CHANGE! 53 Days Later Obama Administration Decides to Accept Dutch Offer to Help With Spill
by Jim HoftRemember: The Gulf Oil Spill Is Like 9-11
Three days after the Gulf oil rig explosion, the Netherlands offered to send in oil skimmers to pump oil off of the surface of the ocean. The Obama Administration turned them down because they were not 100% efficient and small amounts of oil would be pumped back into the Gulf with the excess water. EPA regulations do not allow for residue water to contain any oil. So rather than use equipment that was not 100% efficient the Obama Administration chose to let all of the oil run into the Gulf.
This is not just bad policy, it is criminal.
Since the Obama Administration turned down assistance from The Netherlands at least 125 miles of Louisiana coastline has been ruined by the BP oil spill. Tar blobs began washing up on Florida’s white sand beaches near Pensacola days ago. And, crude oil has also been reported along barrier islands in Alabama and Mississippi.
Clean-up workers pick up blobs of oil in absorbent snare on Queen Bess Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay near the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., Friday, June 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The Examiner reported, via Free Republic:
The U.S. Government has apparently reconsidered a Dutch offer to supply 4 oil skimmers. These are large arms that are attached to oil tankers that pump oil and water from the surface of the ocean into the tanker. Water pumped into the tanker will settle to the bottom of the tanker and is then pumped back into the ocean to make room for more oil. Each system will collect 5,000 tons of oil each day.
One ton of oil is about 7.3 barrels. 5,000 tons per day is 36,500 barrels per day. 4 skimmers have a capacity of 146,000 barrels per day. That is much greater than the high end estimate of the leak. The skimmers work best in calm water, which is the usual condition this time of year in the gulf.
These systems were developed by the Dutch as a safety system in case of oil spills from either wells or tankers. The Dutch have off shore oil development and also import oil in tankers. Their economy, just like ours, runs on oil. They understand that the production and use of oil has dangers and they wanted to be ready to cope with problems like spills. The Dutch system has been used successfully in Europe.
The Dutch offered to fly their skimmer arm systems to the Gulf 3 days after the oil spill started. The offer was apparently turned down because EPA regulations do not allow water with oil to be pumped back into the ocean. If all the oily water was retained in the tanker, the capacity of the system would be greatly diminished because most of what is pumped into the tanker is sea water.
As of June 8th, BP reported that they have collected 64,650 barrels of oil in the Gulf. That is only a fraction of the amount of oil spilled from the well. That is less than one day’s rated capacity of the Dutch oil skimmers.
Turning down the Dutch skimmers just shows a total lack of leadership in the oil spill.
The Obama Administration turned down offers to help clean up the spill from The Netherlands and the British Government just days after the explosion. They didn’t accept the British help because they didn’t have the proper paperwork. The administration still has not given the OK to allow emergency workers to use a Maine company’s oil boom even though they were made aware of the warehouse full of containment boom back on May 21.
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535 Comments
Thank God it's an oil spill and not an invasion or a biological attack. How many would be dead before the bureaucracy would pick up the 3:00 AM call?
Our bureaucracy at work! Remove common sense and rational thought and what remains is running the country, into the abyss.
We have citizens who have innovative ideas to clean up the spill so why are those ideas and people not being unleashed on the gulf to help clean up?? Oh that's right it wouldn't fit the crap and tax agenda….
I guess this should be called a Dutch Treat. Why did the MSM conspire to elect this fool?
Yea we know how they've responded to the invasion on our southern border…I'm sure these folks would most likely be alive if our gooberment had responded as they said they would in 1986….
http://www.voiac.org
http://www.immigrationshumancost.org/text/crimevictims.h...
Surviving this Corrupt, Inept, Anti-American Regime will take an Act of God – and Tea Party Revolution….
I hope all you libs realize that if they had accepted this offer when it was made initially, the gulf economy and environment would not have been destroyed.
BP should put their boot on the neck of the obama administration.
Well he had to wait until enough damage was done before he would react right? Besides he can still blame Bush… Let's see… he has tossed the U.S, Israel and now the U.K, under the bus… who will be next???
See: http://tinyurl.com/28brogs
The paperwork should take only a few weeks. What a mess.
And slightly off topic, obama announced there will be a $20 billion escrow account set up by BP to pay reparations. The fund will be managed by "AN INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY."
And who is that independent third party? obama's own "pay czar", Ken Feinberg.
Can anyone say SLUSH FUND?
