The Great Gulf Challenge

Let’s unite as a people and unleash the power of American enterprise and ingenuity to turn back the black tide of oil fouled beaches and tortured sea animals.  Here’s how to make it happen:

In the same spirit as The Great Race, The Millennium Challenge and The Grainger Challenge, the United States should sponsor The Great Gulf Challenge – an international competition to clean the crude oil slick out of the Gulf of Mexico.

The winning team gets the world’s accolades on par with any Olympic champion,  satisfaction of having contributed to a great quest to save a vital ecosystem, and will be positioned as the world’s leading performer in oil recovery technology.

We need to act quickly.  There is no time to get too complicated about this.  There is too much at risk and much to be gained.

The challenge is clear:

The team that recovers the most crude oil from within the Deepwater Horizon spill zone by the end of the contest is the winner.

Keep the rules simple:

Immediately upon Executive Order declaring The Great Gulf Challenge underway, any team that delivers recovered crude oil and tar from the spill zone to designated collection vessels will receive points based on weight recovered.

The team that has acquires the most points (recovers the most crude oil) by the Challenge end – wins.

The Challenge ends at an indeterminate time to be declared by the President of the United States during the course of the competition based on field realities, economics, production rates or other factors that lead the President to conclude the Challenge.

Teams can be of any size and comprised of any mix of companies, technology groups, individuals or academics.

Each team is required to maintain a daily log of events, lessons learned, technologies tested, production rates, etc.  Each team is required to report its activity, lessons learned and performance results to the President.  A percentage of the team’s eligible reimbursement earned will be retained until the team submits its final report to the President.

The United States government, the American People, in profound appreciation for the benefits derived will guarantee reimbursement for all expenses incurred during the Challenge by all teams that register, participate and deliver product to the collection points.

Foreign nations can also accept the Challenge and sponsor teams to compete under their flag.

Any person that thinks these rules biased or unfair should not enter the competition. Rather, find another way to help relieve the environmental damage, human and wildlife suffering in the Gulf region and God speed.

Remember, the true objective of The Great Gulf Challenge is to get as much petroleum product out of the Gulf waters and off its beaches, minimize the near and long term damages.

In this cause everyone is a winner.