Management Commitment LO8452

Dr. Scott J. Simmerman (74170.1061@CompuServe.COM)
11 Jul 96 14:30:03 EDT

Replying to LO8425 --

This discussion about values and commitment has been an interesting one
that I'm sure has stimulated a lot of thought from list members. There
appears to be a series of issues and questions that arise when hard
decisions must be made with varied interests in mind.

About two weeks ago, we had a major oil spill here in Greenville SC.
About 2 months ago, their self-testing discovered a problem in the
pipeline -- but the decision was to fix it when convenient (aka not so
profit-affecting) in the middle of July. As a result, the pipeline broke
right over the Reedy River that runs through downtown Greenville. And
apparently, over 800,000 gallons of diesel fuel ran into the river that
has been a major restoration project for the past 20 years.

Adding lots of safety valves to the pipeline was judged to be "too
expensive" but would have eliminated much of the problem -- seems a
pressure spike caused the rupture. To give an idea of the problem, the
newspaper said that there was up to 11 inches of diesel oil on the waters
surface. The good news is that much was recovered.

The pipeline operator, Colonial out of the Atlanta area, has had a number
of similar spills over the past 10 years but our SC Dept of Environmental
Safety has chosen to fine them only minimal amounts ($18,000 for a major
spill a few years ago).

This time, clean-up costs alone will be $4 to $5 million. And the
pipeline President has hinted that the state shouldn't fine them because
they responded so quickly to the problem.

So, we have issues of all kinds operating here (community, political,
environmental, safety) as well as values of many different organizations
(pipeline, government (city, county, state, federal), regulatory,
community). Many individuals and organizations knew of the problem but
delayed any action because of the profit motives. Individuals didn't
complain because of organizational politics. The impacts were and are
severe and will be around for years (diesel is quite toxic to living
things, causing blisters and other problems with contact).

My beliefs are that not much will really change in the long run. A few
more safety valves will be added; there will be a token fine; no one will
be held accountable for the damages to individual property and community
assets; and life (except for the fish and wildlife) will go on.

So what SHOULD happen in such a situation?
Should heads roll? And at what level at Colonial and the
government (who apparently knew of the pending problem but thought nothing
would occur
Should the fine be massive and punative or small and symbolic?
Should the operator be restricted from operating within the state
because of the history of problems (and apparently one of the worst safety
records of all pipeline operators based on a newspaper report)?

I believe this is where community values should come into play. Yet who
speaks for the community? Or for the other living creatures?

--

Scott Simmerman 74170.1061@compuserve.com

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>