Terrific, so what does obama want, brownie points? I smell a RAT!!!
The depth of Obama's ineptitude really shocks me. I know he is an idiot, but even idiots know when to accept help in a dire situation. God help us to survive until 2012.
If they had accepted the skimmer's when initially offered, they would be letting a "good crisis go to waste", and we can't have that , now can we?
Little boy Baracky, has proven that the presidency is way, way over his head.
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How stupid would he look if they decide that they don't want to help us now?
The regime has been waiting for the oil spill "crisis" to become large enough so they don't let it go to waste. With that in mind, they are not satisfied that the damage has only hurt the Gulf coast area- so they push crap and tax to hurt everyone in the country- and put a double hurting on the folks living in the Gulf states. If the regime had aggressively pursued all possible solutions (including offers of help from the Brits and Dutch) to keep the oil off shore, they would not have created a crisis.
IT"S BECAUSE THEY AREN'T UNION..
the short take on this…
They have manipulated the crisis as much as they can; focus groups tell them they are afraid of offshore drilling, they have demonized a corporation- BP- and shifted much of their culpability to them. They hope this will put wind in their sails for cap and tax.
And it is now biting them squarely in the behind, as well…
Never let a good crisis go to waste – Obama saw this as "the glass half full" and treated it accordingly. He couldn't wait to get to the part of his Oval Office speech to talk about Cap-n-Tax and government energycare. His concern about the oil spill is how to use it to obtain his aspirations.
Too little, too late! He had this inflated idea that if he made his 'campaign' speech from the Oval Office people would take him seriously…seriously??? The first time he was in the Oval Office, he put his feet up on the desk, like he just walked in from the ghetto!!! I am NOT driving an electric car, I don't care what he says or does!!! Worst president in the history of the USA!!!
"The Obama Administration turned them down because they were not 100% efficient and small amounts of oil would be pumped back into the Gulf with the excess water."
Let's review, shall we? 20,000 tons of oil per day remain in the ecosystem because we might miss a Dixie cup or two per load. I'd say that was a pretty extremist position! Of course, totalitarian statists like Marxists, Fascists and Communists have always had that attitude. It's always been "all or nothing" with goons like these.
Are we learning anything yet, people?!? We have a benighted commie lunatic running our country, and he's running it straight into the ground. I'm very confident that George Bernard Shaw would take everyone who voted for this idiot and have them gassed, and call it the Defense of America Act.
I believe that the environmental fundamentalists that make up the administration simply froze when having to make decisions regarding handling this oil spill. They were simply emotionally and intellectually unable to choose between any action that could potentially endanger the environment and the oil. Deer in the headlights!
God help us all!
It is so terribly obvious the total incompetence and lack of real leadership that this man, Barry Soetoro, exemplifies. However, my distrust runs deeper than his mere incompetence in that I suspect his inaction was to benefit mostly political priorities such as Cap and Trade, and a bevy of hungry tort lawyers.
Throw the bum out already.
at this rate, they are going to have to revoke obama's nobel prize.
Its about dang time!
It is obvious that the man child who throws temper tantrums responds only to the temper tantrums of the American Taxpayers. How sad we have to behave in such a manner to get this adolescents attention. Presidents really do need to have maturity and this fool behaves as if he is Peter Pan in Never Never Land.
Humorous "blame Bush" cartoon on Obama's meager attempts to help clean-up the oil spill at http://drawfortruth.wordpress.com/category/big-oi...
I posted this a couple days ago . . . but if you haven't seen it you may make you smile!
The other evening on Huckabee he showed a shipment of human hair inside of panty hose. They have been proven to absorb this type of mess. They are not allowed to use this product because the EPA has not approved this application. Unbelivable! Well maybe not considering who is running the show in DC.
Wow…. so… these booms were NOT stopped by the Jones Act, but by our own EPA? Because they were not PERFECT enough?
So, we let millions of gallons of oil onto our Coastlines, because some Technocrat decided to look for perfect? instead of Workable?
This is the problem of the EPA in a nutshell…
You watch, it will be used by The One for his adgenda.
I cannot wait until this regime is fully in charge of our health care system. Barry HO is an absolutely amazing leader, is he not? And, of course, his posse is so brilliant that there is no problem that is beyond their grasp. They do not need no steenking Dutch to tell them how to capture the oil from the water. The Noble prize winners know that only capturing about 95-98% of the oil is much worse than allowing 100% of it to bubble up and wash ashore. We are so stupid that they would not expect us to understand. I do understand though, that Obama did not want to give any money to the Dutch for their work when he could be giving it the unions and ACORN.
America – REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER, REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER, REMEMBER ………….
I used to think that Carter was the worst Pres. No more!
Hey you knuckleheads on the left…. your guy capitulated, blathered, accused everyone, but did NOTHING to get this fixed. When are you all going to admit it, or is partisanship just too important?
Unbelievable! Criticized for not going to the Gulf…4 visits later; criticized for not showing anger…"whose ass to kick"; criticized for not giving an answer to Jindal's building barriers requests… a few miles approved; criticized for not meeting with BP execs… 20 minute meeting held; criticized for turning down foreign assistance… NOW Dutch help accepted! This is leadership?
Well, it's what passes for leadership from the "never-let-a-crisis-go-to-waste" advocates and those who have never led anything other than committee meetings, political campaigns, classrooms, political protests, PACs, pay-to-play schemes, etc.
Elections have consequences don't they?!
I wonder if they will offer to fly the booms here as they offered before. I expect a slow boat.
The president does not have the authority (congress does) to force a company to pay up. This smells of extortion.
They had to coat some critters in oil for the cameras before they actually did anything of importance.
This government doesn't answer the phone. Leave a message, and they'll call you back, if they feel like it. LOL.
they would not have created a crisis.
Absolutely correct!
This is Obama's Katrina.
Correct a mundo!
Where's a bolt of lightning, when you need one?
I can hardly wait.
But do not hold your breath.
Because, they do not like America, or its people, and the freedoms we enjoy.
SLUSH FUND. There ya go.
We need a President. Not a finger pointer. http://www.teapartyexpress.tv/
When they get back from a night of clubbing, perhaps.
Exactly.
This is the Obama administration AND our federal government's FULL DISPLAY OF INCOMPETENCE.
1. Thank you to the green weenies who started this nonsense back in the 60's for exposing your stupidity
2. Thank you to the RINOs who have colluded with these people over the years (you're FIRED)
3. Thank you to the democrats who proved you are a bunch of mush puppy morons (you're exposed and FIRED)
4. Thank you to the founding fathers of our country for the Constitution that was written to guard We the People from and intervene, on our behalf, against this type of lunacy/stupidity on parade
The government IS NOT and CANNOT be all to all. The defunding, and dismantling, of multiple departments at the Federal level is a huge start. The states are more than able to deal with these problems working together without federal idiocracy.
Vote in November for Freedom!
LOL Good one!
Clubbing what? Baby seals? Don't give Obama any ideas for more propaganda material.
Eggheaded dweebs at the helm! What do you expect, except a “college seminar,” …so how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Obama and his progressives want the People to put their faith in big Government and it's need for expansion on the belief that IT can take care of you (ie. Obamacare, Financial Reform, Bailouts, etc.). Anyone looking at the oil spill can clearly see that the government is impotent to deal with this and most all the other crisises we face. The silver lining to all this (if there is one), is that Obama's agenda will now be derailed as the People now realize that GOVERNMENT CANNOT SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS.
The EPA is one of the many departments that need to be disposed of.
But if the gulf economy and environment was not destroyed, then there would be no "crisis" to exploit and ram the cap and tax down our throats.
Meanwhile, PackGen's boom is analyzed by an independent consultant, found to be of 'superior quality'. You know, that boom up in Maine that "nobody wants"?
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/16/engineering...
This is more proof that BHO and the current admin. wants no part in actually solving the crisis before Cap-n-trade is passed.
Willful ignorance, dereliction of duty, partisan hackery. IMPEACH the man-boy.
Vote of No Confidence. This is now a matter of national security. The president is deliberately destroying America. He is an enemy of the state.
Hey, BO is known as a community agitator not as someone with management skills. He went to harvard, don't cha know?
But they certainly can make them worse….
The booms are of "superior quality", verified by an independent consultant. The polypropelene material used in their construction is used by PackGen for hazardous waste containers.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/16/engineering...
It surely won't be the arabs. A believer can not do that to a brother in the great jihad.
Private insurance would help protect tax payers from these incompetent rascals in Washington. They require us to have insurance on our vehicles. Why not on drilling?
That's the Chicago way.
