-up. The tragic irony is that the federal government cannot stop the oil geyser but has had the chance to stop the collusion and corruption which results in oil spills, fraud, environmental damage and the erosion of professional conduct. Because MMS broke down years ago we are now at the mercy of BP’s last minute inventions.

The “Culture of Ethical Failure” was well described by the DOI Inspector General in this report in Sept. of 2008. Read the first two pages. Chuckle about the part where the IG details illicit sex, alcohol and drug abuse. Now, go back to the first paragraph and re-read the mention that one person pled guilty to a criminal charge but others ”escaped potential administrative action by departing from federal service, with the usual celebratory send-offs that allegedly highlighted the impeccable service that these individuals had given the Federal Government.” As far as the other employees that were referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution? “That office declined to prosecute.”

From the first time I heard a BP official (May 3, 2010 on NPR)  promise to pay “all legitimate claims” arising from the massive “Deepwater Horizon” discharge of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, my mind turned immediately to the epic legal drama that unfolded in the poisonous wake of the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster.

In the press and during Congressional hearings, BP officials have been extremely disciplined in their undeviating use of this phrase to describe BP’s alleged readiness to pay its fair share (let’s remember that Halliburton and other oil industry contractors are also responsible for this mess) of the financial damages caused by the oil plume emanating from its drilling operation.  Putting aside the issue of whether the full extent of the damage this disaster is causing can ever truly be measured in dollars and cents, it doesn’t take a lawyer to figure out that the phrase “all legitimate claims”–a reasonable enough sounding frame–could give defense attorneys a lot of wiggle room in deciding which claims to pay and which claims to fight.   If BP takes a page out of the Exxon playbook and decides to fight, there’s a good chance that BP will pay pennies on the dollar for those claims that it ultimately determines to be legitimate.

NOAA scientists cleanup and study oil as the Exxon Valdez tanker's breached hulk spews oil into Prudhoe Bay

In case you’re wondering, BP’s profits from the first quarter of 2010 alone were nearly 5.598 BILLION–an increase of 135% over first quarter of 2009 according to BP’s own figures.  That kind of money can buy you the most aggressive defense attorneys in the country–the likes of which lost the first Exxon Valdez trial, but then won the 20-year long legal war of attrition that followed.  Exxon’s endless appeals dragged out payment of and–with the help of a corporation-friendly Supreme Court majority–ultimately dwindled down the amount of damages awarded to fishermen, natives, and others whose livelihoods suffered or were destroyed by the Valdez disaster. 

If you want a preview of where things could be headed if BP does decide to dig in its heels, there are at least two great books on the Exxon disaster that are worth reading.  David Lebedoff’s Cleaning Up: The Story of the Biggest Legal Bonanza of Our Time focuses on the known facts surrounding the Exxon disaster as they were argued at trial and tells the heart-wrenching story of the victims, the perpetrators, and the lawyers that represented them on both sides of the issue.  Dr. Riki Ott’s book Not One Drop– Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill covers some of the same ground, but brings a broader scientific and socio-political context to the events that led to and followed the Valdez disaster.  Hers is a compelling indictment of the whole legal and political system surrounding oil extraction that has been designed for and in large part by the oil companies themselves.

As we continue to watch helplessly as the Deepwater Horizon debacle unfolds, it’s important to revisit the Exxon Valdez spill and its tortured legacy.  Regardless of what happens in the legal battles to come, both disasters–and the growing menace of climate change that is literally fueled by our seemingly insatiable appetite for oil–make the most compelling case in the Court of Public Opinion for truly getting “Beyond Petroleum.”  We are all members of the jury in that case.  How will you vote?

I had my first whole-body x-ray at the Denver International Airport last night. The amiable attendant jerked his head up and over his right shoulder as he explained that the scan was read by someone far above in the cavernous hall. He then listened for a moment to his earpiece and asked if I was sure I had nothing in my right front pocket. I reached in and pulled out my boarding pass, to which my checked-bag ticket had been affixed with a very small staple. The guy upstairs had seen it, and in an instant we had our hands on the tiny, inoffensive item, and I was on my way.

At about the same time, 5,000 feet of water above their target, BP engineers had finally managed to insert a tube into the gusher spewing untold thousands of barrels of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico and wreaking havoc on a scale we cannot yet comprehend. At best the tube is only a partial, and temporary, fix.

