Be vigilant and be aware. Never take things for granted, and never let yourself believe that “It can’t happen to us”.

We will NEVER forget.

Are you prepared?

This is the question that NPM asks. It also asks that employers, civic groups, homeowners, agencies, webmasters, and anyone that has the ability to play a role in educating and teaching about NPM to help spread the word and to play their part in National Preparedness Month.

A simple way to find out if you are prepared is to ask yourself a few easy questions.

1. No matter where you are, do you have a soft plan of action in mind for a disaster?
2. Do you and your family have a plan in place at home? Even such things as Home Disaster Kits, and a well thought out escape route or route to safety.
3. Does your employer have a plan in place, and are you and your co-workers familiar with the plan?
4. Is your important information preserved? Think of fire safe boxes, or even backing up computer files.
5. What would happen at this instant, if a disaster should happen in your area?

Being prepared is the most crucial step in surviving a disaster. This September, let’s all take every step possible to prepare ourselves for the event of a disaster striking in our area.

What can you do?

If you would like more information on National Disaster Preparedness Month, please go to the official Ready Campaign website. Become a member of the NPM Coalition, and help to do your part in aiding FEMA in their campaign to educate everyone about NPM. Go Here to Become a Member.

Want to help by sharing some of your ideas and actions with us? Leave a comment!!

The food was nothing short of spectacular, and the shopping in the area was designed to bring out the child in any adult. I had my first Po’ boy sandwich on that trip and I also was tempted to try the popular crawfish cuisines, but the Indiana country boy in me said “no”.

My second time in New Orleans was three years ago. Having been less than just two years after the hurricane, the results of the devastation were still very evident. There was still mud left over from the flood waters. Condemned buildings, still waiting on insurance claim settlements, were still standing all over the city and surrounding areas. A few businesses were open and seemed to be thriving, but many were closed up. Even if you had never heard of Katrina, you could not help but know that something disastrous had recently happened.

I remember my wife noting that there appeared to be an extremely high amount of homeless people in the city. Poverty seemed to be the norm, rather than the exception. The streets were home to countless construction and demolition vehicles, and the semi-trucks were making continuous trips in with building supplies.

In the aftermath of the storm, many people moved away from New Orleans. Much of the normal housing and commerce revenue had been lost with this outflow of population, and the city struggled to rebuild its economy. My wife and I had discussions over the rebuilding process. We wondered how they would ever make a complete reform. To us, it seemed unrealistic for the area to make a full comeback. I mean, why anyone would move back there after such devastation is something that confused me. Why rebuild a home in an area that could very easily be destroyed during any upcoming hurricane season.

A City Returning to Normal

Earlier this summer my wife and I, along with my parents, made a trip down to Slidell and the New Orleans area. We were scoping out possible campgrounds that we could use as a destination for an upcoming trip in our RV. While in route, it dawned on me that the question I had pondered only a couple of years before, could be asked of me now. “Why go there, if the area is in ruin and a storm could pass through with such destruction?” It was then that I had an answer for my own questions.

New Orleans is a place of festivity. It is a place of a carnival atmosphere, and a place to celebrate any time of year. It is a place that even the residents enjoy life and giving up just because of a little ole’ storm is certainly something that does not fit the profile.

As we drove through New Orleans on this trip, I was stunned by what I saw. It was the same city I had remembered from my trip 8 years earlier. As we drove down Bourbon Street, we could listen to the jumble of music coming from numerous Blues bars on the street. Small shops had their doors wide open and awaiting new customers. Novelty shops selling beads, and even traditional voodoo items were open and seemed to be doing quite well.

As we drove through the city, the smells of the local restaurants came through our car windows to entice us to come inside for lunch. We stopped at a local favorite for some soft-shell crab, and I got to introduce my father to a Po’boy. My wife and my mother made us stop for Beignets to take back to the hotel with us. Well, maybe they did not have to “make” us stop. After all, you really can’t go to New Orleans without having one.

Home is Definitely Where Your Heart Is

Leaving New Orleans made me realize something. People have been fighting and giving up their lives to protect their “home” since the beginning of time. Home is something that is as near and dear to us as our own family. There isn’t a person alive that does not have a strong connection to the place they call “home.”