I wonder if the Purple People Beater all get to wear the moonsuits to bend over and pick up the tarballs? You know the ones our college kids who can not get work would do in return for travel, food and lodging along with a resume line entry saying: Summer 2010 VOLUNTEER OBAMA's MOP-UP COMMITTEE GULF COAST
Would that be considered hazardous waste?
Obama sounded more passionate about the cap and tax BS then he did about the oil spill or the people effected .
Please, God, when he's at the golf course…….
Sorry, was talking about the oil sweep/collection booms from Europe…
I disagree. You give them too much credit. I am more of the mind that this is a general indicator of his lack of understanding of what a leadership role entails. Certainly now after 57 days of watching he has figured out how to try and exploit the disaster to try and advance his agenda but you assume too much intellect in this group of nincompoops.
Is that a socialist mop?
"This is not just bad policy, it is criminal."
as with everything Obama does… Why would you think this would be any different?
A row boat would seem fitting. But the mode of transport is irrelevent. It will take six months to buy off the EPA and the environmentalists with the 20 billion slush fund to get the booms certified. Not only that the seiu will demand to operate the booms to get its piece of pie.
"Mr. Obama sir, yea… hmmm about that nobel prize and the cash we gave you… hmm yea…"
(using best Office Space boss voice)
"Well yea… we are gonna have to … yea … move your office down to storage as well"…
Nice, we allow a non American companies like BP (england) and Shell (dutch) for a few bucks lease our land so they can screw us over on gas/oil prices, sell us our own oil back and then when they F us the Dutch can come in for lots of free marketing use this as another way so stupid people think Shell who got caught 2 years ago dumping high levels of sulfur into gas costs us millions in auto repair costs that they are an American company that loves us.
Ok Anthropogenic Global Warming advocates think about this VERY CAREFULLY.
1. The democrats have had the largest majority (super majority) in history.
2. The democrats call the shots. They are the ones who believe in cap&tax and all the hype about anthropogenic global warming. THEY ARE IN POWER. The republicans can do little or NOTHING to block democrats.
Now here's the key part:
If the democrats cannot stop one oil leak.. one leaking pipe…how can anyone believe they can stop a world wide event like Anthropogenic Global Warming?
This is a test folks. A lot of us outsiders are watching how the progressives deal with a MINOR ISSUE because this IS MINOR compared to AGW.
They can't stop a simple leak… how are they going to stop Anthropogenic Global Warming?
If the kids do it, I would call it off the family food budget and charity as well as experience in a volunteer experience. If the Purple People Beaters do it then the MOP handle must be RED.
OF COURSE!
well, ya, why would o-ham-a want to minimize a potential disaster when he still has all sorts of socialist legislation he desperately needs to pass prior to next year and his future unemployment in 2012? the worst president in the history of the usa has plenty of dirty work left to do before he leaves… I just haven't figured out how we'll get all the obama stains off the carpet.
Your all missing a key factor. Progressive know that all the liberal controlled history books will ultimately rewrite this part of the Obama presidency to however they want it. 3 days… 53 days… it's just a number, could have easily been a typo.
Judging by how they are handling the border issue in Arizona, soon signs will go up around the entire Gulf stating that it is dangerous for Americans to go there and will close off the Gulf coast to everyone. I hope all you people who voted for change are happy with the results…
And isn't that ironic considering that there is no free press in places like cuba or venezuela, not to mention no chance of wealth, luxury or a better life unless you are in the ruling class. If the dishonest press wants poverty, there are plenty of places they can relocate to. I wonder how their "green" agenda would go over with Chavez?
As long as I get to keep my red swingline stapler! It's mine!
BP: Plug the damn hole, clean up the spill, keep the rest away from the wetlands and shorelines, and pay for it.
Feds: Let the experts and states call the shots, and provide assistance when and where it's needed (quickly).
This premature crap about the funds, new energy policies (cap and tax) and the blame game, is nothing but a distraction.
No deals with BP…if the cost (and perhaps prosecution) brings BP down, then let it happen. It's BP's responsibility (under Obama's watch, not Bush's, Reagan's, Cheney's…). Cap and trade will tax ALL of the industry (which means we, consumers will be paying for it) and it does nothing, nothing, to prevent a disaster like this from happening again.
Has anyone considered how the Gulf states voted in 2008 election? Could it be that the water walker and bloviator of hot air is punishing the good folks for not voting dim(dumb, ignorant masses). Remember TENN and the flooding. How long did take for govt help? Wasn't it over one month? If memory serves, seems same, same in the Gulf region.
