wjb21ndtown

I understand the correlation tying Bush to this mess, but IMO it discounts too much the ability that Obama had in the last year and 1/2 to stop it or impose a regulation. Even if it is primarily ceremonial Obama did endorse the Gulf Oil rigs (and endorsed the specific oil rig in question, I believe), and discussed their safety.

Obama wasted no time in repealing the ability to drill outside of our national parks. It was one of the first things he did when he took office. He also wasted no time in directing his efforts passing the Health Care Bill, which no one was calling for and the majority of Americans do not agree with. He could have focused these efforts in more meaningful direction and used them to over turn Bush's "cronyism" and/or loose regulation if there was any of that going on.

VtSteve

All would have been better served if the estimates of oil gushing into the Gulf were better earlier on. It wasn't until BP released the video that other experts began to estimate on their own.

As of last week, the operations were being recrafted into one of far more skimming. The logistics involved are being worked on, as they need to build mooring sites to allow for more tankers safely into the area. Foreign ships are already working in the area, and aside from news reports and requests like the one above, there had been no such official outcry before. I think if the dispersants hadn't been used in such a quantity, this would have been a skimming operation a month ago. They've just recently had a fire aboard ship on one of them. Nice of Jeff Miller to chime in a week after most of this was going down.

If BP had been solely in charge of this operation with no oversight or prodding, we'd still be hearing how this spill is small compared to others, and how letting the experts deal with it is best.

So as of last Friday, there were ".. Allen said, 25,000 people are working on the gusher in the Gulf using 400 skimming vessels, 500 barges, 2,500 government and contract vessels and 66 aircraft. I think the number you stated was 32 skimmers. A slight difference. The foreign skimmers already working in the Gulf are from Norway and Mexico.

Here's a story from direct sources from May 27th. It lacks the hysterics that some are fond of, but does state the events well.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...ssistance.html

rockstrmkr

http://radioornot.editedforcontent.com/site/?p=3596

scary read, if true

VtSteve

So far, the people blogging and reporting on this disaster that were actually being inquisitive have been far more accurate than anything BP has stated (at least publicly). I think inside of 2-3 weeks you're going to see one of the largest mobilizations yet. It has to be an immense task getting that many ships into the Gulf, and navigating them to areas where they can sit and take on oil.

I'd have to think the Navy would be best at co-ordinating these efforts, but who knows. They probably also have to worry about who and what is on foreign vessels, who knows what whackjobs would do if they got that close to our boundries.

klaw

No I don't work for Bp or have money invested with them
maybe my point was missed

I said BP should not be let of hook and also criminal charges should be filed.

My point was they have always said they would pay for entire clean up even with paying the dividend they could have set aside 20 billion with cash flow.so we force them to hold the dividend for 2 years which hurts retirement funds and give them 4 years to fund the 20 billion.

Seems like we could have gotten a better deal if this is what was desired

ww have not kicked anyones ass and we will never recover in the gulf in my life time at least

Catmando

Well I took my post down because of the post above about the Jones Act, which I was not aware of, I'd never heard of it.

But now, Vtsteve has posted a quote From Admiral Allen saying that there are over 400 skimming vessels in the Gulf right now. So are those 400 vessels American-made per the Jones Act or not, I don't know. Adm. Allen says that's not enough, so somebody needs to ask the White House or the Congress for an exception to the Act.

klaw

Bush gave waivers to th jones act days after Katrina but so far this administration from my research has not

Marginmn

iTrader: (1)

CNBC had former GE ceo Jack Welch on yesterday and he was saying how much he admired Obama as a person yet he felt that his administration was lacking people with business backgrounds and thus they were attacking the issue is a political response rather than sitting down with the heads of the industry night and day and trying to come up with a solution to the problem, and he was real critical of their response so far. It was there that CNBC reported that at that time there were only 32 dedicated skimmers in the Gulf while the most sophiscated ships in the world at recovering spilled oil had been offered yet turned down.

Thanks for correcting me based on the bad figure that CNBC reported.

klaw

I guess my point came across wrong if their was criminal neglegence reds charges and send them to trial

they have never wavered from the stance they will pay for everything so to avoid bad press they hold a dividend and put 10 billion back to their bottom line hurting retirement plans and with this 10 billion back in there coffers we cut a deal for 5 billion a year WTF
if we are doing that deal why did we not get 10: billion a year

they have said repeatidly they will cover all costs of clean up so we punish shareholder add to theIr bottom line and let them off of hook

I just think they won this negotiation

jayboat

iTrader: (1)

Exxon said the same thing. You sound like you believe them.

There is no cap on this, it may only be the beginning. At least it cannot be retracted- in case they go bankrupt or something.

Roger Ebert has a thoughtful essay on the situation.

What we can't seem to accept is that the oil is leaking and we can't stop it. This doesn't fit the modern narrative in which we can fix anything if we get organized and throw enough money at it. An earthquake devastates Haiti? The world rushes to its aid. A tsunami wreaks havoc? Emergency teams descend. Swine flu? We get inoculated. The economy collapses? Bail it out.

...

Obama is under relentless attack now from the Right. That's a great help. I have been arguing in his defense, asking, please, what can he do to "handle" the crisis? We are told he hasn't seemed "concerned" enough. He flies to the Gulf states for his fourth trip and is attacked for having a goddamn ice cream cone. He expresses concern. He says he's mad. He gives a speech from the Oval Office in which he comes up with no answers because there are none. "This is Obama's Katrina," shouts the Right, forgetting that they said Bush did a good job with Katrina.