How We Can Prevent the Next Spill Disaster

by Tara Lohan · 2010-05-20 12:48:00 UTC
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It's been a month since the gusher in the Gulf first began and there's not even an end in sight yet. And even more sadly, we can't dismiss this horrific incident as an accident or even an anomaly. The next spill might be right around the corner. As Food and Water Watch's new campaign, Spill the Truth, reveals: The Atlantis platform also operating in the Gulf could be the next disaster.

A whistleblower and former BP contractor has revealed that the Atlantis platform may be unsafe. The Atlantis has been active since 2007 in an area known as "Hurricane Alley" about 150 miles from New Orleans. The campaign has reported on some of the problems the whistleblower discovered:

  • A BP database showed that it doesn't have the required engineer-approved and up-to-date documents for 90 percent of the drawings for its below water components.
  • More than 6,000 documents did not have engineering approval-including those for pipelines, flowlines, wellheads, and other important systems.

  • Over 95 percent of its subsea welding specifications lack final engineering approval.

A spill from Atlantis could be much bigger than the Horizon spill thus far and an internal document from BP has revealed that company is aware a "catastrophic" accident could be possible at Atlantis. Since last July, Food and Water Watch has been calling for policymakers to shut down Atlantis until it can be proven safe to operate. With the most recent disaster from the Horizon, a potentially devastating spill is no longer hypothetical and quite obviously the risks to human and environmental health are great.

Spill the Truth is calling on the Obama administration to shut down Atlantis and to review the safety of all deepwater platforms. The campaign reports that BP issued a letter to Congress claiming that they only recently learned of these allegations, but their own documents show otherwise.

To help prevent another disaster in the Gulf, you can go here to take action. To learn more about the action, check out this video here.

Photo credit: Mike Baird

Tara Lohan is a senior editor at AlterNet.org where she heads up the environment, water, and food sections. Her work has appeared on the websites of The Nation, Mother Jones, the Huffington Post and in Yes! Magazine.
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