One thing that is driving me crazy is the comparison of the spill to Katrina. We're talking two different situations, here. I'm not quite sure what people are expecting the government to be able to do in this situation. I doubt they have the people or equipment on staff to stop the leak. Maybe more people on the ground to clean up the oil? But how many ships are there out there to skim the oil? So I did some research:
22,000: Personnel working to protect shoreline and wildlife (Department of the Interior)
1,200: Skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels being used in cleanup (Interior)
3.1 million: Feet of boom deployed to contain the spill (Interior)
840,000: Gallons of chemical dispersants used (Interior)
11.1 million: Gallons of oily water recovered (Interior)
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/27/gulf-oil-spill-by-the-numbers/
I just don't know. There probably should be more people on the ground to try to clean up. But frankly, I just don't see how they could have kept the oil out of the marshes. The weather didn't cooperate in the beginning (remember the storms, wind, waves that pushed oil over the booms?) There's just a lot of territory to cover and try to protect.
Add the fact that more oil is coming out, what do you focus on first? I think the premise at first was stopping the leak should be the main focus of BP because cleanup would be never-ending until it was plugged. It's kinda like cleaning up from a broken water pipe in the basement. As long as that pipe keeps gushing water, you'll never get all the water up and prevent damage. The hope, I think, was that the well would be stopped before oil reached shore, and that they'd be able to divert the rest of the focus to cleaning up and preventing oil from reaching the shore. I mean, look how long it did take to hit land.
Don't get me wrong. I'm apalled at the damage. And definitely think there was a way to avoid this. B.P/Tran.socean screwed up. The federal department in charge of monitoring them screwed up. But isn't that always the way of it?
And gov B Jind.al and the rest of the LA contingent are ticking me off. Where were they in trying to protect their coastline and marshes in the first place when the oil rigs went out there? They've been benefitting from the demise of the wet lands and coast for ages. Why didn't the state have any disaster plans in place for this? They're a bunch of hand-wringing ninnies.
Just like they were when Katrina happened. I think more of the blame for that debacle should have been placed on the then-governor of LA and mayor of Ne.w Or.leans. They knew it was coming, had been warned for years, and had no plan in place. Why didn't they take action to use city buses, school buses, to move the poor and elderly with no transportation? Hmm? Oh, no, it's all the Feds fault. Give me a break. The response afterward of the Fed. Gov.t was too little too late. When Wally World has trucks getting in before the government, well, that's just wrong. But it wasn't all the fault of the Pres.
Just like this isn't the fault of the current Pres. and administration. The media is focusing on the short-term emotional stories. Constantly putting on emotionally involved advisors/political pundits is the wrong tack to take. Why are none of the MSM discussing the reason why the berms Jin.dal wants aren't being ok'd right off the bat? The kind of damage they can do the ecosystem isn't light. I can see that just from a basic college oceanography class. Why aren't they asking the oceanographers and other scientists about the impacts these "berms" would have? They disrupt the flow of water, wildlife, sand movement. These are all important impacts. http://mediamatters.org/research/201005270020
And if anyone thinks those berms will be temporary, they have another think coming. Odds are they couldn't be built in time to make any kind of positive difference in this oil spill, and the long-term effects on the system must be weighed as well. It's kind of a Catch-22 situation, I guess. But what the LA officials are saying isn't the straight truth. Do some research. The proposal has been revised several times by the LA officials, and they have been getting feedback from the Army Corps of Engineers. They are trying to use public opinion to manipulate the govt into approving something that on the surface will keep the local pols in office in the short-term, but could have potentially catastrophic long-term consequences. Arghhh.
Drives me nuts.
I do wish the administration had a better control on who is saying what. I think there are too many different commands, and no one is the "one" person in charge and making statements. When you look at it, there are two processes going on: stopping the leak and cleaning up. Who is in charge of which, and who is in charge over them? One person in charge of both just wouldn't work in my opinion. Scatters the focus too much.
And the people on the ground getting upset because BP isn't handing over $30k+ in checks right of the bat are insane! First of all, you have to prove how much you're losing. Sorry folks, but the scammers are probably out in force. Yeah, I feel bad for those that are hurting because of lost business. It sucks. But 39 days in, when the damage and amount of loss weren't even apparent for several weeks, isn't that bad. Geez. Look how long it takes any claim to get processed! And we're talking huge sums, tons of people, over a large area.
BP and the other oil companies, while down-playing how bad it is, are very aware on the bottom line impact this will have for them. They have a vested interest in getting this over with ASAP. Their business depends on it. Oh, they'll cover up as much as they can, but I bet they have the best minds and techonology and equipment on this.
Hopefully some good will come of all this in tighter restrictions on drilling for oil, protection measures they'll have to have in place to drill off-shore, and move us away from oil. We need to stop investing in this finite resource and put the money elsewhere. Like solar energy.
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