Learning from the BP Oil Crisis

Almost three months and over eighty-eight million barrels of oil later, the extent of the BP oil disaster continues to grow in the Gulf of Mexico. The event created a domestic and international crisis for the Obama administration (some of their own doing, some of it not). Many presidents have faced a crisis in their tenure. How the crisis occurs or evolves can often be traced to two failings, a failure of process or a failure in politics: the “process” constituting the predetermined protocol for response to any given situation to achieve a desired end, and “politics” being the rhetoric and actions guided by a person’s opinion.

One president who faced a few notable crises in his short administration was President John Kennedy. Two in particular clearly demonstrate the problems when process and politics fail. The first was Kennedy’s decision to place missiles in Turkey which sparked the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis. It was a strategic move in the political chess match that was the Cold War. The Soviet Union responded by placing missiles in Cuba. Military protocol risked pushing the crisis into full blown war between the United States and the Soviet Union at several points during the crisis. Politics would eventually end the crisis when the Kennedy crafted a deal where the Soviets would remove missiles in Cuba immediately, and the US would remove their respective missiles in Turkey several months later.

Later that year a failure of process would bring about a crisis between the US and the United Kingdom. The US military viewed the Skybolt missile as an outdated and unnecessary nuclear deterrent to the Soviets. The UK viewed the Skybolt missile as essential to their defense. A failure in the process of developing strategic missile plans failed to include the British and led to a crisis in what was otherwise a routine phasing out of outdated weaponry. Eventually, the Nassau agreement between the US and UK ironed out differing opinions on the future of missile defense systems.

Just as President Kennedy had to deal with shortcomings in process and politics, President Obama must deal with similar failures in the continuing oil crisis both domestically and internationally. The domestic crisis is the product of a failure in process, while the international crisis – with Britain – is a product of politics, both local and federal.

Domestically speaking, the Deep Horizon rig explosion mutated from a workplace accident, to a limited natural disaster, to a full blown economic and environmental catastrophe as a result of a failure in process. BP was not prepared to deal with the remote possibility that the blowout preventer would fail. They were not prepared to respond to a large leak 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. On the part of the US, the government was not prepared to respond to a large scale oil spill. They lacked boons, boats, and people. Bureaucratic red tape either slowed or prevented the dissemination of those supplies, including the use of international skimming boats.

On the other hand, the crisis with the UK was sparked by a failure in politics. The slow and frustrating process of stopping the leak and cleaning up the spill had the unintended consequence of sparking an international crisis. Constituents were frustrated. Elected leaders needed to show they were doing something – it is an election year after all. Congress held hearings, political and media officials repeatedly referred to BP as “British Petroleum” which hasn’t been British Petroleum in ten years, BP officials were paraded in front of television cameras, New Orleans ran a public relations campaign aimed at bringing back tourists that included such slogans as "This isn’t the first time New Orleans has survived the British", some called for the boycott of BP stations, and President Obama promised to kick someone’s “ass”.

The oil spill and political storm resulted in the rapid decline of BP’s stock price (now rated just above “junk” status). Unfortunately, BP stock happened to make up a sizable percentage of the already cash strapped British pension system. The price of BP’s stock was bound to drop as oil continued to spill and wash up on pristine Gulf Coast beaches. The political rhetoric only ratcheted up the level of the crisis. Newspapers in London were splashed with headlines of the “wave of anti-British sentiment sweeping America”. Some in Britain, particularly those in the Conservative Party, already suspected President Obama of anti-British sentiments due in part to comments in his autobiography and the act of returning a bust of Winston Churchill, a gift on loan from England to America. The administration’s response seemed to only confirm their suspicions. The tension has since waned in the past couple weeks with the end to the hearings, and the toning down of political point scoring.

The oil spill itself was not the fault of the Obama Administration, or any other administration. However, the do share responsibility for the ensuing crisis as the spill exposed failures in process and political response. Hurricane Katrina should have served as a warning for the potential problems that occur when the process fails. The BP oil spill should act as a reminder to plan for the unexpected, maintain communication with all parties involved, and to be flexible.

The failure in politics is a much more tricky issue to tackle. Administrations change. Solutions to process are much easier to pass along than solutions to politics. Throw in an important, tightly contested mid-term election year and many politicians are going to consider the relationship of the US and the UK secondary to their own and their party’s own reelection bids in November. The answer then is to simply teach and expose the shortcomings of playing politics - and hope our leaders are paying attention.