Red Tape Keeps Prized Oil-Fighting Skimmers from Gulf, Coastline

Nola.com ^ | 6/28/2010 | Chris Kirkham

[Qbert]

Just weeks after the oil spill crisis began to unfold in the Gulf of Mexico, the French foreign minister volunteered a fleet of oil skimming boats from a French company, Ecoceane. A month later, in early June, Ecoceane Chief Executive Eric Vial met with BP and Coast Guard officials to present the idea.

But after that meeting, weeks went by with little contact as oil continued gushing into the Gulf. A frustrated Vial was able to get around the bureacracy last week only when his company sold nine of the oil collection boats to a private contractor in Florida, who could then put the boats to work.

Oil giant Shell was in negotiations to let BP use the Nanuq, a 300-foot oil recovery boat sitting idle in Seward, Alaska. But in recent weeks, BP declined to bring it to the Gulf.

"Nothing would prevent it from working right now in the Gulf of Mexico," said Curtis Smith, a spokesman for Shell Alaska. "It remains available in the event that BP reconsiders."

As oil oozes inland, tainting marshes and fouling beaches, local response officials from Florida to Grand Isle for weeks have been begging for the oil-fighting tool that everyone wants but no one can get enough of: skimmers. They're the primary means for attacking oil head-on and collecting it before it hits land, yet local government agencies complain that the number of specialized skimming vessels out on the water is woefully lacking.

"We want all the skimming vessels in the world deployed," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. "This is an oil spill bigger than anything we've ever seen. It's a national disaster. We're at war. If you were at war and in charge, would you deploy everything you had to win the war?"

[Qbert]

"We want all the skimming vessels in the world deployed," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. "This is an oil spill bigger than anything we've ever seen. It's a national disaster. We're at war. If you were at war and in charge, would you deploy everything you had to win the war?"

BHO's Response: "Yes, Billy, we are at war. But we're at war with 'typical white people' like you."

[CPT Clay]

Heads should roll

[Izzy Dunne]

let BP use the Nanuq, a 300-foot oil recovery boat

No, no Nanuq!

[dalebert]

there is no excuse

[NormsRevenge]

Heads should roll
BumP That!

and more..

[Clara Lou]

As far as I’m concerned, Obama is flaringly negligent, the people of the Gulf coast need to remember this, and the MSM isn’t talking much about it.

[Marty62]

This Parish Pres said it best yesterday.

Spoke of taking a boat out to the marshes, turning off the motor and hearing NOTHING but DEAD silence.

Why does this Bunch of Zeros want the Gulf destroyed?

[Drill Thrawl]

Is any more proof needed that this government is detrimental to the very lives of the people the claim to represent?

[Yo-Yo]

Many of these skimmers are being rejected by the USCG and the EPA because - get this - the water they discharge back into the gulf after the skimming process contains more oil than is allowed by the EPA to discharge from a vessel.

So instead of skimming 95% of the oil out of the water, the EPA would rather leave 100% of it in the water.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Red Tape 0bama Keeps Prized Oil-Fighting Skimmers from Gulf, Coastline

Can't let the crisis end too fast.

[Howie66]

“As far as I’m concerned, Obama is flaringly negligent, the people of the Gulf coast need to remember this, and the MSM isn’t talking much about it.”

The SRM is also guilty of gross negligence and has been from the beginning.

Who is going to hold them responsible?

[Diogenesis]

“….. thirteen entities had offered the U.S. oil spill
assistance within about two weeks of the Horizon rig explosion. They were the
governments of Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands,
Norway, Romania, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the
United Nations.
The U.S. response - Thank you, but no thank you, we've got it.
‘..While there is no need right now that the U.S. cannot meet, the U.S. Coast Guard is
assessing these offers of assistance to see if there will be something which we will need
in the near future.’”

---

Actually - it was at least 17 countries ignored by Pres_ _ent Obama.

---

30 International Offers Of Oil Spill Support Obama Has Thrown Out The Window
America has turned down help from around 30 countries and international organizations.
Obama has dismissed miracle cures from Croatia, barges from Sweden, and containment boom from various obscure allies, according to the State Department
He's definitely not accepting chemical dispersants from the country that started this whole mess, England.”

[Fantasywriter]

It’s not negligence. A: Obama wants the spill to be bad to add fuel to his anti-oil environmental wacko plans, and B: some of the governors begging for skimmers are Republicans. Obama takes actual satisfaction from jerking them around. They have criticized big government, which in Obama’s book means they need to suffer. It’s the malignant narcissistic way.

[Jerrybob]

If Bush were in the WH right now, the media would be all over him like bark on a tree. What is WRONG with these media people????? Is Obozo such a GOD to them that they can’t question him????

[boomop1]

This is O’bozo’s plan he hates the USA.

[paul51]

No big rush I suppose /s

http://mxl.fi/bpfeeds2/

[jessduntno]

I’ve put this link up on facebook and sent it to everyone I know...this is a disgrace...to think that Katrina was made such a huge deal while this Kenyan Usurper has played golf and partied while this shit is going on is infuriating.

[July4]

One of my kids attended a Louisiana university, and he came home with disgust for most of the faculty and a love and respect for the citizens of that state. According to him, these proud, resourceful folks have very long memories and don't take kindly to being treated in an offhand manner. Our President and his henchmen may be in for a surprise come November.

[Diogenesis]

[Jack Hydrazine]

The key to our success (at destroying America) is in our diversity (of bureaucracies like the EPA, BATFE, el al).