“Who in the hell is in charge?” [Reader Post]

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As the oil spill in Louisiana began to spread, Obama’s first reaction was to play golf. Now as the oil spill grows into a full blown disaster, Obama is scrambling to appear to be serious. The White House released a picture showing Obama on the phone allegedly talking to someone about something other than a tee time.

Louisiana does know something about oil spills. The problem is that the Obama administration is blocking them from implementing them. Gov. Bobby Jindal expressed his frustration at the Federal government:

“We know we have to take action and take matters into our own hands if we are going to win this fight to protect our coast,”

Jindal does have a plan:

“We have only two options: We can fight the battle of removing oil in our thousands of miles of fragmented wetlands that serve as a critical nursery for wildlife or we can stop the oil 15 to 20 miles off of our coast at sand booms. Every day we are not given the authorization to move forward and create more of these sand booms is another day where that choice is made for us and more and more miles of our shore are hit by oil.”

They are waiting for Federal approval to implement their plans but the Obama adminstration is not responding:

What the controversy doesn’t explain, however, is why the federal government has been so slow in approving cleanup operations. Is it the inertia that afflicts any bureaucratic operation — even one dedicated to resolving an emergency? Or are federal officials worried about the broader impact that plans like the sand booms may have on the coastal environment?

At issue is a Corps of Engineers environmental impact report. A reasonable person cannot help but wonder what they’re thinking. It’s hard to believe that allowing more oil to reach the shores could be less damaging than creating sand berms. To his credit, Jindal plans on acting even without Federal approval.

Federal response has been fragmented and incoherent, so much so that Democrat stalwarts such as James Carville have voiced their criticism.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sought to make clear how tough the administration is:

“BP is charged with capping the leaking oil well and paying for the response and for the recovery without limitation. They will be held accountable. We will keep our boot on their neck until the job gets done.”

Salazar threatened to “push out” BP but Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen noted that only oil companies have the expertise to deal with this kind of situation.

Such is the exasperation of Louisiana officials that Billy Nungesser, the president of Plaquemines Parish stated:

“There’s been a failure of leadership on all levels. Who in the hell is in charge?”

The more cynical of those among us might think that what the Obama adminstration holds most important is something other than the environment:

“Take charge, avoid blame”

In the aftermath of Katrina, George Bush stood up and accepted the blame for the federal failures. I think before this is over, Obama will do the same.

Blame Bush, that is.

During first 40 days of Katrina, Bush made 7 visits to Gulf Coast…
So far on Day 36 of BP oil leak, Obama has made 1 visit to disaster area…(Drudge)

What was it Obama said about Bush’s response?

“I am especially glad to come back here because I remember four years ago, right after the storm, a lot of people felt forgotten,” Obama tells a New Orleans crowd in 2009.

He bashed Bush as “a President who only saw people from a window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground.”

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I don’t know if it is the conspiracy theorist in me, or if there really is some validity in the idea that those in power want to use this spill as an end discussion to the idea of more offshore oil drilling. It would certainly explain the seeming ineptitude on the part of BP, Obama and our Government. It would explain why it is taking so long, why Hollywood hasn’t held a telethon fundraiser, etc. If anyone argues that offshore drilling is good for our country, they can simply say, look at the damage drilling can cause. What do you think?

Let’s see. Could McCain have handled this better than Obama has? Yes. Bush? Yes. Palin? Yes. Jindahl? Obviously.
Biden? No. Pelosi? No. Reid? No.
Well, I can’t figure it out.

Hay and long-grass can and should have been loaded onto barges, and sent to spread it on the water. It absorbs oil instantly, stays afloat, and can be recovered, then incinerated. Jindal should have sent the sand 30min after he was informed of it. To hell with the Feds.

-This could have begun on day one. America has enough hay in the area to absorb Arabia. We can move sand in quanities that would blow your mind.

http://video.godlikeproductions.com/video/CWRoberts_Presentation_2wmv

This isn’t Obama, just as it wasn’t Bush. The president is a cheerleader, and can only be one.

-It is the size and scope of bureaucracy of the government itself, at all levels. The failure to contain and clean this mess, (just as in Katrina) is the result of 40 years of Progressivism.

Instead of 3 “in-charge” (and voted in) people making decisions, there are now thousands.

Per Obama, the government is in charge and running the show, but BP is responsible and any problems are BP’s fault. Anything that isn’t BP’s fault is GWB’s fault.

Ah… the berms. This Jindal idea has been bugging me. One doesn’t create a sand bar quickly, and this has always been a race against the tide. The construction time is 6-9 months for the proposed 86 miles or so.

The Army Corp of Engineers have been reviewing the plan. They had some problems with the total presentation, because it altered tidal movement and instead could make it worse by driving the oil into the Mississippi Sound and Biloxi marshes. Certainly a viable quandary to ponder. Try to fix one problem, and create another?

As of yesterday, they okayed part of the berms and locations. I agree that the Army Corps needed to assess the total package, and it’s effects. No sense making things worse. Personally, I like @Patvann’s idea of hay and long grass as a sponge.

