How Well Would Have The American Political Class Handled The Chilean Mine Crisis?

The rescuing of the 33 Chilean miners, who had been trapped thousands of feet underground for the past two months or so, was certainly the feel good story of the year so far. Kudos to the miners, their families, and everyone involved in this dramatic and extremely difficult rescue. According to an October 15, 2010 article, there had never been another situation where the rescuers had to drill so far down to reach trapped miners, never mind the fact that at the onset of the crisis, no one even knew whether they were alive or where they were located. Nevertheless, the rescue mission was a success.

As I read the article, I was struck by a number of things: 

1. Within days after the crisis began, the Chilean President appointed an engineer, Andre Sougarrett, to be in charge of getting the miners out alive. In other words, there was a clear cut leader from the start of the rescue, a leader who had the expertise to do the job.
2. Sougarrett immediately flew to the mine where he quickly eliminated the "nest of confusion" that awaited him on his arrival. He quickly put a team together to start the process. In other words, he got the effort focused properly and right away.
3. They drove into the mine and assessed where the cave in had occurred and determined that drilling through the debris might cause another cave-in, leading them to conclude that the only safe way to get to the miners was to drill a new shaft. In other words, they assessed the situation and worked out contingency plans.
4. In addition to looking at maps, they talked to those  miners that had gotten out of the mine before the cave-in in order to more accurately determine where the survivors below the cave in might be located. Also, the Chilean President had asked for help from anyone around the world who had the expertise to help in the rescue. In other words, they quickly utilized all possible resources that were available to them.
5. Once the men were found alive, Sougarrett started three more drill holes called Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. Why three plans? According to the article, Sougarrett said: "The only way to minimize risks is to have alternatives." In other words, more contingency planning.
6. Sougarrett talked to the miners every day, first using phones and then via a video link. He talked to them about what they were doing and accepted the advice and suggestions from the miners themselves. In other words, he was open to all possible answers.

 Now compare this approach with the way the American political class handled the Gulf Oil Spill:

1. Clear cut leadership - there was never anyone one person who had clear cut responsibility and authority to coordinate the oil spill situation. Parties involved in getting the oil spill under control included President Obama, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the Coast Guard, the EPA, BP, state government officials, etc. but as always with our political class, everyone was in charge but no one was responsible.
2. Got the effort focused properly and right away - was there ever any focus to the Gulf spill situation? Seems like the events just kind of happened randomly with no one in charge and very little direction or focus on how to stop the leak. Seems like days and weeks went by with no one developing a plan of attack for ending the crisis.
3. Assessed the situation and worked out contingency plans - it was pretty clear from the start of the Gulf crisis that neither BP, the government, or our politicians had any contingency plans for stopping or plugging the leak. They were making up the process haphazardly as they went along. It was clear that the Interior Department had not required anyone, inside or outside of government, to have a well thought out and executable contingency plan process to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf. Attempts to stop the leak were all linear, i.e. try something and if that did not work, stop and try to think up a new approach. There was no parallel action plans (like Sougarrett's Plans A, B, and C), simply because no one in the political class and specific government agencies had taken the time and effort to develop them. Weeks and weeks after the spill began, the government started talking to a movie director, James Cameron, to see what help he might provide, based on his experience of filming underwater. Seriously, you are clueless when a movie director becomes your subject matter expert. And even if Cameron was helpful, why did it take so long to bring him in for a discussion? Again, grasping for straws in belatedly turning to a Hollywood director because they had not contingency plans.
4. Quickly utilized all resources available to them - there were numerous reports that President Obama turned down offers of help from some European countries who had expertise in dealing with and cleaning up spills in the deep waters of Scandinavia. It is still unknown why these offers of help were refused, international expertise was essential in the Chilean coal mine rescue.
5. More contingency planning - besides lacking an contingency planning for plugging the leak, there were no contingency plans for capturing the oil once it was into the Gulf's waters. When states asked for permission to do their own clean ups they had to wait weeks to get an answer back from the government. In the meantime, oil slicks and the such started fouling the states' beaches.

Besides the above article's points, consider the following observations:

• The Chilean rescue mission looked to be seamless, at least to the outside world. You did not see the bickering like we saw between the states' politicians and the Federal political class and bureaucrats in the oil spill crisis, bickering that probably delayed the clean up effort and the plugging the well effort.
• The rescue mission seems to have taken into account not only the physical well being of the miners but also their mental well being of the miners and their families waiting for them above. We seem to forget that 11 oil rig employees were killed when the BP rig exploded, I never got the feeling that the government or political class gave those that died or their family members the proper respect and support, they were to busy covering up their shortcomings or grappling with the fact that they never put together a contingency plan.
• Everyone in Chile seemed to be laser focused on getting the miners out alive.  I did not see or hear of any bickering of who was at fault and who was to blame during the rescue process. The focus was on the task at hand, sorting out blame for the cave in could wait. Compare that to our political class, that was holding Congressional hearings and diverting attention from the immediate tasks at hand, plugging the well and cleaning up the oil. Instead, BP personnel were called to Washington hearings to testify while the oil was still flowing out of the busted well. Do not think for a minute that facing accusing politicians and facing the possiblity of criminal charges did not divert attention and focus from the immediate needs to handle the oil spill. The hearings to sort out blame could have waited, I guess the political grandstanding could not.
• Everyone in Chile seemed to be genuinely supportive of the rescue mission. In the United States, it seemed our politicians and voters were more concerned in determining what impact the spill would have on the November elections rather than pulling together to stop the flow of oil and clean up the oil that had gotten into the Gulf.
• I also got the feeling that the Chilean President Sebastian Pinera was fully engaged in the rescue process while allowing the experts to do their jobs. I never got the feeling that President Obama took that same type of approach, to me he seemed to treat the oil spill as a distraction. Since the President took two vacations during the crisis, played seven rounds of golf, and took two cross country trips soley to campaign for California Democrats, these actions may account for my feeling that he was not fully engaged in an event that killed 11 Americans and affected the lives of millions of others.

I applaud the entire Chilean relief effort. It was blessed with able leadership and organization, was quickly implemented, it was well planned out, it considered and acted on all contingencies, and it considered the human needs including the mental well being of the trapped miners. Our political class reaction to the oil spill was not well led or organized, the effort was long and drawn out,  it was not planned out at all,  had not considered any contingency planning ahead of time or during the crisis, and disrespected the workers who perished in the explosion.

Fortunately for the miners, they did not work in an American mine, especially this time of year, a year of mid term elections. Our politicians would have left them in order to go home and campaign for their re-election, possibly getting back to the hypothetical trapped miners during their lame duck session after the elections.


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