by Tina Grazier
Mark asked this morning what President Obama could do about the hole BP put in the ocean. I thought his question deserved an proper answer.
The hole itself can only be closed by BP and others with the expertise to get it closed. The damages must also be paid by BP and whoever else might be found to be responsible. Obama couldn’t prevent the explosion any more than GWB could have prevented the Hurricane Katrina. But the closing the hole is just one of two big issues that required a response following the disastrous BP/Federal oversight failure.
There is little that Obama can do about BP, although he and his cohorts in Congress have done a fair job at playing the big bad wolf, scolding BP, twisting CEO arms, and vowing to hold them financially accountable. Since BP has already said they would assume responsibility one can only imagine this action on the part of the President and Congress was more political theater than substantive, thoughtful effort. The President has the power to issue orders to fix failures in federal oversight but we all know that will only result in a lot of newly written plans, notebooks neatly written and typed with revised guidelines that will sit and gather dust on the shelf. A temporary state of alertness will fall on the employees charged with regualting safety standards but eventually, as it always does, the bureaucracy will quietly go back to sleep. In short, nothing of consequence will or can be be done at the federal level to “close the hole” or even to prevent future events.
The second issue is an entirely different matter affording Obama the opportunity to use his authority and position. The president could have taken immediate steps to protect the shoreline and inland areas where he had to know oil from the gushing hole would cause great damage. A strong and resolute response could have ensured some level of economic stability for the residents in the area and prevented at least some of the major damage now ravashing the Gulf area. This incident required an aggressive response; it should have been addressed as an emergency.
Preventing the oil from coming ashore, even if it meant causing some environmental collateral damage along the way, should have been the first order of the day. Yet what we have seen so far from this administration and the confounding federal bureaucracy is delay, indecision, and obfuscation, not to mention more than a few rounds of golf and a party or two! Where was their passion, their dedication, their resolve to contain and recover as much of the oil as possible offshore?
The Washington Times supports the claim:
The Obama administration’s red tape continues to tie the hands of individuals seeking to mitigate the effects of the disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a sign of how out-of-touch the O Force’s priorities have become. ** Last week, the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers teamed up to thwart efforts to build sand berms to protect the fragile Louisiana coastline. The excuse given for federal intervention was that the state was about to dredge sand too close to the Chandeleur Islands and that a bird habitat might also be affected. State officials reacted with outrage, suggesting the federal claims were bogus. ** “The Corps’ own permit indicates that we are currently operating within the allowed dredge area,” Garrett Graves, chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority explained in a June 23 statement. “The Department of the Interior’s continued insistence that this dredge area is a bird rookery makes it clear that they are confused about what it is that they are protecting – and perhaps have never been to the Chandeleurs at all. There isn’t a place for a bird to land for over a mile away.”
BP is responsible for the hole and the oil escaping miles offshore but the Washington DC bureaucracy, now in the hands of incompetent Democrat (non) leaders, is guilty for a great deal of the damage that is happening to the Gulf’s beautiful shorelines and the jobs and revenue that have been lost in the area. The Democrat Party is the home of environmentalism politically. I find it fascinating that more has not been made of the unpreparedness and the utter incompetence to meet this challenge.
I’m afraid this is gonna be another long hard slog! Let’s face it, our government doesn’t work in part because of the red tape and layers of conflicting rules and bureaus. It’s even less effective with weak leadership. All attempts to press through the red tape and political posturing in order to prevent damage have been blunted. Offers of help have been discouraged, denied or delayed. Those who are working hard to try to minimize damage must feel like they are running in tar.
I can’t help wondering if the delays, the refusal of help, the lame excuses and lack of enthusiasm to prevent oil from ever reaching our shores was purposeful…meant to anger people, especially people like Mark who are already against drilling to fill our energy needs. There is an election coming up in a few months and a crisis, as this administration has been fond of saying, should never be allowed to go to waste. There’s nothing like an angry electorate for higher voter turnout. Keeping this crisis as sticky and gooey as possible, while maintaining an officious and tough (“plug the damn hole”) stance, appears to be a working plan for Dems in DC. We’ll have to wait for November to see if it works this time.