What is the truth about the skimmers and Obama "not allowing" them?

[K8-EEE]

Does anybody know what the facts are behind this constant RW talking point? I know I have seen pictures of skimmers out there....how many are available vs how many deployed? There is so much spin and misinformation, it's hard to find a reliable source, anyone know of a reliable timeline of the response?

[theoldman]

1. The actual truth is that there are a lot of skimmers working in the GOM.

What do you think thousands of boats are doing? The Republicans are trying their best to make Obama look bad and the ignorant public is buying it.

[RockaFowler]

2. Heard it again this morning

Hannity is saying the Boat (A Whale) is not being used because of the Jones Act. It's hard to discren their lies from their other lies.

[mrJJ]

12. Whale is still under consideration

As for the whale..The ship and its crew of 32 were to leave Virginia waters Friday evening....The company is still negotiating with the Coast Guard to join the cleanup and does not have a contract with BP to perform cleanup work. The company also needs environmental approval and waiver of a nearly century-old law aimed at protecting U.S. shipping interests.

Environmental Protection Agency approval is required because some of the seawater returned to the Gulf would have traces of oil.

The Coast Guard, which has received more than 2,000 cleanup proposals, said the supertanker skimmer had survived a preliminary review and was being studied further.

Capt. Ron LaBrec said that initial review involves a number of government agencies, including the EPA.

One question, he said, is: "Will a large vessel like this be able to operate this in this kind of area?"

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/huge_oil-skimming_ship_makes_v.html

[Whisp]

18. we have a lot of those Republicans here too. n/t

[notesdev]

3. Here's the deal

The way the skimmers that are out there work is that they suck up the oily water, filter it, then store both the filtered water and the recovered oil.

The way the Dutch skimmers work is that they pump the filtered water back into the sea.

The problem with the skimmers offered to us is that they run afoul of an EPA discharge regulation - despite the fact that the water going out is cleaner than that coming in, the water going out isn't clean enough to satisfy that regulation.

So thanks to the bunch of bureaucrats who thought that this was a good time to enforce that regulation instead of waiving it, that oil is on our beaches instead of having been skimmed up.

[DrDan]

4. why do I think none of these bureaucrats live on the gulf . . . .

[gmoney]

7. That's what I'm hearing, and it's idiotic.

Perfect is often the enemy of the good... I'm sure the discharge regulation is in place to prevent vessels that take in water from discharging the water and also discharging oil.

Fucking zero-tolerance non-thinking morans.

[agent46]

13. Pump skimmers run afoul of an EPA discharge regulation

But poisoning the water and shores of the Gulf by dumping millions of gallons of deadly toxins with an Orwellian brand name (Corexit) is peachy cuz it's good for business and there's no rules against it?

:woohoo:

I'm glad there's thousand of skimmers out there but has anyone explained to the public how oil emulsified with Corexit is supposed to be filtered out of the water by this technology and sold as product? Or does the emulsified goo just sink to the bottom and go away after killing everything off down there - including the naturally occurring microbes that metabolize oil?

If this Gulf disaster isn't one enormous bureaucratic clustermuck then it's something more sinister. On the face of it, the response we're seeing makes no kind of intelligent sense.

[librechik]

5. If the gulf was full of foreign owned skimmers the same complainers would have a problem with that

The only thing happening here is "Obama Bad, TeaParty Good"

sick o that shit.

[berni_mccoy]

6. As Of June 28th, more than 7200 vessels were involved in the clean-up, including skimmers

More than 28.2 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.

Another 10 million gallons have been burned off.

See: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/719759/

[white cloud]

9. This should help

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/MARAD_revised_Jones_Act_Fact_Sheet.670991.pdf

Press Briefing by National Incident Commander June 25, 2010

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/712211/

Q: Admiral, thanks for taking my call. Whatever came of the idea to have the Navy provide skimmers to this effort? And have you guys waived the Jones Act? And if so, where are the foreign vessels?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Carol, at the outset of this event, we went to the Navy supervisor of salvage and asked for any oil skimming capability they had that they could give to us. The supervisor of salvage is the one that contains most of the Navy's skimming and booming response capability, and they worked with us on many of these large spill responses. And they, in effect, at that point, released all their strategic stockpiles of boom and skimming equipment to us.

The discussions we are having with the Navy and other folks right now is the availability of skimmers that are on standby because they might be needed for a spill someplace else and how we might go about assessing the availability of those resources. So I would separate out the resources that the Navy had that they've already given to us and the discussions we're having across the entire country where we have equipment that's out there as a requirement—legal requirement to cover spill response of those areas and how we might free those up, and that's a work in progress inside the administration right now.

And what was your second question, Carol? I missed it.