Technically, I’m not sure where the Army Corps fits in, if we’re fingerpointing here. They are authorized and directed by Congress, certainly a part of the US Army, but appear to be a stand alone federal agency that does work for many departments, including FEMA, EPA, DOE, DOD and work in tandem with the CG. They’ve even done work for foreign nations. Here’s an extensive history of the Corps, created by the Continental Congress, and the restructuring they have gone thru over time.

According to the bio of head honcho Chief Engineer, Robert Van Antwerp, he supervises about 600 military and 36,000 civilian members of the Corp, in the eight divisions around the country.

One would think that, housed in the Pentagon and as an arm of the military, they would answer to the CiC. But I wouldn’t expect “da won” to second guess their analysis. Indeed, I would be livid if a Chicago community organizer/wannabe lawyer attempted to assume engineering knowledge, and forced authorization of something not thoroughly analyzed.

So on this one, I’m not seeing a problem. Frustrating for Jindal, I know. But then, he’s not an engineer either (poly sci and medical majors).

I would recommend round bales of straw lined up on the beach laced together. Straw is highly absorbent and and they could be lined up for hundreds of miles. A six or eight foot round bale will weigh a half ton and can soak up a lot of crude. When you are done, burn them on the beach. The studies could be a work in progress, a few mistakes and a few successes would have been a Hell of lot more effective than playing basketball and vacationing in Chicago.

I see that now that BP and their associates are making some headway, Omambi is going to go in an explain how his plan saved the day.

A few days before the first election in Iraq, the terrorists blew up a major crude oil pipe line that ran over the Tigrus River at Bayji. I was selected by General Casey to fly up the river and assess the problem.

The oil was scheduled to enter Baghdad on election day. It would have shut down most of the water treatment plants and the electrical plants supplying Baghdad. We didn’t need this complication.

As the 8″ or more oil slick approached Baghdad, the current pushed much of it into the reeds along the river. Iraqi farmers living along the river immediately burned the reeds and the attached oil creating quite a smog, but it worked. (The Iraqis must have experience in this area.)

On election day, there was only a thin skim or oil that passed through Baghdad. The water and electricity was not interrupted and the election was successful.

This was a primitative solution, buring the reeds along the river. It worked. The idea of spreading hay and/or straw along the coast and later burning it would be a similar solution. It is not hi-tech, but it likely would work just fine! Much better than sitting on your hands in a golf cart.

Randy, thank you for your service.

If President Obama were a real leader and not a puppet reading a teleprompter, he could have gathered military men with your unique experience, farmers, excavation men, river men, and a variety of men who are used to getting things done. He could have made an effort and probably helped himself get reelected. Instead he decided to primp and preen, while nothing gets done and he works for political advantage and to improve his golf game.

Thanks again.

Skookum,
I woulod love to go moose hunting with you sometime!

Randy, in a couple of years, I will be very comfortable or broke. Either way we can go moose hunting, it will just be much easier if the cards play out well for me. The best part of moose hunting is watching the cows and calves and watching the bulls fight during the rut. Of course they call it hunting for a reason, there are no guarantees. The trip and the adventure along with good companionship and creative meals, this is what hunting is all about. The hunter who is overly focused on the kill is not out there to have a great trip. Just a little hunting philosophy.

Actually, I am anxious to hear about the Middle East, from someone with first hand experience.

It is kind of funny, I usually see the most game when I am just out enjoying myself with no pressure. The well placed shot is fairly easy and is the beginning of a whole bunch of work; there have been times when I have hesitated to pull the trigger because of the work involved with field dressing a moose and loading it on three horses.

Keep the faith Randy, there are several hunters here and I hope to meet them all; just about the time we get rid of the Zero

I am with you Dr. John. I can’t shake this feeling that the timing of the oil spill is
WAYYYYYY too convenient…

I am unalterably opposed to to thin theories like the ones surrounding the Kennedy and Oswald murders, and more so like the patently obvious troofer stories, and on down the list.

But I also don’t believe much in coincidences that just happen to benefit some one greatly.

Like, following a proclamation that he was going to drive the coal mines out of business, and drive the cost of gasoline to $10 a gallon (or was it $12?), we have a disastrous explosion in a coal mine where there had been no alarms, as I understand it, signaling the danger, and then we have a disastrous explosion, again without warning, on an oilwell platform which coincidentally has an unprecedented failure of the Blow Out Preventer safety device, followed by more than a month of Government inactivity in violation of The Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

Mr. Obama stated that this accident and subsequent spill reeally ticks him off because it happened on his watch. Which I guess means that it is interfering with his vacation plans and golf outings. The press gives him a free pass because they won’t ask the tough questions, like why did it take him so long to comment, why did it take a week +/- to name Admiral Allen as the incident commander, why were there not enough fire booms and containment booms available(they are part of the federal response plan you know), why didn’t they burn more, why did the EPA demand that BP quit using the dispersement chemical only to eat crow three days later and say nevermind? This is a cluster &*^%$ and this is a prime example of leadership from self proclaimed intellectual elitists who have no common sense and no practical hands on experience in anything except politics and academics. The kids are running the candy store if you haven’t noticed.