Obama let BP off too cheaply

The new Meadowlands Stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets, cost about $1.5 billion to build.

British Petroleum will set aside $20 billion for the restoration of the Gulf of Mexico, which it is currently destroying, and for the folks impacted by the oil catastrophe.

So for $20 billion, or the cost of about 13 football stadiums, BP will satisfy President Obama's demand made in a meeting today with company executives.

Why do I feel BP got off easy?

If one fisherman, who invested $100,000 in a boat and who was clearing $50,000 in profits each year, lost his job because fish in the Gulf of Mexico won't be suitable for harvesting for the next 10 years, that means that single fisherman will be out a minimum of $600,000. Does that fisherman get reimbursed from the BP fund? If so, how many thousands of fishermen will have similar claims?

Now take the mom-and-pop beach restaurant that cleared enough for the family to barely get by in good times, and figure that its profits sink 50 percent for several years as a result of the spill. Think this business will survive? And if not, how much was the business worth and will BP fully compensate its owners?

How about the boardwalk snow cone shop and t-shirt stand owners? Do they get paid? Does the local parks department get reimbursed for hiring 100 new employees to help with the cleanup? What about the scuba equipment or dolphin-watching businesses? A drop in tourism will surely impact those folks. Maybe even send them into bankruptcy.

If a hurricane hits the region this summer, then what? The BP fund could be exhausted by September. Will the oil giants open their wallets wider to the folks on the Gulf Coast?

You can see how this can add up and how many people might not be fairly compensated by BP. Even before a single marsh is decontaminated or new sand is paid for and brought in to restore a beach, BP's obligations will be massive. Will $20 billion cover what needs to be done over the next decade or two? Will BP pay oil rig workers while there is a moratorium on deep-water drilling? One of BP's top officials said his company will pay employees impacted by the moratorium. Does that include non-BP employees?

There are medical costs to consider. People are going to get sick working on the cleanup.

What happens if oil-friendly Republicans return to power? I am guessing they won't be as hard on BP and could ease the financial pain for the company by reducing the payout.

We're not talking football stadiums here. We're talking human lives and livelihoods, as well as an ongoing ecological disaster that gets bigger by the hour. Cleaning the water and wildlife-breeding grounds alone will probably cost more than Obama got BP to cough up. There is a domino effect to all of this, one that may not even be understood for decades. I don't know how Obama and BP arrived at a specific figure this early in the game. They say it's not capped, but does anyone expect BP to double or triple the fund over time?

While $20 billion sounds like a lot, it really falls short of what this giant oil company owes America and residents of the Gulf states. It is a sum that might sound good politically in the moment, but in reality, it's not going to get the job done. I applaud Obama for finally doing something tangible and saving taxpayers from at least some portion of the funding that it will take to clean up this mess, but I am afraid it is too little too late.

A few other related comments...

What is it about the moratorium on deep-water drilling that people don't get? It seems like slam-dunk logic to stop doing whatever it is that led to the accident until we have a better understanding of what went wrong. I credit Obama for this action. Yet, there are people, even in the Gulf states, who say that jobs are more important than the potential dangers that might result from risky drilling.

As someone who profoundly and personally understands the need for jobs, I am not willing to sacrifice the planet for them. Nor am I willing to let child pornographers run Internet businesses because we need more folks on a payroll. I am not in favor of drug lords expanding their empires because street pushers need an income. And I am not in favor of sketchy oil companies possibly blowing up more rigs because people need the work.

I understand the fear of losing one's job, but it's no excuse for not comprehending the bigger issue at hand. Those jobs will return, but it's going to take a little time and some precautionary studies before that can happen. Just as certain commercial planes are grounded when a defect is discovered, these rigs are going to have to sit idle for awhile.

President Obama's speech Tuesday night left me flat. I don't know how he plans on restoring the Gulf of Mexico to pre-oil spill conditions, but it was one of several lofty claims he made. The future of the region seems to be more in the hands of Mother Nature, in my humble opinion. As human beings we can help the healing process, but this disaster is so large that it will take more than BP's money or Obama's rhetoric to make it right. His speech gave no details of how or when the flow will stop. And while he is correct that we need to get off of our oil dependency, he shouldn't have spent half the speech on that issue.

Incredibly, there are people who still think regulations are bad things. They see no link between the government not having enough oversight and BP's dangerous actions that led to this disaster. What will it take for these extremists, mostly on the far right, to understand that corporations need boundaries? Just as society needs laws and police to help maintain relative order, risky businesses must play by the rules and be accountable to a more impartial authorities than just shareholders. Oil companies need to be watched. So do nuclear power plant operators. Would you like to fly on a commercial airliner that follows no rules or have your tap water unregulated? Would you like to work for a company where your retirement account isn't safe?