Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill came “from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that . . . possess some of the world’s most advanced oil skimming ships.” But the Obama administration didn’t accept their help, because doing so would require it to do something past presidents have routinely done: waive rules imposed by the Jones Act, a law backed by unions.
[UPDATE: later news reports say that it was the EPA, not the Jones Act, that blocked the Dutch skimmers. See the excerpts from a news story reprinted at bottom].
“The BP clean-up effort in the Gulf of Mexico is hampered by the Jones Act. This is a piece of 1920s protectionist legislation, that requires all vessels working in U.S. waters to be American-built, and American-crewed. So" the U.S. Coast Guard "can’t accept, and therefore don’t ask for, the assistance of high-tech European vessels specifically designed for the task in hand.”
The law itself permits the president to waive these requirements, and such waivers were “granted, promptly, by the Bush administration,” in the aftermath of hurricanes and other emergencies. But Obama refused to do so after the spill, notes David Warren in the Ottawa Citizen. Instead, the Obama administration rejected a Dutch offer to help clean up the spill, noted Voice of America News:
"The Obama administration declined the Dutch offer partly because of the Jones Act, which restricts foreign ships from certain activities in U.S. waters. During the Hurricane Katrina crisis five years ago, the Bush administration waived the Jones Act in order to facilitate some foreign assistance, but such a waiver was not given in this case."
“After the Obama administration refused help from the Netherlands, Geert Visser, the consul general for the Netherlands in Houston, told Loren Steffy: ‘Let’s forget about politics; let’s get it done.’”
Ironically, even the staunchest supporters of the Jones Act are now distancing themselves from refusals to accept foreign help, saying they have “not and will not stand in the way of the use of these well-established waiver procedures to address this crisis.”
(The Obama Administration has belatedly accepted some foreign equipment for use in fighting the spill, although it still blocks ships with foreign crews. As Voice of America notes, although "the Netherlands offered help in April," such as providing "sophisticated" oil "skimmers and dredging devices," the Obama Administration blocked their crews from working in U.S. waters, and as a result, this crucial "operation was delayed until U.S. crews could be trained" in June. "The Dutch also offered assistance with building sand berms (barriers) along the coast of Louisiana to protect sensitive marshlands, but that offer was also rejected, even though Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal had been requesting such protective barriers.")
In April 2009, the Obama administration granted BP, a big supporter of Obama, a waiver of environmental regulations. But after the oil spill, it blocked Louisiana from protecting its coastline against the oil spill by delaying rather than expediting regulatory approval of essential protective measures. It has also chosen not to use what has been described as “the most effective method” of fighting the spill, a method successfully used in other oil spills. Democratic strategist James Carville called Obama’s handling of the oil spill “lackadaisical” and “unbelievable” in its “stupidity.”
Obama is now using BP’s oil spill to push the global-warming legislation that BP had lobbied for. Obama’s global warming legislation expands ethanol subsidies, which cause famine, starvation, and food riots in poor countries by shrinking the food supply. Ethanol makes gasoline costlier and dirtier, increases ozone pollution, and increases the death toll from smog and air pollution. Ethanol production also results in deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution. Subsidies for biofuels like ethanol are a big source of corporate welfare: “BP has lobbied for and profited from subsidies for biofuels . . . that cannot break even without government support.”
The $800 billion stimulus package is also using taxpayer subsidies to replace U.S. jobs with foreign green jobs. And its regulations destroy jobs in America’s export sector.
NEWS STORY ON HOW EPA BLOCKED DUTCH SKIMMERS:
http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMIX/2010jun00292.html
. . . .
"Three days after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, the Netherlands offered the U.S. government ships equipped to handle a major spill, one much larger than the BP spill that then appeared to be underway. 'Our system can handle 400 cubic metres per hour,' Weird Koops, the chairman of Spill Response Group Holland, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, giving each Dutch ship more cleanup capacity than all the ships that the U.S. was then employing in the Gulf to combat the spill."
"The U.S. government responded with 'Thanks but no thanks,' remarked Visser, despite BP's desire to bring in the Dutch equipment and despite the no-lose nature of the Dutch offer --the Dutch government offered the use of its equipment at no charge. Even after the U.S. refused, the Dutch kept their vessels on standby, hoping the Americans would come round. By May 5, the U.S. had not come round. To the contrary, the U.S. had also turned down offers of help from 12 other governments, most of them with superior expertise and equipment --unlike the U.S., Europe has robust fleets of Oil Spill Response Vessels that sail circles around their make-shift U.S. counterparts."
"Ironically, the superior European technology runs afoul of U.S. environmental rules. The voracious Dutch vessels, for example, continuously suck up vast quantities of oily water, extract most of the oil and then spit overboard vast quantities of nearly oil-free water. Nearly oil-free isn't good enough for the U.S. regulators, who have a standard of 15 parts per million -- if water isn't at least 99.9985% pure, it may not be returned to the Gulf of Mexico."
