They offered help in the way of large oil sucking ships.
I understand that. The only reason I can think that the Dutch assistance would be ignored is that Obama doesn’t want assistance,the excuse being that the Dutch ships do not meet EPA/OSHA/whatever standards. (And that’s the case: The Dutch ships would remove something like 90% or 99% of the oil from the water before putting it back into the sea. Not good enough for D. C., although it would certainly make a difference in the lives of people, animals, and plants affected.)