President Obama talks a good game, but he has difficulty effectively following through with his rhetorical commitments. At his press conference regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on May 27, 2010, President Obama said:
"The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort....BP is operating at our direction. Every key decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance.... The federal government is also directing the effort to contain and clean up the damage from the spill -– which is now the largest effort of its kind in U.S. history."
It is very clear from that Presidential statement that the Obama team is taking the lead in managing this terrible environmental disaster in the Gulf and any action to be taken by BP to plug the leak and clean up the oil slicks must be approved by the federal government. However, the President also admitted that only BP has the technology and expertise to stop the oil leaking from the bottom of the Gulf:
"What is true is that when it comes to stopping the leak down below, the federal government does not possess superior technology to BP. This is something, by the way -- going back to my involvement -- two or three days after this happened, we had a meeting down in the Situation Room in which I specifically asked [Secretary of Defense] Bob Gates and [Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman] Mike Mullen what assets do we have that could potentially help that BP or other oil companies around the world do not have. We do not have superior technology when it comes to dealing with this particular crisis."
That, of course, is understandable since the oil companies are in the business of exploring for oil reserves and deploying the drilling technology needed to retrieve the crude oil. So they would naturally have experts, scientists and technology on hand that would give BP superior ability to plug the leak.
But the federal government certainly must have plans in place based on past experience (Exxon Valdez comes to mind) to clean up oil spills. Don't they? So why did it take the US Coast Guard two weeks to approve Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's sand-booming/barrier island/dredging plan to prevent the oil from advancing to the coastline and spoiling the marshes, wetlands and beaches of Louisiana?
Here's President Obama's answer at his press conference:
"So let’s take the example of Governor Jindal’s barrier islands idea. When I met with him when I was down there two weeks ago, I said I will make sure that our team immediately reviews this idea, that the Army Corps of Engineers is looking at the feasibility of it, and if they think -- if they tell me that this is the best approach to dealing with this problem, then we’re going to move quickly to execute it."
However, Governor Jindal did not think that federal "movement" in two weeks was very quickly executed. Here's what the Governor said after the Coast Guard decision:
"We are frustrated that it took two weeks to get any kind of response. We are frustrated that the federal government then only agreed to make BP pay for one segment while the Corps [of Engineers] approved six segments for construction. We are frustrated that they said the other five would not be approved because they needed to ensure the ‘effectiveness’ of sand-booms even though the Area Contingency Plan already calls sand-booming an ‘effective’ measure."
If sand-booming was already approved in pre-existing federal contingency plans, it would seem that the government decision-making required to protect Louisiana's coast could be done more swiftly and effectively. Under these circumstances, it is very reasonable for Governor Jindal to expect faster federal responses to their plight. However, even though oil was spreading day by day ever closer to the Gulf Coast and now has reached it, the President's answer appears to suggest that taking two weeks to make a decision already included in prior contingency plans is perfectly acceptable.
So what is the federal government doing in its role of Overlord of the Gulf Oil Crisis of 2010? Well, in addition to too slowly considering Bobby Jindal's requests for help, the President told us that he is getting reports every day; he is thinking about the problem; everyone involved knows that resolving this crisis is his number one priority; he has established a Commission to study the causes of the disaster and how to prevent future such catastrophes; he has sent Attorney General Holder to the Gulf Coast to so helpfully announce civil and criminal investigations by the Justice Department into BP's culpability in the crisis and visited the Gulf Coast three times so far to be sure that we all know he is engaged.
In his most recent visit to the Louisiana coast on Friday, Obama met with commercial fishermen, other local business people and local government officials. He assured all that he will hold BP accountable for plugging the oil leak, cleaning up the environmental damage and paying claims filed by those economically hurt by the oil spill disaster.
While the Coast Guard is clearly on the scene and playing a critical role in helping to resolve this crisis, the basic message from the President reconfirmed the government's continued reliance on BP to solve the problems and make things right with the coastal communities.
BP has already spent over $1 billion in its efforts to stop the oil leak, clean up the oil spreading through the Gulf and paying claims to people economically injured by the disaster. BP's CEO has repeatedly accepted the company's responsibility and committed to continuing BP's work on all aspects of the problems caused by the oil rig explosion that started the crisis on April 20.
The question now is whether BP will get the approvals required from the federal government to do its job quickly and efficiently or whether Obama will continue to talk a tough game while threatening and investigating BP as it keeps working to fix the mess it created. Let's hope that the federal government can move more quickly in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities from now on than it did in giving Bobby Jindal an answer to his request for approval to implement plans last month to block the oil from reaching the Gulf coast in Louisiana. Sphere: Related Content
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