Why Is the Gulf Cleanup So Slow?
4th July 2010
There are obvious actions to speed things up, but the government oddly resists taking them.
My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.
As the oil spill continues and the cleanup lags, we must begin to ask difficult and uncomfortable questions. There does not seem to be much that anyone can do to stop the spill except dig a relief well, not due until August. But the cleanup is a different story. The press and Internet are full of straightforward suggestions for easy ways of improving the cleanup, but the federal government is resisting these remedies.
It’s not hard to fathom. The federal government is composed of agencies that, come hell or high wather (often literally) defend their turf whether or not it makes sense to Ordinary People.
July 5th, 2010 at 07:23
I’ve worked on oil spills before. You have NO idea how many agencies get involved or how bizarre and dysfunctional they can be. Ten groups will all hash out an agreement to do something and a new official will show up from another agency (usually OSHA) and shut everything down. (NOAA, normally just a weather agency, will be issuing some of the biggest fines, just as an example of the absurdity.)
The roughnecks that work on the oil equipment and the Coast Guard know what they are doing and give 100% towards getting things right. All the other agencies are just there to screw things up.