Lawrence Solomon: Avertible catastrophe

Financial Post ^ | 6/25/2010 | Lawrence Solomon

[FromLori]

How U.S. labour and environmental rules blocked Dutch spill-cleanup technology

Some are attuned to the possibility of looming catastrophe and know how to head it off. Others are unprepared for risk and even unable to get their priorities straight when risk turns to reality.

The Dutch fall into the first group. Three days after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, the Netherlands offered the U.S. government ships equipped to handle a major spill, one much larger than the BP spill that then appeared to be underway. “Our system can handle 400 cubic metres per hour,” Weird Koops, the chairman of Spill Response Group Holland, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, giving each Dutch ship more cleanup capacity than all the ships that the U.S. was then employing in the Gulf to combat the spill.

[skookum55]

Is gross incompetence an impeachable offense? Zero needs to be run out of town on a rail.

[FromLori]

It’s an impeachable offense as I understand it over the Blago deal but I doubt we will ever see it happen they seem to have everything locked up and that is just wrong.

[Pardeeville Liberator]

Tar and Feather is fitting

[cranked]

Typical of Jack Squat to vote “Present” on this oil spill matter when he did all through his political career as a Senator......

[FromLori]

For sure and it continues this article is really something it says booms can’t keep out the oil and Judas Christ gets money from bp to advertise the beaches are safe at the very bottom.

Unified Command: No oil booms in the Keys

http://www.keysnet.com/2010/06/25/232968/unified-command-no-oil-booms-in.html

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Why does neither the U.S. government nor U.S. energy companies have on hand the cleanup technology available in Europe? Ironically, the superior European technology runs afoul of U.S. environmental rules. The voracious Dutch vessels, for example, continuously suck up vast quantities of oily water, extract most of the oil and then spit overboard vast quantities of nearly oil-free water. Nearly oil-free isn’t good enough for the U.S. regulators, who have a standard of 15 parts per million — if water isn’t at least 99.9985% pure, it may not be returned to the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm ready for the loony-bin.

[FromLori]

lol me too but good news convicts are coming to clean up (sarc)

Local Ex-Convicts Can Help Clean Up Oil

http://www.news4jax.com/news/24042055/detail.html

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Because the U.S. didn’t want Dutch ships working the Gulf, the U.S. airlifted the Dutch equipment to the Gulf and then retrofitted it to U.S. vessels. And rather than have experienced Dutch crews immediately operate the oil-skimming equipment, to appease labour unions the U.S. postponed the clean-up operation to allow U.S. crews to be trained.”

Disgusting! obama appeasing the unions, whilst using the devastation to force his crap and tax bill.

[Norseman]

The last paragraph of the article states that the Dutch offered to help during the Exxon Valdez spill also, and were also rebuffed. That “catastrophe” became the tool used by liberals for years to set back the U.S. oil industry.

While I’m not much for conspiracy theories, it’s not hard to imagine how the BP well blowout will be used by the left (once we’ve forgotten their complicity in causing the extent of the eventual damage) to constrain offshore drilling forever. It’s helpful to the cause though, if the “catastrophe” is made as huge as possible, even if you’ve got to help it along some.

Hopefully, come November we’ll start putting adults back in charge of running the country.

[FromLori]

Funny thing about that conspiracy label you never hear much about that now since it’s obama saying all the time about a new world order....