The government recently used red tape to force Louisiana to stop using 16 barges that were cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico by sucking thousands of gallons of oil out of Louisiana's oil-soaked waters.
Earlier, Obama delayed the clean-up of the Gulf of Mexico by months, by blocking foreign crews from operating sophisticated clean-up vessels. The Jones Act bans foreign vessels and crews from working in U.S. waters, but it gives the President the authority to completely waive that ban if he wishes. Obama refused to lift the ban, even though American shippers who generally support the ban said they wouldn't object to lifting it to fight the spill. The U.S. has refused a lot of foreign aid from counties with expertise in fighting oil spills, and accepted only a small amount of foreign equipment to fight the spill.
Even Democrats are now criticizing the Obama Administration for refusing to waive the ban to allow America's allies to clean up the oil spill:
"Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) said it was unacceptable that her state couldn’t utilize foreign vessels for skimming. She held up pictures of skimmers available in Mexico and Norway that could help. 'We are in emergency mode and we need skimmers,' Brown said. “We need the big ones. I understand they’re available in other countries, including Mexico and Norway. What is the process for the state to utilize these vessels from other countries? … We’re talking about protecting Florida’s coast.' . . .Deputy Maritime Administrator David Matsuda confirmed there has been one Jones Act waiver request for a foreign deck barge to operate within three miles of the U.S. coast. That request was denied" because American vessels can perform the same function; "Of course, the Obama administration could eliminate the bureaucratic delay entirely by simply following the precedent set by the Bush administration, which waived the Jones Act in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 to transport oil and gasoline throughout the Gulf region. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has the legal authority to suspend the law."
“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, Obama 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."
[UPDATE: A subsequent news story reports that the use of Dutch skimmers was rejected by the EPA, not because of the Jones Act. Excerpts from that story are reprinted at bottom].
“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.’”
(The Obama Administration belatedly accepted some foreign equipment for use in fighting the spill, although it still blocked ships with foreign crews from working in U.S. waters. 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."
NEWS STORY ON HOW DUTCH SKIMMERS WERE BLOCKED BY EPA:
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
Obama is so stupid he makes Jimmy Carter look like a genius.
I'm no fan of the Obama administration, but I read it was the Coast Guard that was holding up the barges.
Obama is a disaster. Everything he touches turns to s*t.
As Logan Penza noted at The Moderate Voice:
"We have been told the the oil spill is the greatest catastrophe in American history.
We have been told this is equivalent to Chernobyl, and that the livelihoods of millions depends on rapid action using all available resources.
No less than the President of the United States told us that this was war, and that we would do 'whatever it takes.'
Apparently, none of this means that barges that suck up the oil will be allowed to operate without Coast Guard verification of the correct number of life jackets and fire extinguishers on board. Also, a complicated nest of bureaucrats fighting over turf is allowed to obstruct action by states and localities.
The lunacy of the bureaucratic nanny state is in full flower."
Ronda is right. Obama is simply incompetent. Everything Obama touches turns to s*t. I can't believe I voted for him. Even that dottering old fool McCain would have been better.
How absurd, how can anyone be so selfish? The hell with the unions and them getting their feelings hurt. I think this is the most selfish statement that anybody could make. I know Americans are one of the most selfish people in the world but this takes all, hands down. You speak with fork tongue, saying you will do what ever it takes for how ever long it takes to make sure this mess is taken care of and the lively hoods of the people and business involved will be restored. What a bunch of crap. This is your typical politician, there ain't nothin new. Lier, lier pants on fire!
Obama makes me ashamed to be a black man in Louisiana.
Obama said he would "do whatever it takes" to achieve a speedy response to the oil spill, but he hasn't. Bureaucrats are still enforcing red tape the President has the power to waive or lift -- things past presidents waived, like the Jones Act restrictions. Bureaucrats, the EPA, and the Coast Guard are still preventing states from cleaning up the Gulf.
Equal opportunity fails us yet once again.
This article is ridiculously biased, but what do you expect as that seems to be the way of every news outlet these days. However, the end of this article was amusing in its complete lack of eloquence and cogent points. Some of the facts about ethanol are incorrect, even though I think there are MUCH better clean energy sources than ethanol. (The net energy yield from corn-based ethanol is so ridiculously low, but corn is so common in the States, that it's a bit obvious as to why they are pushing corn as opposed to other clean energy sources with large net energy yields). Anyway, the last few paragraphs of this article annihilate its credibility and the effects of oil are far more disastrous than those of certain clean energy sources.