Experts had been making predictions of the results from a direct hit by a hurricane in New Orleans for years. The devastation and loss of life that occurred was no surprise. A coastal city that is built below sea level could not expect any other outcome. Yet, those that call New Orleans home stayed. Those same people are still there, and have rebuilt their home. New Orleans is now back to its old self, and still serves as home to some of the most resilient people in America.

As I was leaving New Orleans on this last trip there, I could see the city in my rear view mirror. I could see the skyline, the traffic, and the businesses that people love. Although I was heading back to my own home in Indiana, I knew I would return to New Orleans again someday.

After all that has happened, New Orleans is now something more than just a place to visit. Just as Ground Zero in New York City, New Orleans is a symbol for Americans. It is a symbol of the same things our fore fathers fought for years ago. It represents “home”, and nothing will ever force an American to give up their home.

On this fifth anniversary of hurricane Katrina, Americans should stop to remember what we stand for: Freedom, Liberty, and the right to allow our hearts to determine our home.

Let’s take a look back in history

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled about 11 million U.S. gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. In 2007, a study by NOAA determined that as much as 26 thousand gallons still remains on the shores, and is only degrading at a slow 4% each year.

Also, in a similar report by NOAA almost 11 years after the spill, this excerpt stands out to me.

“Buried or subsurface oil is of greater concern than surface oil. Subsurface oil can remain dormant for many years before being dispersed and is more liquid, still toxic, and may become biologically available. A disturbance event such as burrowing animals or a severe storm reworks the beach and can reintroduce unweathered oil into the water.”

In this report from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council severe problems still remain. Although many wildlife inhabitants have returned, many are still slow to come back to pre-spill numbers and few faced near extinction numbers. Also, local communities that relied on fishing as an industry have had to seek other means. Many of the hatcheries in the area have never reopened or have never seen supplies return from their pre-spill status. Think about it. It has been more than 20 years since this spill occurred and the effects are still very real. If we see this same trend in our Gulf of Mexico, it would mean that a 10 year old child of the area today could still be dealing with these problems well into their 30’s.

BP’s responsibility and costs

British Petroleum (BP), the owner and responsible party to the oil rig that caused this spill, has issued statements time and time again of how they will “make it right” in the Gulf of Mexico. They have even pledged 20 billion dollars towards a fund to assist in the cleanup and recovery efforts for the residents, businesses, and environment. But, even if that money remains available, is it enough?

In this independent report by the Getner Consulting Group, it outlines losses that could be expected in ONLY the sport fishing and charter fishing industries. In this report, it states that it is possible to see losses of revenue for these businesses in excess of 14 billion dollars. That’s just for sport fishing!! If this report should show true, then nearly all of the money pledged by BP would go towards only this industry! This does not even begin to cover the loss of wages from the more than a quarter of a million jobs lost.

In the case of the Exxon Valdeez, it was ordered originally that Exxon should pay $287 million in actual damages and $5 billion in punitive damages. However, after several appeals, the costs incurred to Exxon were reduced significantly. Does this also mean that we may be facing a time when BP appeals their claims and ends up not even having to pay what it has already stated it was responsible for? In the case of Exxon, the final litigation came down to whether or not the Exxon spill was of accidental cause or caused by malice.

Other costs will be incurred by the disaster. Among some of them will be cleanup costs, payment for lawsuits, costs associated with wildlife conservation and preservation, and not to mention any costs created by human health issues during cleanup and future illnesses. Can BP actually fulfill its responsibility?

What about the outcome of family and tradition. The fishing industry is an industry of heritage. Fishing and even tourism business is largely passed from generation to generation. Due to this oil spill, many family owned and operated businesses will be closing their doors for good. How will that affect the future of their children? Can a cost really be placed on tradition and heritage? It’s doubtful, but it should still be considered as the when realizing the overall consequence of what has happened.

Is British Petroleum even capable of covering the costs?

Despite what it says right now, I think that valid questions should be raised in regards to BP’s ability to cover all of the costs associated with this spill. In fact, I think it could be reasonable to assume that it cannot even come close to covering them. BP has been a profitable company, without question. However, when looking at the short and long term costs, one has to assume that there is not a company on this planet that can truly afford to make those restitutions.

