Gulf Oil Spill - What's the Real Reason for so few Skimmers at Work?

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   KFlippinposted 13 years ago

   "Red tape keeps prized oil-fighting skimmers from Gulf, coastline"
   
   Published: Monday, June 28, 2010, 10:29 PM     
   Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune
   
   Excerpts from the Article (Link to full article below):
   
   "As oil oozes inland, tainting marshes and fouling beaches, local response officials from Florida to Grand Isle for weeks have been begging for the oil-fighting tool that everyone wants but no one can get enough of: skimmers. They're the primary means for attacking oil head-on and collecting it before it hits land, yet local government agencies complain that the number of specialized skimming vessels out on the water is woefully lacking.
   
   "We want all the skimming vessels in the world deployed," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. "This is an oil spill bigger than anything we've ever seen. It's a national disaster. We're at war. If you were at war and in charge, would you deploy everything you had to win the war?"
   ----------------------
   "But Vial of Ecoceane, the French oil spill response company, said the Jones Act and other difficulties getting through to BP prevented his company from putting boats to work sooner. He has boats that could work offshore, but also smaller models that would be best suited in shallower inland waters within the three-mile limit.
   
   "We could have sent boats earlier, but we wanted to make sure that if we sent our boats, they could be used in the U.S., because of the Jones Act," Vial said in an interview translated from French.
   
   "In the end, he sold nine of the spill response boats to a Florida company last week, which made them American boats and circumvented the problems with the Jones Act. Vial believes that BP and the federal government have been overwhelmed by the number of people offering assistance and ideas, thus slowing down the whole response."
   
   
   http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill … incart_mce

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      KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I suspect Democrats are reluctant to even engage in much discussion on this issue -- it is so clearly one that exposes this administration's 'empathetic' farce.

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   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   red tape, politics and money. it makes me ill.
   ___ yeah to that florida company that bought the ships from the French company.
   
   I read somewhere that there's another act besides the Jones Act that is holding things up..
   
   "Yet even though 1600 skimmers are available across the country, as Sen. George LeMieux (R.-Fla) pointed out on the Senate floor last week, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 demands that regions must maintain minimum levels of that kind of equipment at all times, meaning not all resources can be directed to the Gulf.
   
   Allen has said the administration is working to remove that hurdle, as well as grant waivers if needed for the Jones law.
   
   But red tape also has stalled efforts by biologists in Barataria Bay, MSNBC reports, who are waiting for approval from Washington before they can implement clean-up tactics to save the marshlands.
   
   “The bureaucracy is killing us,” Ralph Portier, an environmental biologist at Louisiana State University, told MSNBC.
   
   As oil continues to spew into the Gulf, The Associated Press reports that these helping hands are not as generous as they seem. “These offers are not typically offers of aid,” said Lt. Erik Halvorson, a Coast Guard spokesman. “Normally, they are offers to sell resources to BP or the U.S. government.”
   
   Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa … z0sYVAkP5E

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That is because you are not aware that the oil companies wish to put refineries along the Gulf coast and have been stopped by environmental groups and local legal systems from doing so to prevent destruction of the wetland eco systems.
      
      Still - 5 years of this and the eco systems will be dead and the Gulf states will welcome with open arms any possible employments from refineries.
      
      This is why, Ain't that hard to grasp. Whoever buys the remnants of BP - (Present BP owners) will be the hero providing jobs in the wasteland.
      
      See in 5 years time if I am right or not.

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         sandra rinckposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         It's so friggin' sinister.  Just like the 80's  you have to watch this!  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp … 7#37368377

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            sandra rinckposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Seriously watch this video.

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               Reality Bytesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Serious Deja Vu!
               
               
               
               

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                  Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Do you think someone from his own party will run against him?

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                     Sab Ohposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes, she will.

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                     Reality Bytesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes 
                     
                     Where is Hillary?
                     
                     Didn't Billy Clinton just ctiticize Obama?
                     
                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqL8sSaTQYA
                     
                     Maybe not directly but still, the Clinton Machine has started the gears moving?

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                        rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        no, not really. that video cut off Clinton's opening remarks. I saw that interview the other night.
                        
                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0H3HMcp … re=related
                        
                        I do agree that the navy could be doing a better job than BP's efforts.

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                           KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           I would say it was as direct a criticism as he can 'politically' make, and even more telling was the CNN headline for the video of that interview.  It was something like "Clinton says Obama is getting a 'bum' rap on oil."
                           
                           In reality, Clinton made it very clear that he thought Obama was getting a bum rap ONLY on the question of his percieved 'empathy' to the issues of this oil spill.  Clinton made that as clear as possible.
                           
                           Clinton also made it VERY clear that the priorties should be stopping the oil leak and protecting the waters/cleaning it up, and worry about the blame game later.
                           
                           http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politi … um.rap.cnn

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                     KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Without a doubt, unless they are their own are threatened in some life-changing manner.

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                  sandra rinckposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  It is so trippy I wonder when I was fed the drugs.  If you want to get into some super sinister crap that the government is doing to us all, watch Food Inc. 
                  
                  All of it is a big fat booby trap and there isn't anything we can really do about it except the impeding revolution and starvation. 
                  
                  The oil companies are so bloated with sh** and all the governments, not just the US are so far out of control with greed and corruption and sicking 'plots', yes plots! that I can hardly believe what is going on sometimes. 
                  
                  Deja Vu is like candy compared to the outright intentional destruction of life just so a few bastards can have their cake and eat ours too.
                  
