Boots and Coots (sold to Halliburton) would have been marvelous on this blow out. I guess in a sense, since they are still with us in the person of Pat (no nickname) Campbell. He learned from the best. See this profile of him in the British press a week ago.
I found interesting your comment about the lawyers in light of the statement made by Campbell in the linked article:
“These days, Campbell says that disaster relief has become a more collegiate affair. He also told The New York Times that helping BP cap Deepwater Horizon involves dealing with meddling managers and politicians. ‘Today things are done by committees. The executive management gets involved. They may or may not have any technical competence.’ That can make things complicated, he said, but ‘it generally works out fine’.”
It is long past time for the lawyers, managers, and politicians to get out of the way and let real men go to work. (No sexism intended.)
Gwjack
First rule in FEMA Incident (disaster) Management is to always clear everything you do through your lawyers. They beat this in to your heads at the training I am required to attend.