As virtually everyone in the world knows, there’s a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I’m not going to spend a lot of time harping on details (since they’re well-known and you can Google ’em if you’re curious), but I have two thoughts on the matter I’d like share.

First, blame.

Second, solutions.

THE BLAME

Figuring out who, exactly, is to blame for this catastrophe is going to play out over several months. Possibly years. But there are  a couple things which are abundantly clear:

(1) There’s something rotten with BP. When you’ve racked up 700+ safety violations at your deepwater drilling platforms and every other oil company has less than a dozen… well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that BP was doing something wrong.

(2) Under President Bush, the Minerals Management Service somehow managed to devolve into the sort of cocaine-snorting, sex-addled, graft-ridden machine of corruption one really only expects to see in Hollywood action blockbusters. This was part of the Bush Administration’s wider failure to maintain the robust regulatory agencies required by law. (See also No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller.) And the election of Obama didn’t magically fix these problems.

Since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, the MMS has approved 27 new offshore drilling projects. All but one of these were granted the same exemptions from environmental review as the Deepwater Horizon platform. Incredibly, the reason these exemptions were granted is because of the implausibility of a spill resulting from deep water drilling.

(3) President Obama isn’t to blame for the current spill. Nor is it clear to me what action he could reasonably be taking at this point to speed the progress of disaster efforts in the Gulf. (Getting angry or wearing a less-fancy shirt won’t actually accomplish anything, no matter what the brain-dead, narrative-addicted media tries to tell you.)

But where Obama does deserve to be smacked around is the fact that he decided to reverse course on his campaign promise not to allow off-shore drilling. Of course, there was no way for Obama to know that the Deepwater Horizon disaster was coming (and that, as a result, he was irreparably shooting himself in the foot and wasting what could have been amazing political capital and a complete vindication of his policies).

But what Obama should have known is what everyone who supported his opposition to off-shore drilling knew years ago: Off-shore drilling platforms are not some form of magical technology which is completely impervious to bad luck, bad design, or bad maintenance. Like everything else ever built by man, this technology is fallible. And, as we’re seeing, the environmental impact when something goes wrong can be huge.

THE SOLUTION

All that being said, I have the solution for stopping the oil spill.

This isn’t because I’m a genius. It’s because everyone involved already knows what the solution is: Drilling relief wells which can be used to repressurize the pipe.

Everything else going on in the Gulf of Mexico right now is a sideshow of bread and circuses designed to keep people mildly appeased and distracted until the relief wells finally reach the right depth. (Which isn’t anticipated to happen until August.) Relief wells are the only way we know to stop spills from blowouts.

We know this because all of this has happened before: On June 3rd, 1979, the Ixtoc oil well suffered a blowout. All of the same techniques being attempted at Deepwater Horizon were attempted at the Ixtoc: Garbage was dumped into the hole. Mud was pumped into it. Chemical dispersants were used. A massive Top Hat-like cap was unsuccessfully lowered into place. (It was called — and I wish I was kidding as I said this — SOMBRERO.)

And the only thing that finally stopped the Ixtoc blowout were the relief wells that were finally drilled to relieve the pressure. The Ixtoc well was not successfully capped until March 1980.

So here’s the hard, bitter truth: There is absolutely nothing that can be done about this spill until the relief wells currently being drilled are completed.

But here’s what needs to happen in the future: Instead of waiting for disaster to strike before beginning the relief wells (which will then take months to reach the necessary depth), oil companies should be REQUIRED to maintain two relief wells in addition to their main well at ALL of their ocean oil rigs.

The next time disaster strikes, these pre-drilled relief wells can be quickly connected to the main well, pressure can be rapidly alleviated, and the scope of the disaster can be rapidly contained.

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