Obama/BP reconsidering their BIZARRE rejection of Dutch help with Gulf catastrophe

[Karmadillo]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/7043272.html

Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch government offered to help.

It was willing to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms, and it proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands.

The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,'” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston.

Now, almost seven weeks later, as the oil spewing from the battered well spreads across the Gulf and soils pristine beaches and coastline, BP and our government have reconsidered.

U.S. ships are being outfitted this week with four pairs of the skimming booms airlifted from the Netherlands and should be deployed within days. Each pair can process 5 million gallons of water a day, removing 20,000 tons of oil and sludge.

<edit>

The uncoordinated response to an offer of assistance has become characteristic of this disaster's response. Too often, BP and the government don't seem to know what the other is doing, and the response has seemed too slow and too confused.

more...

[polichick]

1. O. M. G. - wtf were they thinking?! Thanks, but no thanks??? nt

[Submariner]

2. Cheney's oily buddies at BP obviously don't know what to do

in this situation because they never planned for it adequately. The government has been hamstrung since the beginning of this mess because BP has not been forwarding the appropriate information, either due to ignorance, lying to the public, or both.

[boston bean]

4. Didn't Obama know within hours how bad it was?

It has been touted here for a month and a half that he was on top of it.

Plus, the US said no thanks too, not just BP.

[Submariner]

9. Obama followed BP's lead and said no thanks

because BP led him and the government to believe the gusher isn't as bad as it is. BP led us to believe Top kill and all that other BS would stop the flow within days/weeks. Now that were 6 to 7 weeks into this thing the picture becomes clearer that BP has been over their head and lying to us.

If Obama's USCG or Navy could stop the gusher, I'm sure he would have ordered them to do so.

All this crap is due to the Cheney oil people at BP and the incompetent deregulating druggies, perves and crooks at MMS that Obama hadn't had a chance to replace yet.

[Better Believe It]

31. Yes. But what does that have to do with the rejection of help from other nations?

[Coyote_Bandit]

3. It is inexcusable that

we did not start building those sand barriers over 50 days ago.

Yeah, the Obama administration could have been far more fucking proactive. Maybe they lacked the ability to plug the hole. That doesn't mean they lacked the ability to take action to mitigate and reduce the catastrophic damages.

[boston bean]

6. Was screaming it from the rooftops long ago, but not too many had an interest

his failure in taking over the clean up is going to be a nightmare for him.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8389972

[dgibby]

7. Me too.

Lotta good it did.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/dgibby

Oh well....

[donco6]

19. You and one unnamed TS'd member

Low on stature, high on heat

[piratefish08]

28. maybe they lacked the courage to stand up to BP.

maybe they still do.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. What was the reason?

[Nihil]

10. US administration / EPA refused it.

They didn't like the idea that it only gets 95% of the oil out of
the water and returns the other 5% to the sea along with the rest
of the cleaner water.

Some bright spark decided that they wanted 100% or nothing ... and they
got nothing as a result ... fucking idiots ...

:banghead:

[Betty Karlson]

26. Inexcusable.

Congress could have just allowed an emergency regulation to allow for 95 % clean water in the Gulf and revoke it the moment that gusher had been stopped. Obama could have signed a directive to that effect.

I simply cannot - NOT - comprehend the 'wisdom' of this initial refusal.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. Too slow?

How many cluster fucks the size of this one has anyone on the planet EVER had to deal with? I blame BP for trying every way in the world to hold on to every dollar. I hope BP feels as hopeless and shit out of luck some day as the people driving around looking for work and paying four dollars a gallon for gasoline, while their kids go to school hungry, so Dad can buy some gas for the job search.

[ljm2002]

11. "uncoordinated response"...

...and people still ask what difference could it make for President Obama to take charge of this disaster.

Right there is the difference: unified command and control, unified strategy, tactical moves in accordance with overall strategy.

Not seeing it.

Of course you do have Thad Allen, the Incident Commander, who is supposedly in charge of all this. One might have expected him to provide unified command and control, and to rein in BP. But instead we still have the Coast Guard enforcing BP's dicta on who can and cannot fly over the spill, go to the beaches, etc. That's because Thad Allen is in the pocket of BP, which has been evident from the beginning.

This disaster is tragic on so many levels.

[Mimosa]

24. Thad Allen is a joke

BP will get away with whatever they want. I fear that hundreds of thousands of working families will never be compensated for their lost income. BP is administering the payments and demanding people to come up with at least 3 years of detailed quarterly income paperwork in order to get paid. Many self-employed people including fishing boat and charter boat captains just have never done quarterlies. They aren't accounting majors, and they are usually 'getting by.' Sometimes they have good months, sometimes not.

What about all the small mom and pop stores? Plumbers, electricians, maids, waiters and all sorts of people who service a thriving tourist industry? I bet a lot of them will be left hanging. What can they do if they don't have children, worked 'free-lance' and can't draw even paltry unemployment checks? Is there some kind of welfare for the independent contractor types who can't get work because a whole industry and area is in trouble?

[Catherina]

12. 'Thanks, but no thanks,'

The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,'” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston.

Boot on the neck :mad:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. K&R

[Angry Dragon]

14. k

[Snarkoleptic]

15. I'm no petroleum engineer, but won't the dispersants make skimming more difficult?

[polichick]

16. Yes - the dispersants were to make the oil less obvious for p.r. purposes. nt

[cwydro]

17. Thanks Obama.

I voted for you once, but never again.

My sister voted for you, but won't again. My 80 year old parents voted for you, but won't again. We are all furious. We don't hold you responsible for the "spill" (geyser!). But your seeming indifference and refusal of help, your kowtowing to BP, your believing BP - these things have completely amazed, astounded, and appalled me.

The majority of my town voted for you; it's a small town and the friends I have all say they won't vote for you either. Pretty sure you can just count out the Gulf coast states, Florida, as the oil moves north with the Gulfstream...forget the Carolinas, VA...good luck. But I think you are toast.

And I'm glad.

[Shining Jack]

18. I'm speechless.

That's totally irresponsible and negligent,at best.

[MisterP]

20. it's only been 2 years! the filibuster! nothing can be done! :sarcasm: nt

[xchrom]

21. sigh. no? no thanks?

the admin and BP are building a sacred Temple of Incompetence out of the catastrophe.

and this from a democratic admin. hmmmph.

[Karmadillo]

22. Kick

nt

[nashville_brook]

23. god i'm so sick of this admin's bungling of this.

[blindpig]

27. I don't think it is bungling

it is the superiority of Capital over Government. In times of stress the curtain is rent and the puppetmaster is revealed.

[nashville_brook]

30. indeed!

[cwydro]

25. kick, nt

[entanglement]

29. Could someone with legal expertise clarify if this action was REALLY prevented by the Jones Act?

I have read that claim in some places.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

32. They dissed a similar offer from Iran

Acceptance of THAT could have been a shining example of rationality over politics for Obama. But no...