Read more HERE
Comments
It's too easy to accuse the Obamination of being an inept buffoon. Any effing idiot would have accepted those offers for help. He's clearly got some ulterior motive (probably one more vile than just pandering to unionists) for this. I hope every miserable sonuvagun who voted for this national disgrace has at least toyed with the idea of sepuko...
Newspapers all over the world are reporting that Obama blocked foreign aid to fight the spill based on the Jones Act. Canadian, Belgian, English, and Mexican, and Norwegian newspapers.
Amazingly, the Washington Post, that bastion of liberalism, managed to make it sound like the Obama Administration is accepting foreign aid -- even though what little it has accepted is too little, too late.
The Post's reporting is really terrible on this issue. No wonder newspapers are losing money.
Obama WANTS this to continue so as not to waste a good crisis!
He desires the downfall of America.
It is simply astounding that Obama refuses to waive the Jones Act, despite the urgent need to confront the environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf.
Obama is an idiot and the majority of the American voters now know this. The sooner his term is up the better.
Obama is a traitor ,a racist ,and a failure.These things he does are ALL on purpose,But understand we the American People have taken note.Pack your bags Barry, your useless ass is headed out the door along with your buddies.Dont talk, dont point fingers,dont look for someones ass to kick.Just pack you silly assed bags and go.
Of course, this entire oil spill disaster is Obama's fault !
How incredibly stupid do you have to be to believe this tripe?
Hans Bader is clearly a right wing hack who is not qualified to be an investigative journalist. Right now over 15 foreign vessels are already assisting in the effort and the Jones Act only applies to waters 3 miles or less off the coast so NO WAIVER WAS NEEDED. In addition the Obama administration has said SEVERAL TIMES that it is primed to waive the Jones Act should the need arise. FOX News's intentional distortions have been accpted as fact. Sad.
What did you expect from Obama? He is a radical leftist who is more interested in furthering his political interests than he is in protecting America. The worse the damage, he believes, the more people will embrace his looney energy policies... i.e. can and trade. I don't doubt for a minute that Obama is hoping this crisis will be the opportunity for him to turn around his failed presidency.
Hey Real Attorney...the oil is on the shores. It doesn't stay three miles off shore.
Real Attorney,
So you are implying that the United States does not need help within the three nautical miles that the Jones Act does cover? It appears that the United States needs all the help it can get in order to protect and perhaps salvage the myriad of ecosystems that are being ruined by this disaster. This should not be about politics and just so you know your defense is asinine.
Every fact in the above article is supported by a source linked to in the article itself.
None of those links are to Fox News, so liberal commenters below like "Real Attorney" who believe that the Earth must be flat if Fox News claims the Earth is round can relax -- the news stories cited in the above article come from across the political spectrum.
But not from the Washington Post. The Post is doing its best to avoid reporting on Obama's incompetent handling of the BP oil spill.
This clown in the White House is going to go down as one of the worst Presidents of the last 100 years. Breath easier now Jimmy Carter.
@Howard - I hardly call the Examiner citing other Examiner articles credible. As for the other sources, you have conservative blogs, conservative think tanks, and Voice of America that attributes a quote to Floris Van Hovell who cannot be found anywhere else on record making similar statements. You people believe what you want to believe.
I was pretty lukewarm about Obama until I realized how much he pizzes the right off. Now I support the guy 110%. Too bad he can only serve two terms.
"Real Attorney" is a moron if he thinks that the Ottawa Citizen newspaper and Voice of America News (financed by the U.S. government) are right-wing anti-Administration publications that are conspiring with Fox News.
Leo B. is right. Obama makes even Jimmy Carter look like a genius.
Everything he touches turns to s*t.
LeoB,are you kidding me? Breath easier Jimmy Carter! If you distilled down all the incompetent, bone headed, self serving actions taken in the white house since the founding of our country and compared them to an average month of George W. Bush's presidency, it would be like comparing a teaspoon( all the others) to all the oceans of the world( G.W. Bush) That is not even a slight exaggeration. Well maybe a slight one.
