[tomder55]

You mean like the Federal Regulators who were supposed to be watching the ship, watching porn on the tax payer's dime instead ?

[speechlesstx]

On day 68, some half a million or so barrels of oil have been skimmed. There's a ship on the way that's waiting to clear all the regulatory hurdles whose owner claims it can skim that many barrels a day.

The vessel's billionaire owner, Nobu Su, the CEO of Taiwanese shipping company TMT Group, said the ship would float across the Gulf "like a lawn mower cutting the grass," ingesting up to 500,000 barrels of oil-contaminated water a day.

But a number of hurdles stand in his way.

Really? If this ship can come close to doing in a day what's been done up to this point can't someone knock the %@$$ hurdles out of the way and get this ship out there?

[tomder55]

That would be leadership .

The Clean Water Act gives the President all the power he needs to cut the red tape BS .In fact ;it obliges the President to act.

(2) Discharge posing substantial threat to public health or welfare
(A) If a discharge, or a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance from a vessel, offshore facility, or onshore facility is of such a size or character as to be a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States (including but not limited to fish, shellfish, wildlife, other natural resources, and the public and private beaches and shorelines of the United States), the President shall direct all Federal, State, and private actions to remove the discharge or to mitigate or prevent the threat of the discharge. (B) In carrying out this paragraph, the President may, without regard to any other provision of law governing contracting procedures or employment of personnel by the Federal Government— (i) remove or arrange for the removal of the discharge, or mitigate or prevent the substantial threat of the discharge; and
(ii) remove and, if necessary, destroy a vessel discharging, or threatening to discharge, by whatever means are available.

United States Code: Title 33,1321. Oil and hazardous substance liability | LII / Legal Information Institute

The President won't suspend the 1920 Jones Act restricting foreign vessels operations in coastal waters because of the unions. But he could quickly.

The precedence was set by President GHW Bush during the Gulf War . He realized it would hamper our efforts to supply the troops in Saudi Arabia . President GW Bush also suspended the act to help during Katrina.

BTW ,the Jones act should be repealed anyway .It is antiquated and protectionist.

There's a ship on the way that's waiting to clear all the regulatory hurdles whose owner claims it can skim that many barrels a day.

What's the problem ? Not enough life jackets ?

[thisisit]

That would be leadership .

The Clean Water Act gives the President all the power he needs to cut the red tape BS .In fact ;it obliges the President to act.

(2) Discharge posing substantial threat to public health or welfare
(A) If a discharge, or a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance from a vessel, offshore facility, or onshore facility is of such a size or character as to be a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States (including but not limited to fish, shellfish, wildlife, other natural resources, and the public and private beaches and shorelines of the United States), the President shall direct all Federal, State, and private actions to remove the discharge or to mitigate or prevent the threat of the discharge. (B) In carrying out this paragraph, the President may, without regard to any other provision of law governing contracting procedures or employment of personnel by the Federal Government— (i) remove or arrange for the removal of the discharge, or mitigate or prevent the substantial threat of the discharge; and
(ii) remove and, if necessary, destroy a vessel discharging, or threatening to discharge, by whatever means are available.

United States Code: Title 33,1321. Oil and hazardous substance liability | LII / Legal Information Institute

The President won't suspend the 1920 Jones Act restricting foreign vessels operations in coastal waters because of the unions. But he could quickly.

The precedence was set by President GHW Bush during the Gulf War . He realized it would hamper our efforts to supply the troops in Saudi Arabia . President GW Bush also suspended the act to help during Katrina.

BTW ,the Jones act should be repealed anyway .It is antiquated and protectionist.

What's the problem ? Not enough life jackets ?

Hmmm, I wonder if he could be impeached for slacking?

[speechlesstx]

Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi said the administration's response has been "incompetent."

"I'm having a Katrina flashback," said the Bay St. Louis Democrat after an aerial survey of the Mississippi Sound and barrier islands Saturday morning. "I haven't seen this much incompetence since Michael Brown was running FEMA."
...

"Vessels of Opportunity do not identify themselves," said Taylor. "There is no way to communicate with them.

