It is truly good news that the work crews have recovered the 75 foot boat that sank in west Seattle on Friday. Better news is that the environmental impact seems to be relatively small. While the crews were unable to completely recover the diesel fuel and other petroleum products released into the Puget Sound, at least one local news station reported that the oil sheen could not be seen at all in a "fly-over."
This is where it will get interesting. This is a very small (relatively speaking) accident. It has been reported that the company who operated the vessel will be receiving the bill for the clean-up. This is probably the best course of action. The question comes as to who will be "blamed" for the accident. W
We, the American people have a need to assign blame and then move on from there. Yes, its a tragedy - someone must be at fault - we have a name - OK now on to the next media generated crisis.
This article is about the small Seattle boat Sinking, why the big emphasis on blame? A little over a year ago, the Deepwater Horizon blew up, sank, and spilled hundreds of thousand of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Who did we blame? That was easy, British Petroleum. Their name was on the rig, they started nobly paying the bill - problem solved. A year later, how many people know that several other contractors have been implicated in the spill. How many people that you know can name any of those other companies? Transocean; have you heard of them? Haliburton; did you know they have been cited? Most people would say no, it was all BP's fault.
Everyone who reads this might be asking if I'm ever going to get to a point. Yes, here it is - If your to quick to assign blame, your going to inevitably let someone who is guilty off the hook.
This is just a little food for thought.
Karl Swanson
Managing Member
Mystery Bay Marine, LLC
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