The following column was published by the Huntsville Times on June 20 , 2010. No part may be republished without the permission of the publisher. The title has been changed to the original submission title. This was the first of my columns where content was edited out. I had some additional things to say about Haley Barbour and some speculation about the motives of Jeff Sessions. The Times editorial staff did not wish to create more controversy by publishing these comments. The column here is as printed in the Times.
I am beginning to write this column from Foley on May 15. The weather is great and the beaches are clean. So far.
Tourists are staying away, so the BP spill is causing havoc here without coming ashore. Of course other areas are not so lucky and it will be years before we know the full effects of this disaster.
I grew up in Alabama. I have been coming to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach for vacations most of my life. As a child I remember playing on the white sand and swimming in the ocean, catching a mouthful of saltwater when I mistimed jumping a wave. As an adult I've paddled my kayak the length of Cotton Bayou many times, seen the sun come up as I fought the tide next to the Alabama Point Bridge and landed on the small islands next to the bridge to watch the hermit crabs.
All of this is at risk now.
My wife is an Alabama girl. She spent many weeks in her uncle's beach house on Perdido Bay as she grew up. She watched the bay as it was polluted by a nearby mill, then observed its recovery and rebirth when the mill was forced to clean up. Forced thanks to federal regulations that were enforced.
Likewise, our coast will recover from whatever damage is coming. But if it suffers damage, it will take years to recover and it will not be the same.
As the Swimming Pool Cues sing, "once you've broken a beautiful thing it can never be the same." This is a place of my past, my present and my future. These are my memories and, for me, this oil spill is personal.
It is now May 24. The spill has come ashore in Louisiana and residents of the Alabama coast continue to hold their breath. Weeks Bay and the shrimping waters are under dire threat. We now know that BP made numerous safety shortcuts that led to the disaster, yet Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul said this about the president blaming BP. "I think it's part of this sort of blame game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen."
I do not respect his opinion. This was no simple accident.
In my opinion, this was negligence and it is entirely reasonable to blame BP. It should not only pay the full price of correcting the damages it causes, but it should pay significant punitive damages if the damage is the result of more than just "simple negligence." How many safety shortcuts must you take before you are no longer simply negligent? I'm sure our courts will be deciding.
I'm finishing this column on June 7. The spill has come ashore in Alabama now and it is moving east.
Over the weekend, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour spoke about the oil now coming ashore in Mississippi, saying, "once it gets to this stage, it's not poisonous. But if a small animal got coated enough with it, it could smother it." He should help with the cleanup. In shorts. And flip-flops. I'm glad we have Bob Riley as governor.
Finally, while the oil continues to spill, Republicans in Congress have stopped efforts to raise the liability cap for oil companies from $75 million to $10 billion. Our own U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, offered an alternative that would cap the limit at the most recent four quarters of profits or $150 million, whichever is greater, to hold companies responsible without running them out of business. Why should there be any limit for damages? If you can't fix what you spoil, don't drill for oil.
I wrote the June section of this column in my head as a rode my bicycle up Monte Sano. As I was riding I was listening to Midnight Oil singing Blue Sky Mining - "Nothing is a precious as a hole in the ground." It was followed by "Amazing Grace".
Lord, may we be granted grace for the holes that spoil your ground. Amen.
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