All those boats are running around like headless chickens. None of them are skimming for oil. It is criminal. Between the amount of money, the amount of wasted effort, there shouldn't be a drop of oil in the Mississippi Sound, but because of this incompetence, it is there."

Hasn't seen this much incompetence since "heckuva job Brownie?" That's cold...

[tomder55]

Have you been following Bubba Clintoon lately ? He's been feisty since coming back from South Africa listening to the vuvuzela symphony.

He's endorsing Andrew Romanoff's candidacy for Senate in Colorado (you know... the other guy the Obots tried to bribe) .

Then yesterday he said that Obama should send the Navy in and set explosives in the well to cave it in.

This isn't a coincidence. Add to this the general lack of respect and recognition that the President has shown the office of the Sec State under Evita's leadership ;and that Evita had been General McChrystal's champion in the administration ; I just have to wonder how much time she has left before she is wearing bus tire tread marks .But with her attack Bill dog by her side;she won't go quietly .

[speechlesstx]

I saw Clintoon talking about blowing the well up. I'd be feisty too if I'd been subjected to the vuvuzela symphony, I pray they don't make to to NFL stadiums. I can see her not going quietly but I have a hard time visualizing Obama throwing Hillary under the bus. But, stranger things have happened. He needs to swap her and Biden, she'd be much better in the executive office and Biden could run around he world calling people "smarta$$."



Exit question: Would you want the same government handling the spill response to manage your health care?

[paraclete]

Say what ever happened to the oil spill, old news now eh?

[tomder55]

Nope ;it was the lead story in every radio news segment this morning .But it was same old ;same old... oil is still spilling out ;tar balls in Texas ;heavy seas suspending operations ,still haven't decided if they want to use the super tanker skimmer; BP is trying to pass off some of the expense to their partners on the rig, the oil could reach Miami .

It will be another month or so of this before relief wells are completed ;and if they fail... possibly years .


Here is some perspective for what it's worth . The 1979 Pemex/Ixtoc I blowout lasted ten months, releasing between 10-30 thousand barrels per day for a total of 3.3 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico. It was bad but not an end of the world event. Actually I don't recall that getting much coverage at all.

At the conclusion of the 1990 Gulf War Saddam Hussein released between 5.7 and 11 million barrels of oil into the waters off Kuwait.Everyone remembers the land wells burning (fixed by Haliburton);but few recall that massive spill.

But the biggest man made spill on record occurred during WWII . German U Boats sunk over 450 oil tankers off the Atlantic coast spilling 29.4 million barrels . Everyone on the east coast went to the beach this weekend and no one came out coated with oil.

Yes this spill is bad for the local environment . But the good news is that there will be recovery.

Are all these oil spills the worse man made disasters in American history ? Not even close . That distinction goes to the 6 year dust bowl of the 1930's... caused primarily by poor agricultural practices and a drought .

Dust Bowl conditions fomented an exodus of the displaced from Texas, Oklahoma, and the surrounding Great Plains to adjacent regions. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. 356 houses had to be torn down after one storm alone. Many Americans migrated west looking for work. Some residents of the Plains, especially in Kansas and Oklahoma fell ill and died of dust pneumonia or malnutrition.

The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history within a short period. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to California. With their land barren and homes seized in foreclosure, many farm families were forced to leave.

Dust Bowl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[excon]

Hello again, clete:

There's a little news, but it's not about the oil spill. There's been a smattering of reports, recently, about BP security guards being ham handed with the press. Well, those reports aren't so smattering anymore.

Mother Jones' Mac McClelland, who has been covering the spill since the first day it happened, detailed how local police and federal officials work with BP to harass, impede, interrogate and even detain journalists who are covering the spill and the clean-up efforts. She documented one incident which was particularly chilling of an activist who, after being told by a local police officer to stop filming a BP facility because "BP didn't want him filming", was then pulled over after he left by that officer so he could be interrogated by a BP security official. McClelland also described how BP has virtually bought entire Police Departments which now do its bidding: "One parish has 57 extra shifts per week that they are devoted entirely to, BP security detail, and BP is paying the sheriff's office."