Real Attorney, if NO WAIVER WAS NEEDED then why did the President refuse foreign help in the beginning? Your claim that a waiver was not needed makes the President look worse, not better.
you do not know their intentions. Stating as though you know them is blastphamy for a journalist - you are just feeding off your readers not feading your readers. My assumption is that he sis not accept aid because the cleanup is the the responsibility of BP and the presisdent and their aids have stated that directly - your obviously know it would cost money we dont have (company's rarely volunteer their financial funds they merely step up or speak up that they are here). So maybe that is why he has not accepted aid, but as a propagandus journalist i guess you dont care
He is simply placing job creation numbers over the well being of the US. I mean, what is the problem. The man is supposed to be creating jobs. Apparently, firing and rehiring didn't work so now he is trying something new. Waive it and bill BP. The details of this could easily get blurry but it has gone on long enough. There are several ways to resolve this and have BP cover the cost. We have plenty of options to screw them if they fail to cover all expenses. Obviously, or they wouldnt have already agreed to the cap amount. BP is trying to get off easy, waive the crap and fix the problem. Deal with everything else later...
@John - the VOA article was lacking in substance. It was based on one quote by one Dutch guy without any clarification like: (1) When was the offer made, (2) who made the offer, (3) who was the offer communicated to, (4) what was the response, (5) who made the response, and (6) follow up. I find most people who call themselves reporters these days to be partisan hacks, on both sides. You would think no one has ever taken an intro journalism class. There is an article that I think thoroughly covers the issue. It does not take a side - it just reports the facts. It's in the 6/14 Washington Post and the headline is "A month after the spill, U.S. to receive foreign aid".
@Pangean - where is the proof that he "refused help in the beginning? A quote by one Dutch guy without any context?
So its up to the Unions of the United States to clean up the spill...just to bad it had to happen at vacation time and those not on vacation are on extended breaks or medical leave...Oh Well we can HOPE that next time some of the UNION people will be ready to help?
The spill in the golf is not just egoing to effect the US, but the entire world soceans if we don't get it under wraps soon. Anyone would be stupid not to accept help rom people who know what they're doing...
Having the president override the law is a violation of the separation of powers as outlined in the Constitution. We can't complain that they [politicians] violate the Constitution, and then argue that the President should violate the Constitution when it suits our needs. Congress could, and should repeal the Jones act - TODAY, and put an end to this bad law, as well as the tradition of it being overridden with every crisis. The law is clearly a bad one, and we the taxpayers are paying the price.
Commenter "joe4liberty" misses the point. The Jones Act ITSELF permits its ban on foreign ships to be waived. It does NOT prevent the President from letting foreign ships in to help with the clean-up. The President does not need to "override" the law to enable foreign assistance; he merely needs to EXERCISE its waiver provisions. In fact, the ban was waived in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Well good luck to the American way of life with that a.hole in power. Seems a bit of a false prophet to me!
"Charley says:
How incredibly stupid do you have to be to believe this tripe?"
Erm...whether or not you believe it Charley, it's true. :D
If no one's figured it out, the spill was done on purpose. Now they're delaying the cleanup operation on the excuse of a tropical storm, while good ol' boy Admiral Thadley Allen of the Coast Guard is seen sheepishly saying that a worst-case scenario is a 2-week delay.
The worst case is already happening, which is the oil has never stopped leaking and more is leaking now that ever before. The next worst cast scenario is that Thadley Boy will later be picking his fat ass and explaining how something else went terribly wrong and now they can't go back to the site at all for 6 months or more.
This issue is a political excuse to fully collapse the U.S. economy and probably the world. Following truth in predictions of mass evacuation attempts off the east coast region and people housed in FEMA camps, then martial law will be enacted. Most or all of the people reading this will be starving to death in a year or two.
Finally a Nazi-style holocaust and they'll be shooting you in the h
It is very pathetic that containment of the oil spill needs to be approved and at the pace of unions. If only the spill could only leak from 8-5, have 3 breaks during the day and lunch. But the disgusting oil spill is emanating oil at an amazing rate and polluting the ocean, kill marine life, devastating the fishing and tourism industries in the gulf. I support Obama, but if he just chooses to uphold the unions' interest above everyone else's by rejecting the Dutch's help, I find that simply stupid.
I love the oil spill because it has exposed Obama's incompetence.
It is great! I have never been happier. Seriously!! And I will be sending BP some money for the fine job they are doing (exposing the fumbling bumbling Illegal Alien in the Whitehouse). In fact I hope BP has another oil spill for thee Obama to screw up.
The Spill has done to thee Obama what it took the Lieberal Media 7 1/2 hrs. to do to GW Bush. The difference is that Obama did this to himself. This is an awesome time NOT to be a flippin Liberal wierdo!@!
I love the oil spill because it has exposed Obama's incompetence.
It is great! I have never been happier. Seriously!! And I will be sending BP some money for the fine job they are doing (exposing the fumbling bumbling Illegal Alien in the Whitehouse). In fact I hope BP has another oil spill for thee Obama to screw up.
The Spill has done to thee Obama what it took the Lieberal Media 7 1/2 hrs. to do to GW Bush. The difference is that Obama did this to himself. This is an awesome time NOT to be a flippin Liberal wierdo!@!
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