Stronger Legislation needed

Lost amidst all the jockeying to be seen to be the Baron of clean & green is the fact that 11 workers souls were lost in the Gulf Oil Tragedy. We offer our condolences and support to those families concerned, and ask extractive workers worldwide to consider the safety of themselves and others at their worksite. Workers who have reason to believe that an action or omission may result in personal or environmental injury or catastrophe have not only the right, but the responsibility of duty of care, to refuse to carry out such actions or emissions, and where necessary prevent those acts or omissions being carried out by others- whatever the consequences may be.

In the aftermath of the widely reported PTTEP Montara oil spill last year,and the BP Gulf oilspill unfolding now, we have immediate unquestionable clarity on 2 points.

• In both cases, the companies concerned were unable to immediately and effectively respond to catastrophic failures of their systems. Neither company had a strategy to deal efficiently with the disaster.In PTTEP - Montara's case, the environmental damage covered 24,000 square kilometres of pristine ocean (imagine if fish could file lawsuits), and took three long months to bring under control. BP America & the US Government have no clear strategy to deal with the current Gulf disaster. BP are building "a structure" to hopefully capture & contain the oil for pumping -but could take 3 weeks.Or they are exploring the Montara option, which could take 3 months.
• Both situations point to widespread systemic failures across multiple layers of government at State and Federal levels. The public have every right to expect that their governments will ensure that any extractive processes are carried out with maximum Safety and Environmental protection in place and ready to be implemented from day 1. Why does BP need 3 weeks to build a "Containment Structure". Why isn't one available on the Gulf Coast? Theirs is not the only oil rig in the area.All Governments must support worker monitoring of safety on extractive sites over company self regulation.Company self regulation decisions are too often subservient to profit motives, a powerful driver.
• The local people and wildlife of new extractive exploratory areas such as the Bering Sea, or East Africa, where legislation is likely to be weak or non existent deserve the same protections 1st World countries demand for their own regions. USA EU and other trade blocks must boycott imports which cannot meet sustainable chain of responsibility requirements, and place such onus on their countrys own extractive industries. Countries of particular note are Canada, Australia, USA , UK in no particular order...

Countries with extractive processes, whether mining or oil/gas, whether onshore/ offshore must ensure that their environmental and safety legislation adequately addresses catastrophic failure, as is the case in both of these situations- and that such legislation is supported by appropriate and current technologies capable of immediate successful response- or don't start exploring / extracting