The very idea that government officials are acting as agents of BP (of all companies) in what clearly seem to be unconstitutional acts to intimidate and impede the media is infuriating. Obviously, the U.S. Government and BP share the same interest, preventing the public from knowing the magnitude of the spill and the inadequacy of the clean-up efforts, but this creepy police state behavior is intolerable.

excon

[speechlesstx]

say what ever happened to the oil spill, old news now eh?

Hardly, even though the Obama administration would love for that to be true.

[tomder55]

I fully agree with Excon on this and another incident related to another BP disaster in Texas that they'd like to cover-up.

It involves a BP refinery in Texas that “spewed tens of thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals into the skies” two weeks before the Deepwater explosion.
Photographer Briefly Detained by Police Near BP's Texas City Refinery - ProPublica

The 1st amendment free press is fundamental to a free country and it is disturbing that local law enforcement ,and probably the Eric Holder Justice dept . Turns a blind eye to this.

[speechlesstx]

It absolutely is, but you must remember that this president thinks information in the hands of the people is a distraction. It's no wonder information on the spill is being restricted by not only BP, but by local law enforcement, the Coast Guard and government officials.

[Carl17]

Don't know if this has been posted yet didn't want to read the whole thread.

Have you guys heard about the nuclear option yet?

I really hope they don't go with that. I read that if things went wrong they could wipe out most/all life on earth by blowing up frozen natural gas under the earths surface.

[tomder55]

Hi Carl

Yes that was brought up ,as well as former President Clinton suggesting using conventional munitions . I think there is a consensus here that it is a stupid idea.

[tomder55]

Here is one of the many sites you can link to if you would like to contribute to the Gulf region relief.

Gulf Restoration Network - United for a Healthy Gulf


Coast to Coast - Nationwide Benefit Concerts for the Fishermen & Wildlife affected by the Gulf Coast Oil Spill

[paraclete]

Hi Carl

yes that was brought up ,as well as former President Clinton suggesting using conventional munitions . I think there is a concensus here that it is a stupid idea.

Well what do you expect from Bubba?

[speechlesstx]

For your enjoyment, discussion, consternation or whatever, a brilliant takeoff of one of my favorite tunes from back in the day:

[speechlesstx]

I'm impressed, Time Magazine has it right twice this week. I covered the first in the Wikileaks thread, now they're agreeing with Rush Limbaugh?

Well, Rush has a point. The Deepwater explosion was an awful tragedy for the 11 workers who died on the rig, and it's no leak; it's the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. It's also inflicting serious economic and psychological damage on coastal communities that depend on tourism, fishing and drilling. But so far — while it's important to acknowledge that the long-term potential danger is simply unknowable for an underwater event that took place just three months ago — it does not seem to be inflicting severe environmental damage. "The impacts have been much, much less than everyone feared," says geochemist Jacqueline Michel, a federal contractor who is coordinating shoreline assessments in Louisiana. (See pictures of the Gulf oil spill.)

Yes, the spill killed birds — but so far, less than 1% of the birds killed by the Exxon Valdez. Yes, we've heard horror stories about oiled dolphins — but, so far, wildlife response teams have collected only three visibly oiled carcasses of any mammals. Yes, the spill prompted harsh restrictions on fishing and shrimping, but so far, the region's fish and shrimp have tested clean, and the restrictions are gradually being lifted. And, yes, scientists have warned that the oil could accelerate the destruction of Louisiana's disintegrating coastal marshes — a real slow-motion ecological calamity — but, so far, shorelines assessment teams have only found about 350 acres of oiled marshes, when Louisiana was already losing about 15,000 acres of wetlands every year.

I also read this morning that the oil sheen on the surface of the gulf is virtually gone. Still waiting for the apocalypse from this spill?

[tomder55]

I've seen this but I don't want to jump to conclusions on this yet because I have concerns about the dispersant that was pumped into the leak. Of all the responses, I think that was the riskiest. The chemical used makes the oil sink. It may have been better to let it float to the top and skim and burn.

It could very well be that natural microbes are eating the oil ,and the nature of the oil (light sweet crude ) is probably better on the wildlife than the Valdez spill which I believe was a heavier crude. Also water temperatures and the effect on viscosity may have played a role in the 2 spills .

I hope all the optimism is justified .