Lessons California Can Learn from Oil Spills and Other Disasters

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Hannah Beth Jackson

Clearly human nature is wont to ignore the obvious until it strikes them in the face, or in the ocean in the present case. Why we aren't willing to be sufficiently pro-active and take preventative measures in the face of imminent or likely disaster is a mystery on the one hand and yet an inevitability on the other. Or so it seems.

Take the oil spill in the San Francisco Bay on November 7, 2007---just over a week ago. We know that oil spills can and do have devastating impacts on wildlife, ocean eco-systems and local economies. We know, too, that much can be done to prevent or at least significantly reduce the possibility of catastrophic consequences of oil spills. An obvious preventative measure is to require tankers to be double-hulled. Another is to require our emergency response agencies be well-trained and well-equipped with the most up-to-date equipment to respond in case protective measures fail. Of course, this also requires a willingness to make an investment of resources.

In today's California, the notion of coughing up the bucks to protect against disasters or provide the resources to rapidly contain them if they do occur is just not politically feasible. But, when disaster strikes--by fire, by flood or by oil, we expect those resources to magically appear. We complain when aircraft show up late to make water drops or when equipment to contain oil seepage isn't available or deployed quickly or when there just aren't enough people or machines available to do the job.

The consequences, of course, can be devastating....and the ultimate damage much more expensive than the costs of protecting ourselves in advance. Prevention is always worth a pound of cure, but if prevention keeps the problem from happening, we tend to believe that there wasn't a problem to begin with---so why spend the money in the first place? Or is it the sage words of Joni Mitchell that "you don't know what you've got til it's gone..."

If the good people of San Diego had agreed to tax themselves on average just $46 per family per year after the devastating fires in 2003, the destruction just witnessed there last month would have been much less because we would have been prepared with more equipment and more firefighters to respond quickly. God forbid we ask the people to step up with an additional $46 to protect our million dollar homes. Sadly, this short-sightedness had tragic consequences last month and with our state's semi-arid southern portion, it will likely again.