Which is true of many technological solutions to our energy — not to mention our national security — challenges. They are essential, especially in the near term, but they are not sufficient. Greatly expanded renewable energy generation is critical. In the near term, so is substituting more efficient and cleaner fossil-fuel generation, like combined-cycle natural gas plants, for coal generation, while we build a new energy system. That system will rely on carefully selected and implemented technologies that are far more sustainable than the ones we use now.

But the technologies will not save us and the planet — only we can do that. We must summon the will to change the way we build, move around, and live on this planet, including how we support ourselves, feed our families, create wealth and maintain a high quality of life, for everyone on the globe. It is a fundamental mind-shift that will restore a semblance of balance to our ecosystems, ensure long-term prosperity, and promote peace. I believe it is happening. To all who are part of this effort: keep it up.

In the meantime, we can’t bring 4 oz. of liquids onto an airplane, but thousands of gallons of oil foul the Gulf every hour. We should tolerate neither and work hard to change both.

Our global over-reliance on fossil fuels is the crisis of our time. The solution to that crisis is not just plugging the hole in the Gulf.  It is changing our global economy.

As recently as this morning the Coast Guard was asserting that oil from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had not entered the “loop current” that travels around the tip of Florida over to the East Coast.

And now it appears the oil is hitting Florida as tar balls appear in Key West . . . they are being tested to determine to determine their origin.

Some commentators have, appropriately, noted that in addition to banning drilling in sensitive areas off our own coasts we need to appropriately regulate drilling that is underway and, to truly solve the problem, we must gain control and dramatically reduce our use of oil – a process that will involve building livable, walkable communities centered around transit.

Sadly, efforts are afoot in Washington to push in exactly the opposite direction – tell your Senator not to back Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Big Oil Bail-Out which would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to crack down on global warming pollution from oil and coal.

Comprehensive energy and climate legislation, combined with strong federal and state action using current law, can point us towards a cleaner and safer world where we don’t have to worry about tar balls on our beaches . . .

Today, Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter extended a moratorium on oil and gas drilling on Georges Bank for another three years, citing the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as a factor in his decision. Peter Shelley, CLF’s vice president and director of its Massachusetts Advocacy Center, responds:

“For decades, CLF has advocated for the full protection of Georges Bank from the hazards of oil and gas drilling. We are pleased that Nova Scotia Premier Dexter has decided to extend the moratorium on the Canadian side of the border and we applaud his decision. The need to protect the incredible richness of marine life and to make this area available to sustainable fishing far outweigh the risks of catastrophic pollution and habitat degradation caused by oil drilling.”

“CLF believes it is time for a permanent ban on oil and gas drilling on Georges Bank and urges both the Canadian and United States governments to act to do so. There is no more need for study and delay. Georges Bank is an area of international importance and deserves permanent protection from oil drilling now.”

In probably the most honest headline published since the start of the BP oil disaster, today’s Miami Herald writes “With no clear plan, experts brace for worst.” US Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen is contemplating an attempt at plugging the gushing well with a collection of shredded tires, golf balls and other assorted technologically advanced clogging materials. Meanwhile, the BP spokesperson on the scene says, “I have every confidence we’ll find a good temporary solution.” When asked for particulars he revised his confidence to say he has every “hope and prayer.” Another step towards honesty. “Sometimes we are not prepared for adversity,” as Cannonball Adderley once said. Why not approach adversity with honesty?

Oil booms, chemical dispersant, skimmer boats and prep to wash oily wildlife are the basic tenets of oil spill response. For all the creativity and commitment to get oil out of the ground, into your tank and the money in the bank we sure have not made much progress in disaster preparedness or oil clean-up. Every oil spill from the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, the Exxon Valdez and the smaller spill of fuel oil in Buzzard’s Bay in April of 2003 employed the same four components. What is being employed in the Gulf Coast today is the same approach on a larger scale. It’s no mystery why this is the case. Unless the oil industry feels the pain through fines, regulations and criminal responsibility there will always be an incentive to cut corners, cross fingers and place confidence in “hope and prayer.”

Philosphers and theologians can weigh hope and prayer, but most of us use the standard yardsticks of oil disaster measurement. The BP oil disaster, although likely low-balled, now has its own ticker. The US Coast Guard estimates there have been 250,000 gallons of Corexit, the chemical dispersant of choice, sprayed on or in the ocean so far. The Gulf of Mexico dead zone was over 7000 square miles before the BP oil disaster. There are about 77,000 miles of coastline in Louisiana alone. And then we have about 900,000 feet of plastic oil containment boom placed along Gulf Coast shores. There are still 5280 feet in one mile.