Q: Sir, about the Jones Act, has this been waived? And if so, where are the foreign vessels?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Oh, there are a lot of foreign vessels operating offshore, Carol. The Jones Act—we have had no request for Jones Act waivers. If the vessels are operating outside state waters, which is three miles and beyond, they don't require a waiver. All that we require is an Affirmation of Reciprocity, so if there ever was a spill in those countries and we want to send skimming equipment, that we would be allowed to do that, as well, and that hasn't become an issue yet, either.

To the extent that there is a waiver required and they come to us, we're more than happy to support it in making that request to CBP. But to date, since they're operating outside three miles, no Jones Act waiver has been required.



In fact, much international help has been accepted.

http://factcheck.org/2010/06/oil-spill-foreign-help-and... /

Q: Did Obama turn down foreign offers of assistance in cleaning up the Gulf oil spill? Did he refuse to waive Jones Act restrictions on foreign-flag vessels?

A: No to both questions. So far, five offers have been accepted and only one offer has been rejected. Fifteen foreign-flag vessels are working on the cleanup, and none required a waiver.

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/143488.pdf

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At least I think it is legit and there are more Questions and answers posted at the site.


"HAS THE JONES ACT RESULTED IN FOREIGN VESSELS, PARTICULARLY FOREIGN SKIMMING VESSELS, BEING TURNED AWAY?
The National Incident Command (NIC) says there has been "no case" where an offer of foreign assistance has been declined because of the Jones Act. In fact, the U.S. State Department has said that " number of offers of assistance have been accepted," including Mexican skimmers, Norwegian skimming systems and other assets from Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. The Jones Act does not even apply to skimming operations outside of 3 miles from shore. Oil skimming outside 3 miles, including near the well 50 miles from shore that is the source of the leak, is completely open to foreign oil spill response vessels. That is where the vast majority of skimming has occurred so far.

IF THE JONES ACT IS NOT THE PROBLEM, WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE BLAMING IT FOR DELAYS IN THE OIL SPILL CLEAN-UP?
People are frustrated considering the catastrophic nature of the Gulf spill. Some Americans do not understand the Jones Act and think it may be an impediment to the cleanup, but it is not. The law does not even affect most of the spill clean-up and is designed to allow, in emergency situations like the Gulf oil spill, the use of foreign ships when no American vessel is available. The system works, and American law is particularly flexible in temporarily allowing the use of foreign oil spill response vessels, like skimmers, when necessary.

Information Provided by:
Maritime Cabotage Task Force
1601 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20006-1600
Phone:
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected] "

[JuniperLea]

8. With thanks to turbineguy from a duplicate thread...

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/06/oil-spill-foreign-help... /

[berni_mccoy]

10. Your link is broken...

try this: http://tinyurl.com/3az6usd

I had the same problem when just cutting/pasting the link.

[K8-EEE]

15. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!! HAVE SHUT DOWN FACEBOOKER BULLSHIT!

Thank you DUers for your help in researching this. It sometimes takes me forever to cut through the misinformation out there. We are drowning in it!

DU is the best!!!

[WoodyD]

11. The Jones Act doesn't apply

and Obama has said that if there should arise a situation in which the Jones Act does apply and it would get in the way of assistance, he would have it set aside, as Bush did during Katrina's aftermath. More info at Media Matters:

http://mediamatters.org/research/201006280017

Not that it matters. Obama secretly dived down to the bottom of the ocean, set off the explosion, and in subsequent dives he has single-handedly prevented any of the capping measures from working. Why? Because he's a Marxist Muslim communist radical Kenyan who . . . uh, likes oily beaches. See, it's so obvious!

[damntexdem]

14. They may be something like Jindal's sand berms.

LA had permission to build them so long as they didn't dredge sand from behind them, which could worsen the devastation. They dredged sand from behind where they were building the berms, so they were told to cease and desist. This was described by Jindal as "bureaucratic paperwork."

[CatWoman]

16. check this out, K

'A Whale' Of An Oil Skimmer Arrives In Gulf

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/29/gulf-oil-spill-a-whale-of_n_629575.html

A massive, newly-retooled supertanker that its owner claims could skim millions of gallons of oily water a day is now in the Gulf of Mexico, where government and BP officials intend to run tests shortly to see if it actually works.

With residents of four states complaining about the dearth of skimming vessels off their shores, the 10-story tall, 372-yard long Taiwanese-owned behemoth -- called A Whale -- could be an enormous boon to the region.

Or it could be a really, really big disappointment.

Nobu Su, the CEO and founder of Taiwan Maritime Transport (TMT), told reporters in Norfolk on Friday that on account of the special holes he had cut in its sides, his vessel would roll across the Gulf "like a lawn mower cutting the grass."

Though the ship and the process are entirely untested, Su insisted A Whale could ingest and process some 15 million gallons of oily water a day. By comparison, the entire emergency response since BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20 has collected 28 million gallons of oily water.

[K8-EEE]

17. Thank you! nt