I am not here to promote the capabilities of Auburn University to respond to Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. But their research paper highlighted areas of expertise that will be required in assessing and mitigating the impact of the disaster. Some of the capabilities required to respond post leak stoppage –
- Containment and Clean-up
- Environmental Assessments – Impact of the spill on Coastal wetlands. Coastal wetlands prove habitat for fauna and flora, hurricane mitigation, carbon sequestration, pullutant filtration, and in sustaining local to regional economies. Some of the impact on the wetlands will be seen years following this disaster.
- Remediation – Adding nutrients to Ocean water to increase microbial activity.
- Public Health – Managing health risks and communications.
- Hydrodynamic modeling of contaminated areas – Model the fate and transport of oil spills within estuaries and also in the rivers.
- Managing the impact on wildlife – handle and treat injured birds of prey, and in removing oil from birds & turtles.
- Managing the impact on Seafood – Process to monitor within the oil spill path marine bacteria in fish and shell fish that cause human illnesses in order to prevent human consumption of contaminated seafood.
- Ensuring Availability of Right Equipment – Gas Chromatographs fitted with various detectors to measure hydrocarbon, residues discharged, and partitioning characteristics of the non-aqueous phase (NAPL) oils.
This is few of the many capabilities that will have to be brought to bear to manage this disaster.
We have had many disasters over the decade – 9/11, Asian Tsunami, Haiti Earthquake, Gulf Oil Spill etc. The capability for first responders in managing every one of these crises is different.
- Haiti Earthquake – managing the immediate human death, disease control, and rebuilding of basic public infrastructure;
- Gulf Oil Spill – contain the spill, limiting the damage to the environment; and manage the immediate impact on wildlife & Seafood, and health.
Managing the crisis/disaster is different is from managing the risk of project. While one focuses on limiting the damage, the other focuses on prevention. The focuses of the firm on one or more of these functions depend on their own capabilities. Capability mapping – what capabilities should firms own and outsource others? BP America, Halliburton, and Transocean are three main companies that are working together on the Deepwater Horizon rig. What capabilities did these firms bring to the table and were they executed well? Risk Management (safety) is a big function – what processes were put in place to mitigate the risk?
Should we even be deep-water drilling? The answer to the issue may be as simple as expediting our investments in alternative energies. But understanding the capabilities of the new Energy companies firm is as important.
What are your thoughts?