Trying to predict the outcome

One thing we can be certain of is that despite what anyone claims, the Gulf of Mexico will NEVER recover fully from this disaster. The loss of even one species of life due to this disaster could leave devastating effects. Already, we see closures in business, and struggles among residents along the affected coastal areas. Many complain that they have not received any aid or even very little.

Let’s inject this very realistic scenario, and even submit that BP may make every possible effort to “make things right”, as they have claimed. What if the costs just simply become too much for one company to handle? What if BP should fall to bankruptcy? Seeing their stock prices already reach lows of nearly 50% makes bankruptcy not out of the question. I saw a report a few days ago that suggested that nearly 6% of the world has some ties to BP stock. That number is simply astonishing. Who picks up the slack in payments and costs if this should happen?

Even if BP should continue to stay in operation and remain able to keep up in the cleanup and recovery effort, we have a lot of dismay to look forward to. If the Exxon Valdez disaster is any example, even the next generation of adults will still be working to clean this up. This also means that nearly all of the current BP execs would be either retired or facing retirement.

Also, we know that in the case of Exxon, later court appeals significantly reduced the liability of Exxon. Surely we cannot sit here and expect that BP will not also be filing some of those same appeals. In fact, if one watches the responses and actions of BP presently, it almost seems as though they are already leaving themselves set up for those appeals. The recent Senate hearings asked many questions of BP CEO Tony Hayward. Among those questions were some that attempted to get Mr. Hayward to accept responsibility of BP for the full extent of the disaster. His answers left even more questions. In most cases, he deferred his answer pending an investigation done by BP! This leaves a person to speculate that BP is already trying to limit their legal liability. Is this perhaps for future litigation?

My predictions of the Gulf Oil Disaster and its impact on the future

This disaster will continue to affect the daily lives of U.S. residents for years, and the residents of the gulf coastal areas can expect to see these effects last possibly 20 to 30 more years. I will speculate that if BP even survives, they will almost certainly not be able to cover its responsibility, and in the future, they will even spend a great deal of money trying to escape much or a majority of their liability. I would also predict that the government of the U.S. will end up bearing the majority of the costs, which will undoubtedly be pushed right back to the citizens of the entire country. This will no doubt cause a great deal of debate in our country over taxes that would have to be imposed to help recoup the costs, and costs of any new laws that will undoubtedly become real as a result of this disaster.

10 years after the well is finally capped, we may start to see the beginnings of return to our fishing and tourism industries in the gulf. Cleanup efforts along the coast will still undoubtedly be underway and even more expensive efforts will be going to clean the sea floor. We will also be just getting a glimpse of the huge impact on the ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico. We will probably still be spending large amounts of money to attempt to save many species from extinction or endangerment. We will also only begin to understand how this spill has affected the land, air, and sea environment as a whole. By now, the U.S. has will also have imposed taxes on oil companies themselves for drilling in U.S. waters, as a result of this spill.

In 20 years after the oil well is capped, our children of today will be realizing the devastation that has been left for them. Though much of the work towards recovery and cleanup will most certainly be done, we will no doubt be leaving some of this for our children to attend. There will still be existence of loose oil buried in the sands of some coastlines and sea beds. They will not have the luxury of seeing some of the marine life in the area that exists today. They will still be spending a great deal of money to continue our current efforts in recovery. They almost certainly will be using this spill as a pretext for future legislations and their children (our grandchildren) will be reading of this disaster in text books.

25 years after the oil well is capped cleanup and recovery efforts will be mostly complete. However, American citizens will be realizing that the taxes that were imposed 20 years earlier will continue to be paid. Yes, our children could likely be paying for the costs of this disaster for the rest of their lives. Perhaps in this time line, our dependency on oil related energies will be much lower. However, any that do still exist will still be paying higher taxes as part of the restitution of a spill 25 years earlier.

In closing

Obviously, I think that we will be paying for this disaster for a great many years to come. I also think that BP itself will, in the grand spectrum of things, payback very little. I think that because of our country’s lack of aggressively seeking out alternative resources to oil, our children will be left with a great burden, and the Gulf disaster will most likely only play a small role in that burden. I believe that at this date, we have no concept of the realities and role that this disaster will leave for us. Even the extinction of a microbe can hold dire consequences for us. If there is a life that relies on it, a chained disturbance is caused by its disappearance. All we can do right now is speculate as to the tragedy that is before us in the Gulf of Mexico. Only time will tell.