Posted by Tina
I’ve waited to post anything on the oil spill in the gulf mostly because there hasn’t been much reliable information out there other than the usual fears and concerns that always follow an incident of this magnitude. Today several articles offered bits of information and opinion that might spark some lively conversation…pick your poison Post Scripters:
Why didn’t federal officials implement an oil spill clean up plan they’ve had on the books since 1994 as soon as possible after crude began pumping into the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion and sinking of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform 53 miles south of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico? ** The Mobile Register reports that Ron Gouget, who formerly managed the oil spill cleanup department of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as a similar unit for the state of Louisiana, is criticizing the Obama White House’s failure to act according to existing government plans in the event of a spill in the area now being deluged with thousands of barrels of crude oil every day.
“BP ‘absolutely’ will pay for Gulf oil spill cleanup, CEO says” – CNN Staff Writer
BP will “absolutely be paying for the cleanup operation” of the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, chief executive Tony Hayward said Monday. “There’s no doubt about that.” ** “It is indeed BP’s responsibility to deal with this and we’re dealing with it,” Hayward told NPR’s “Morning Edition.” ** And, he added, “where legitimate claims [of damages] are made, we will be good for them,” according to NPR’s website.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should force lawmakers to reconsider plans for expanded offshore exploration. ** “What I hope is that the offshore drilling, along with the Atlantic and the Gulf, that area is off the table, and there’s no expanded drilling in those areas,” Cardin said during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press radio show.
The problem: The federal government did not have a single fire boom on hand. ** The “In-Situ Burn” plan produced by federal agencies in 1994 calls for responding to a major oil spill in the Gulf with the immediate use of fire booms. **
But in order to conduct a successful test burn eight days after the Deepwater Horizon well began releasing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf, officials had to purchase one from a company in Illinois. ** When federal officials called, Elastec/American Marine, shipped the only boom it had in stock, Jeff Bohleber, chief financial officer for Elastec, said today. ** At federal officials’ behest, the company began calling customers in other countries and asking if the U.S. government could borrow their fire booms for a few days, he said. ** A single fire boom being towed by two boats can burn up to 1,800 barrels of oil an hour, Bohleber said. That translates to 75,000 gallons an hour, raising the possibility that the spill could have been contained at the accident scene 100 miles from shore. ** “They said this was the tool of last resort. No, this is absolutely the asset of first use. Get in there and start burning oil before the spill gets out of hand,” Bohleber said. “If they had six or seven of these systems in place when this happened and got out there and started burning, it would have significantly lessened the amount of oil that got loose.” ** In the days after the rig sank, U.S Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry said the government had all the assets it needed. She did not discuss why officials waited more than a week to conduct a test burn. ** At the time, former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oil spill response coordinator Ron Gouget — who helped craft the 1994 plan — told the Press-Register that officials had pre-approval for burning. “The whole reason the plan was created was so we could pull the trigger right away.” **
Gouget speculated that burning could have captured 95 percent of the oil as it spilled from the well. ** Bohleber said that his company was bringing several fire booms from South America, and he believed the National Response Center discovered that it had one in storage. (emphasis mine)
So I guess BP gets to pay for the incompetence of BIG BUREAUCRATIC GOVERNMENT too!