BP and the American Way -- A Perspective

As those of you read the HD5 Newsletter may know, it has been following the BP spill disaster since it bolted to front-and-center in April and has been reporting on the gas development of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania. Both of these stories engaged the classic contest between business, government and the people on which they both depend. In reporting on both, the HD5 Newsletter emphasized that both business and government exist for the people who are their customers and for the people they serve as citizens. The response of BP and the federal government may have disappointed many of us, for many reasons, but their response recognized they were answerable to the people, as customers and as citizens.

The development of the Marcellus Shale for natural gas is another example of how business and government recognize they are answerable to the people. In New York, the state government listened to the concerns of a group of people who sought to protect vital water resources and put a moratorium on gas drilling, in Pennsylvania, drilling continues apace, but new rules that are responsive to the noted hazards of the gas drilling are coming into place and enforcement has become more vigorous. We need to protect and strengthen this value – that institutions exist for us as customers and citizens – in our society.

To recognize the value of what we, as Americans, have, we need only look at societies where neither business nor government has any responsibility to the people. In Oil on Water by Helon Habila, just published in England and reviewed by the Manchester Guardian, we are introduced to the Niger Delta, formerly a natural-history wonderland, now an oil-field wasteland. All of the benefits of oil-drilling go to the businesses that extract the oil, without any safety or environmental regulations, and the government, that stands by as it takes its cut of the spoils, just for guarding the oil rigs from the people who live there. Meanwhile, the people that live in the delta see their tiny subsistence farms destroyed, their rivers and wells poisoned, and their livestock die. And they themselves are poisoned, and die. Nothing has been done for 60 years to improve their lot or the drilling practices of the oil companies. Why is this allowed? The answer is simple: neither business nor government is responsible to the people, they are just in the way.

The American way is far from perfect, ask anyone after a miserable day at work – but, at its core, it demands that business and government serve the people. Whether they come up to the mark is our responsibility. But we have the responsibility to exercise, and for that we must be thankful.