U.S. reconsiders Dutch offer to supply oil skimmers

Examiner.com ^ | June 12, 12:13 PM | John Ryden

[GonzoGOP]

And can someone tell me why the Dutch have oil skimmers of this size...and we don’t?? I’ve seen our dingys...

Three words, Royal Dutch Shell.

[Travis McGee]

The very optimum time to skim up the escaping surface oil is just when it reaches the surface, before it spreads out over miles and miles.

What a shame. What a lost opportunity. Obama will catch the blame for this, as he should.

Also for not immediately bringing in Dutch engineers to set about retrofitting some of our Military Sealift Command tankers as ocean skimmers. The Gulf shipyards should have been cranking out skimming booms and the other needed parts 24/7 since the word go, on a war-footing basis. Like building Liberty Ships in WW2. Only we don’t need to build the ships, just the booms, while preparing the Military Sealift Command ships.

Those jury-rigged skimmers could be going into service by now, all along the coasts if nothing else. I mean dozens of them.

[ryan71]

He wanted a lot of damage from this spill. It’s abundantly clear.

Last night, he began his mission to capitalize on it.

[dfwgator]

And North Sea Oil.

[smalltownslick]

How long will it take them to get here?

[equalitybeforethelaw]

Damn, how many union jobs will be lost cleaning up beaches while these non-union euros suck up oil? Mr Skittles would never do anything to hurt the unions.

[Bigun]

Not immediately obtaining the help of the Dutch was one of the dumbest decisions, or non-decisions in recent history. As much oil as has been escaping, pulling as much out of the water as possible (as far from land as possible) always seemed like the best possible strategy until the gusher could be stopped.

That is entirely correct! What this administration has doen here by refusing the Dutch offer when it was first made is absolutely criminal! The Dutch offered 4 of these vessels on day three after the explosion. Even assuming that it would have taken another week for them to arrive there is still no reason on earth for having allowed even one drop of oil to reach shore anywhere in the gulf region!

[ilovesarah2012]

From my limited understanding, he would have to suspend the Jones Act and no one has “axed” him to.

[danamco]

Something called the “Jones Act” of 1920!!!

[Will88]

What a shame. What a lost opportunity. Obama will catch the blame for this, as he should.

As he should, and all his shills in Congress. And apparently, the Saudis also have ships and methods to remove large amounts of oil from the water. If all this is true, this is one of the dumbest and most negligent decisions made by any administration for quite some time.

We should have been asking for all this help within less than one week, as soon the we realized the magnitude of the escaping oil.

[Bigun]

Obama has been doing everything humanly possible from day one.

that was indeed the line but we know now that it was nothing more than LIES!

[cripplecreek]

Obama has some explaining to do.

He'll simply claim BP wouldn't "let" him call in help.

[Cheetahcat]

They knew about this the first day this is NOT NEW technology.

[BooBoo1000]

I believe this oil spill will be the death knell for Obama, but also for the Democratic party for years to come.People have long memories, and I think the blundering of this
administration, and the fact, that the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress as well as the Presidency will tar them all with the label of “Tar Babies”

[tnlibertarian]

Obama lied...the gulf coast died...

Obama dithered, as the Gulf Coast withered.

[danamco]

Why do you think that U.S. not has any significant Merchant Marine fleet flying the Old Glory flag. Why do you think U.S. cruise lines like Carnival are flagging Monrovia, Panama, Bermuda and other "convenient flags"???

Labor cost and liabilities, period!!!

[nutmeg]

Its about damned time!

Exactly, Bigun. Hannity reminds his viewers nightly how the Dutch offered to help us w/ the oil spill since Day 3, but the incompetent Obozo administration wasn't interested. Now on Day 58 (or whatever) Obozo wants their help??

Graphics above by Oceander

[proud American in Canada]

Even Joe Sixpack can understand this one.

Absolutely. It hits home and is absolutely horrifying no matter what a person's politics are.

And I think we're even getting only part of the story about just how bad it is. yesterday I was chatting with a Freeper about some articles on The Oil Drum website--some very knowledgeable people are concerned that the oil won't stop gushing until the well is dry--many millions of liters of oil. And we're now going into hurricane season.

[GailA]

to little, to late.

[Bigun]

They knew about this the first day this is NOT NEW technology.

Of course they did! What they have done here is nothing short of criminal!