Ethanol mandates have terrible consequences.
As Time Magazine and Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman observed, ethanol is a scam that starves Africa. In the New York Times, Krugman says:
"The subsidized conversion of crops into fuel was supposed to promote energy independence and help limit global warming. But this promise was, as Time magazine bluntly put it, a 'scam.' This is especially true of corn ethanol: even on optimistic estimates, producing a gallon of ethanol from corn uses most of the energy the gallon contains. But it turns out that even seemingly 'good' biofuel policies, like Brazil’s use of ethanol from sugar cane, accelerate the pace of climate change by promoting deforestation. And meanwhile, land used to grow biofuel feedstock is land not available to grow food, so subsidies to biofuels are a major factor in the food crisis. You might put it this way: people are starving in Africa" to benefit American politicians.
So much for Obama's claim that he would do "whatever it takes" to fight the spill. He's blocking international aid he could easily let in, and letting EPA bureaucrats and coast guard officials block Louisiana from helping clean up the mess. (The EPA didn't want to let skimmers pump out water after collecting oil, lest that water be impure -- even though blocking the pumping out of the water prevented collection of the oil in the first place; the Coast Guard wanted stuff that ships couldn't reasonably be expected to document in an emergency; Obama couldn't be reached when Louisiana's governor sought help getting around bureaucratic obstacles).
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) represents voices from both sides of an argument. Perhaps this column needs a name change. National Security is one to consider for not allowing foreign crews in our waters.
Seems that most people look at BHO and say: -He is incompetent; or -He is a fool. I think it's much worse. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing. His actions will bring down our country (he thinks), and that is what he wants. Make no mistake. Just as Lenin worked to have Russia defeated in WW1, because this would speed up the revolution, BHO will do whatever it takes to enable changing the US into a Marxism state. I hope it will not work. We are different people. We will sooner die than live under an oppressive government. Look who his teachers and mentors were and still are. Look whom he surrounded himself with. He is not a fool. During the campaign he knew exactly when to tone down his rhetoric and pretend to shift to the center. He knew the people won't vote for him otherwise. He is now milking the disaster for all he can. And this is just the start. Remember? Don’t Let a Crisis Go To Waste!
Give Obama a break guys. He is trying to do his best. It's the stupid rejokeicans who are the cause of all this. If Bush would have stopped offshore drilling we never would have been in this mess in the first place!
Obama is the victim here. The republicans are to blame 110%
it's nice how this article isn't one-sided at all..........NOT!!!
It's the Obama Administration that bent the rules to let BP drill unsafely, Joseph. BP executives gave Obama a lot of money, more than any other politician, and the Obama Administration then granted BP a waiver of environmental regs in April 2009.
Seems that most people look at BHO and say: -He is incompetent; or -He is a fool. I think it's much worse. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing. His actions will bring down our country (he thinks), and that is what he wants. Make no mistake. Just as Lenin worked to have Russia defeated in WW1, because this would speed up the revolution, BHO will do whatever it takes to enable changing the US into a Marxism state. I hope it will not work. We are different people. We will sooner die than live under an oppressive government. Look who his teachers and mentors were and still are. Look whom he surrounded himself with. He is not a fool. During the campaign he knew exactly when to tone down his rhetoric and pretend to shift to the center. He knew the people won't vote for him otherwise. He is now milking the disaster for all he can. And this is just the start. Remember? Don’t Let a Crisis Go To Waste!
Couple thing. It's the environmental groups that are partically responsible for this impossibly deep drilling even happening in the first place. They have been heard, which is why the don't drill as close to the mainland as they once did (at least with newer rigs). That said, BP has a long history of violations dating back years and years. Google the Alaska disaster, among many others, and you will see what's what here. Over $350M in drilling violations to date. First and foremost, this is the fualt of BP and BP alone. Now, how the Administration is handling it is the 2nd half of this disaster, and should most definitely be debated. But if you think this citizen is going to let some member of Congress' irresponsible comment sway my thinking....no thanks. I'll wait until all the facts are in to decide what's what. No one commenting here really has any idea of exactly how this is being handled, and is operating either off opinion, misinformation, or partial information.
Corell says: Obama makes me ashamed to be a black man in Louisiana.
Don't be! He is not representative of anyone's race.
He IS representative of ANTI-AMERICAN sentiment!
Joseph says: It's the stupid rejokeicans who are the cause of all this.
ANOTHER Busher! Just like the Birthers and Truthers! Freaks!
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