Deepwater Horizon (BP) Oil Spill

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (also known as the BP Oil Spill) in the Gulf of Mexico is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Approximately 4.9 million barrels of crude oil (compared to the Exxon Valdez's 250-750,000 barrel estimate) gushed into the gulf after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The explosion itself killed 11 men and injured 17 others. After almost three months of oil spilling into the waters, the leak was stopped by capping the leaking wellhead. 

Deepwater Horizon Rig after Explosion

The spill caused great damage to marine and wildlife habitats in the Gulf region. Furthermore, it negatively impacted the area's fishing and tourism industries. For example 4,200 square miles of the Gulf were closed to shrimping after tar balls were discovered in shrimping nets. Furthermore, oil directly affected over 320 miles of the Louisiana coast. Many beaches, wetlands, and estuaries were damaged as a result of the spill. 

Crude Oil Surfaces in the Gulf of Mexico

Many efforts were made to contain the oil spilling into the Gulf. Dispersants were used to prevent the spreading of the crude oil, and although many of these have significant side-effects, they were considered most effective for the clean-up effort. Furthermore, containment booms were used in an effort to protect shorelines and islands; however, their effectiveness was questioned due to their inability to cover all affected areas. 

In an effort to minimized lawsuits against the company, BP officials agreed to create a $20 billion spill response fund. BP set up the fund to compensate people and companies affected by the spill. 

BP's CEO, Robert Dudley, offered an apology in March of 2011at a high-profile energy conference.

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The question of apology for this incident is very controversial. Firstly, who to blame? The blame falls on various parties in this issue. BP is at fault for continuing to run a rig even though it was exhibiting problems just days before the disaster. They are also at fault for not properly maintaining various aspects of the rig and not following proper protocol. Some people (including BP) believe that companies like Haliburton (which did the cement work on the rig) are at fault for not doing proper testing during development of the rig. They also believe the developer of a malfunctioning sensor on the rig is at fault for developing a faulty part which in part led to the disaster. Furthermore, the US government may be at fault for not doing closer inspections of these off-shore rigs. So, is BP the only one responsible for apologizing, and if not, why haven't other companies made public apologies?

In addition, there is great controversy regarding whether or not BP's compensation is enough for their actions. Their spill response fund is a great effort to provide compensation, however, many argue that it is very difficult to apply for and receive compensation. Furthermore, many of those who receive compensation forfeit their right to sue BP in the future. These and other aspects of the fund portray BP as solely interested in protecting itself and saving money--not interested in the betterment of people, wildlife, and companies affected by the spill. 

Overall, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill is a catastrophe which raises deep questions and concern regarding the response of large corporations to their mistakes. 

BP CEO during spill appears insensitive

BP spill trial about to begin

White House response to the spill

USC Engineering and Critical Thinking

From my experience so far, USC Engineering does a nice job incorporating critical thinking into its curriculum.

The only engineering classes I've taken are AME 101 and the Engineering Academy class. In AME 101, as I'm sure you all remember, we had to do two design projects. No matter how cumbersome some of the  instructions for the project appeared (excessive testing, documentation, etc), they were there in a way to promote critical thinking (as well as teach us proper design procedure, etc). For example, for the spaghetti bridge project, before doing anything else, we had to test our spaghetti and perhaps test different brands of spaghetti and find out which was strongest for its weight. We also had to research different bridge designs to understand which would be best for the project.This closely mimics the part of critical thinking that involves finding out about your topic so you are educated about the subject matter. Furthermore, we had to test different designs and make improvements to them; this is like the part of critical thinking that involves analysis and synthesis of ideas. Finally, after actually testing our bridge in competition, we had to develop a report which communicated our ideas, processes, and findings (results) to others. This is the communication aspect of critical thinking.

In Engineering Academy, we always talked about the ethics of engineering, different problems facing the world, and how to solve these problems. We rarely did any numerical work in that class; rather, we focused on collaborating to find solutions to various issues we were presented with. This is a direct practice of critical thinking skills, and I feel like I learned a lot about engineering in that class. This didn't include calculating the tension in a rod; instead, I learned about what engineers actually do and how they apply their knowledge to real world problems. 

The Skills Involved in Critical Thinking

There are many interpretations and definitions of critical thinking out there. They all seem to emphasize analysis and synthesis, conceptualizing and evaluation, belief understanding and generating, etc.

With this in mind, I think one of the most imperative skills involved in critical thinking is being well-informed. Before one can analyze or synthesize or conceptualize, he/she must learn about the topic at hand. For example, if a man wants to create a solution for the melting arctic ice caps through critical thinking, he must first be aware of and understand all the pertinent information, such as why the ice caps are melting, what is being done to prevent their melting already, the rate at which they are melting, the properties of water and ice, how the melting affects the planet, who it will hurt to try and prevent the melting, and so forth. Only after he understands all this information can he begin to analyze it, synthesize it, and begin forming theories on how to prevent catastrophe while satisfying the people this prevention might hurt, such as companies whose excessive emissions lead to the melting in the first place. Without being well informed, one cannot think critically about an issue, because his/her ideas will be based solely upon their own experiences and biases.

This leads directly to the next skill I find very important, and that is the ability to be objective. Naturally, nobody is 100% objective. People innately have biases and prejudices towards certain people, places, companies, practices, etc. However, the more informed people are and the more they attempt to learn about others and their opinions, the more likely they are to be objective. This objectivity is imperative to critical thinking. If one thinks based upon his biases, his analysis of events and solutions to problems will be biased--this may lead to, for example, a solution to a problem that serves a man's self interests and not the interests of the country or world as a whole. However, if he is as objective as he can be, there is a greater chance his critical thinking will lead to ideas and solutions that help more people.

Another extremely important skill involved is creativity. To analyze and synthesize, conceptualize and evaluate, one must be creative. He/She must be able to think outside the box and come up with ideas others haven't thought of before. Creativity is necessary to solve the problems and issues that arise in our world; old solutions rarely work for new problems.

Finally, I believe communication skills are very important for critical thinking. For example, one might be an incredibly objective, talented, creative thinker who develops fascinating and feasible solutions to the world's toughest problems, but if he/she cannot communicate these ideas and solutions, all of the time spent thinking, analyzing, and evaluating is wasted. Communication skills are therefore imperative to sharing the fruit of the critical thinking process.