Bureaucracy frustrates U.S. Gulf oil spill efforts - New England Patriots Forums

pherein · 06-21-2010, 12:21 AM

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"My experience has been frustration, too much red tape, no a sense of urgency. For the state and the coastal parishes that are directly affected to put forth a plan, you have to kick and scream every step of the way to get it approved," said John Young, council chairman for Jefferson Parish in Louisiana.

"The president said it's a war. I agree we're under siege, but if it was a war, we'd be occupied territory now."

Bureaucracy frustrates U.S. Gulf oil spill efforts | Reuters

FRIDAY, 18 JUNE 2010

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This morning the Incident Command in Houma said that two vacuum barges in Plaquemines Parish were still not compliant with safety concerns. The US Coast Guard still appeared confused about the inspections and the operations were brought to a halt. A BP Safety Inspector and US Coast Guard Liaison went to the barges.
Immediately after making a call to the White House, the White House called the Coast Guard saying from this point forward the Coast Guard can only make safety recommendations, and not interfere with the cleanup operations.
The two barges, located in Bay Jimmy and Bay Baptiste, are now back in operation.
“We want to sincerely thank the President once again for stepping in and making things happen in a positive way to help prevent this oil from destroying our marshes and way of life,” said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. “I want to thank him for using a common sense approach and helping save our wetlands and our way of life. It’s a shame that the agency in charge continues to stand in the way of getting our job accomplished.”
Press release from Plaquemines Parish President

BP Oil Spill: Obama To Nungesser's Louisiana's Rescue?

SATURDAY, 19 JUNE 2010

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The is another challenging day for Louisiana and the BP Oil Spill cleanup. This week, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Plaquemines Parish Billy Nungesser both expressed there anguish over federal government decisions relating to the oil clean-up.

Here is the latest in the battle between Louisiana against the U.S and BP:

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser toured Barataria Bay at first light this morning. Upon returning to the staging area in Myrtle Grove at 10:00 am, dozens of workers were sitting on boats and had not been deployed.

When asked why they weren’t working, they said they were on a stand down. When asked who issued the stand down, no one knew. When asked who was in charge, they said they didn’t know and it changes daily. The weather was fine, and should not have been an issue.

“This is infuriating. We continue to stress how important it is to get out early and at 10 a.m. no one was out on the water yet. The oil doesn’t wait. This is unacceptable and unbelievable, it’s the reason why I’ve called for a change in leadership. I’m going to send this to the White House so they know what’s happening on the ground,” said President Nungesser. “There’s no sense of urgency. Wilkinson Canal was lined with skim boats and other boats, not being utilized. Meanwhile, the Parish Strike Force is out there sucking up barrels of oil using a new air pressure shop vac. The vacuum sits on top of a 55 gallon drum and runs on air instead of electricity for safer use. This morning alone it filled up a 55 gallon drum in a matter of minutes. We will also begin picking up boom that’s been deployed for weeks, saturated, and still laying in the marsh and put it in garbage cans lined with garbage bags.”

BP Oil Spill: Nungesser Complains About Cleanup

Thanks Obama for letting us deploy our barges.

Right now BP is in control of the cleanup of the Gulf. This has caused major problems with command and control, censorship, worker health, delays in preparation, and communication ( now 100,000 bpd BP document: Worst-case scenario -- 4.2 million gallons daily in Gulf - CNN.com )

The problem with this model of leadership is clear, BP cares about BP, and cares more about liability ( which is why our workers can not wear respirators or they will be fired) and evidence being collected, than it cares about the wildlife, wetlands, marine life, and people.

To understand what the situation is in Louisiana takes nothing more than common American sense. Florida is now seeing major oil slicks. Louisiana is 40-45 miles from the spill and Florida is 330 miles. The oil is traveling at a rate of 12 mph. Your not seeing anything of the damage, lucky I don't think they can lock the media down in florida, but we'll see.

There has to be a better way to handle this.

Ill have front line pictures and video for you guys shortly, working out conditions with some fisherman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA1r92DIaXQ
Oil is not the problem, we are.

***DarrylS*** · 06-21-2010, 04:21 AM

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The problem with this model of leadership is clear, BP cares about BP, and cares more about liability ( which is why our workers can not wear respirators or they will be fired) and evidence being collected, than it cares about the wildlife, wetlands, marine life, and people.

There has to be a better way to handle this.

Do not disagree, but suspect if the government just took over this role then there would be comparable systemic issues....

Not sure of the answer, but from here on in, there needs to be a better articulation of specifics of a disaster plan if this happens again...

There is nothing to say that BP cannot contract this clean up out, and that may be a better way to go.. as BP obviously does not care about a whole bunch except to minimize their own liability....

BP seems to be in the business of drilling and making gas... not in the business of cleaning up the environment, which is a organizational deficit..

pherein · 06-21-2010, 04:46 AM

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Originally Posted by DarrylS

Do not disagree, but suspect if the government just took over this role then there would be comparable systemic issues....

Not sure of the answer, but from here on in, there needs to be a better articulation of specifics of a disaster plan if this happens again...

There is nothing to say that BP cannot contract this clean up out, and that may be a better way to go.. as BP obviously does not care about a whole bunch except to minimize their own liability....

BP seems to be in the business of drilling and making gas... not in the business of cleaning up the environment, which is a organizational deficit..

Hey DarrylS

I dont disagree with a thing you have said, except, is not this a human and wildlife disaster issue now? One that deserves FEMA ( cant believe I said that ), or some sort of oversight by a American agency that might at least be able to overrule BP? Seeing how badly they have mismanaged this and our people.

***DarrylS*** · 06-21-2010, 05:50 AM

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Originally Posted by pherein

Hey DarrylS

I dont disagree with a thing you have said, except, is not this a human and wildlife disaster issue now? One that deserves FEMA ( cant believe I said that ), or some sort of oversight by a American agency that might at least be able to overrule BP? Seeing how badly they have mismanaged this and our people.

I believe the Government should insure it is done, but do not believe that they have the capability to accomplish this task, as they probably do not know how to make it better, and may make it worse.... there has to be in this world a company who has the assets, knowledge and abilities to take this on...

There are several contractors currently in operation doing some of this, but does not seem like enough..

If such a company exists, the role of government, should be to tell BP to allow that company to take over this function..

Homeland Security (FEMA) is probably not prepared for this type of emergency.. but you have this new guy ( Mabus) coming on down who is familiar with the issues of the Gulf Coast and maybe he will take more control and take more control of the clean up..

This whole thing is an environmental disaster, beyond what anyone could imagine.. my hope is after the well is tapped, and there is significant clean-up the government will force all of the drillers in the Gulf to have better safety measures in place to avoid a future disaster... complete with provisions for a safety plan in the event that this happens again..

My biggest fear right now, aside from the environment and the way of life this effects, is that we have shown a great vulnerability to terrorists who may have found a bunch of new targets which are difficult to defend...