Rep. George Miller (D-CA): Every time we have a catastrophic event like this involving British Petroleum or other parts of the oil and gas industry, we’re told that this is an unpredictable cascade of unforeseeable errors, that this is unprecedented, that nobody could have foreseen this. This is sort of like the bankers on Wall Street. Nobody could have foreseen the risks that they engineered themselves, so nobody’s responsible. I don’t believe this was some “black swan” or “perfect storm” event. There wasn’t something that could not have been foreseen. And I don’t think this is something you can promise will never happen again.
The congressman brings up an excellent point. It's too bad that it won't do a bit of good. No matter how big the disaster, no matter how many people are completely ruined by the fall out, the formula remains the same. Congress calls a couple of hearings, summoning the perpetrators before the C-SPAN cameras to talk about how angry they are and wag their fingers in disgust. Perpetrators do their best to act contrite, admit no wrongdoing, and spew banal mea culpas, one of which is almost always, "No one could have predicted." It's the veritable get out of jail free card for storied interests in this country. Throw that line out there, wipe your hands of the situation, and you're back to doing whatever the fuck you want by Monday morning.
They say that sealing the oil spill is only half the battle, and the real work begins with the cleanup efforts. What will be almost as bad as the destruction itself is watching BP walk away from this unscathed.
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