                  Anyone remember Petraus (sp)?  Now what was it that was sooo controversial about General Petraus... how did the saying go... "General Betrayus and now he is the head of the special ops who replaced what's his face for telling the vp to "bite me"?
                  
                  IT IS ALL PLANNED!!!!  Every single bit of it!

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      2. 62

         KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Cowards, nothing but cowards on the opposing team....afraid that the tragedy of the 'mishandling' of the oil spill by Obama is something you can't even begin to try and defend?

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      KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for contributing your thoughts here Elle, and the claim that the offers of aid have a cost is a very weak attempt to distract from the real issues, that just doesn't fly. 
      
      BP will be paying those costs, and regardless of that, our federal government has no qualms about going into massive debt over social principles, they should not have blinked at spending whatever it takes to clean up this spill, and sought reimbursement later.

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   Reality Bytesposted 13 years ago

   Suspension of the Jones act will disrupt the entire society.  Our court system operates under Maritime law (The Jones Act)

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      rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      it was waived for hurricane katrina.
      can you explain what you mean?

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         Reality Bytesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         The Jones Act was waived during Katrina?   Jones Act Maritime Admiralty Law  Do some research as you would probably not believe me.   I have written on the subject but it is best to self educate yourself as to the truth.

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            rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            here's some of what I found. I do a lot of reading. thanks.
            
            http://keithhennessey.com/2010/06/18/ho … jones-act/
            http://www.factcheck.org/2010/06/oil-sp … jones-act/
            
            signing off.

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      KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Bunk.

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         Reality Bytesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         What form of law does our court system operate under?

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4. 84

   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   mark, I sure don't claim to understand all of this, but I do live along the gulf coast and try to keep up with what's been going on for years with the drilling and oil companies, the 'politics'. whether what you predict is true will remain to be seen. I hope you are wrong.
   for what's it worth, I've become and will remain involved.

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      There is nothing you can do. This is the intentional destruction of the ecosystem in order to get the refineries put in.
      
      This is what Shell is doing in the Niger Delta:
      
      http://markpknowles.com/hubpages-rocks- … times-sux/
      http://blog.protectthehuman.com/
      
      Similar eco system - but they need refineries close to the source.
      
      Bad, bad, bad what they are doing. But - try stopping it.

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   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   I'll take a look at your hub mark.  I'm not disputing anything you've said.
   but hey, I'm a fighter. whether anything anyone does makes a difference, I like to make my voice heard and get involved. at least I can stand for a cause along with others doing the same.
   
   part of the problem in america is people complain, but do nothing.
   I would rather do something rather than complain.. so I am.
   

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hey - You are preaching to the choir. Now try not driving anywhere. Shell? BP? Amoco? Texaco? All the same.
      
      We are trapped.

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   raisingmeposted 13 years ago

   Not living in the US I was not aware of the "Jones Act" but that it was waived for Katrina explains how our Canadian and Provincal Governments managed to get our teams in place down there - even before the Americans did.  It also explains why we were not able to get teams down there two years ago when forest fires were raging out of control in Norther Washington and Idaho.  Our professional firefighters were kept out of the states the reasons cited were "security concerns".  From day one of this BP disaster we have repeatedly offered help and being turned down.  As one of the major oil producing nations we have a lot of technology and equipment that could assist.  However, our offers have been denied with one exception being that last month (June) we were allowed to send some booms down from the east coast.  Considering this is not an American crisis but a global one it would behoove all who live on the planet to pitch in on this one.  Political "red tape" should be renamed - it is B.S. Brown Tape and it reeks!

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      KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      ! Thanks for contributing to this discussion, I was floored by what you've said.  Particularly:
      
      
      
      This is a global disaster, that for all we know may have no end until that hole runs dry. To continue to parlay with international offers of help, fee based offers or not, is insane, and I could almost believe some of the 'conspiracy' theories as to why this has been so poorly handled and the Gulf Coast left being daily more weakened and polluted -- as certainly there is NO rational explantion for our government's handling of this situation.
      
      It is a global disaster.

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   sandra rinckposted 13 years ago

   And as if what I said (watch the video) doesn't spark your interest enough and think I am paranoid...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37368377#37368377
   
   Ethanol.. Corn... Seriously, watch Food Inc.  I am still aghast CORN!  Of all things, CORN.  You would think that this is the way to go! right? 
   
   The plot thickens *evil laugh*.  "If you aren't outraged then you aren't paying attention!" it's so sick that I will call it pure friggin' evil.

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   Sab Ohposted 13 years ago

   A Chicago pol never misses a chance to grease the unions regardless of the consequences.

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   Studio Eposted 13 years ago

   All i want for christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth, hahahaha November is D day vote all those Democrats out! get ur done.

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    Ralph Deedsposted 13 years ago

    Several reasons account for the spill and ineffective response to it--lax regulation by the Interior Department under Bush and Obama; negligence and risk taking by BP and it's drilling contractors; and lack of planning and preparation for the catastrophe. A law should be passed to require all the gulf oil drillers to contribute to a fund which would develop and fund a play to deal with future spills. The plan should include keeping large oil vacuum tankers on standby in the gulf and other effective measures to contain and deal with spills. Of course it should also provide for stringent measures governing the equipment required for deep drilling and its inspection by Interior Department inspectors.

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11. 62

    KFlippinposted 13 years ago

    There is no reason,
    
    no given season,
    
    for the lack of quick
    
    react to the oily
    
    swift attack to ALL
    
    that hold the Gulf dear,
    
    to home, life, and sphere. . .

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    Captain Jimmyposted 13 years ago

    Politicians will give account for what they have done!
    
    http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Solution-for-BP-Oil-Gusher

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