We are now aware that the anointed one is using this catastrope as a means to push through crap and tax and to eliminate deep water drilling. Who benefits from all this? Good question. BO's busom cronies in the carbon credit scam and his mentor and controller – good old soros, the destroyer of banks and nations.
Here's a great link showing the true efficiency of our government and it's efforts to stop the oil in the Gulf:
http://www.americansolutions.com/energy/2010/06/t...
Oh-bummer must be proud!
"This is the golden age of ignorance in power." Thomas Sowell
President Make.Believe pulling out the 9-11 Card is just magical. Team RahmObama is going to remind me of the Tennessee Titans in the Super Bowl.
This is not going to be about the November Elections and Impeachment 2011. We must stamp out any and all traces of the Pathological Progressives like a Malibu wildfire for good.
Maybe President Obama will use the cap&tax money to stuff into the leaking pipe.
And now petroleum vapors, the stench of nature's nasty process of death and decay are wafting from this primal deadly ooze, filling the air with a foul stench, a hovering toxic gas billowing over the landscape, like an ugly plague. It comes with a deadly warning: BREATHING THIS STUFF IS REALLY BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH!!!
This is truly the Black Plague…
Yep as well as most of congress, barry and his entire administration!!
Not only that the seiu will demand to operate the booms to get its piece of pie.
Great! A bunch of Janitors in Purple Shirts sucking up the goo.
and there is no environmental crisis on the southern border now is there?? Deport the illegals and make them take the trash with them!!
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/trashing-arizo...
The Governor who was running as VP, who had executive experience and first-hand knowledge of how to work with oil companies was jeered.
The junior senator running for President voted "present" when he voted at all, and who "community organized" with domestic terrorists and socialists as friends and advisors and business partners, was cheered.
Elections have consequences.
I blame the MSM just as much as I blame this administration for all its phuckuppery.
and off to the golf course as soon as it was over!!….tee time…can't be late….
Never let "perfection" get in the way of "improvement".
If Obama had ever held a REAL job at some point, he might have heard of this simple rule.
Um.. it's a trick question!
(There IS no such thing as AGW!)
Remember how long it took to make the decision to send the 30,000 troops to Afghanistan?
Must analyze…so many shades of gray here….must schedule meetings…don't want to knee-jerk…better sleep on it….pesky problems getting in the way……play basketball first….what do they expect me to do????
God Help Us!
[...] 06/16/2010: CHANGE! 53 Days Later Obama Administration Decides to Accept Dutch Offer to Help With Spill Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Seize BP! No, wait…Obama administration [...]
We need scumbag dispersant dropped all over DC.
Moratorium means that deep-water off-shore oil rigs will head to Brazil…Soros is heavily invested in Brazil's developing off-shore drilling industry that was aided by Obama's generosity with taxpayer funded dollars.
No emergency, no opportunity.
It takes a while to get legislation ready to pass when an opportunity like this oil spill presents itself.
I'm sure that this will all be taken care of after Cap and Tax is run up the flagpole high enough.
At first I thought it was just the usual incompetence of thsi Administration, but as this plays out< i ma coming around to you point of view. The mere fact we seriously entertain such thoughts is a massive indictment of these clowns. Pathetic.
This Administration and in particular its head, Chief Idiot in Charge Obama is a three ring circus!! So you collect 90% of the oil and discharge 10% or less back into the water and this is not progress. But no, you have to abide by some EPA ruling in the face of an environmental disaster of epic proportion.
Is something not terribly wrong with this picture……………….yet, these are the same idiots who are going to regulate the CO2 for us!! This insanity has to stop before we are all killed or maimed by ineptness in our government.
Just add this to the list of all of the other failed governmental policies and quasi-companies. Everything they touch turns to manure………….I guess it is the anti-Midas touch. But this will continue until those of us that are still sane and have not partaken of the "Cool-aide" insist that they are voted out of power and then pushed into the back of the closet……..hopefully never to resurface.
How can anyone that proclaims to be one of the smartest men to ever bless the earth be so absolutely ignorant. I guess it just goes to show that never having done anything in one's life, pushed through on the wings of affirmative action, never owning a company or truly contributing anything to society really matters in the real world. And believe you me this situation is the real world to all of us that live along the coast and have watch this cluster #$@% take place.
But then I guess what is important is one's pedigree, color and the power behind you…………..what a hollow suit of a man!!
Well, look at the bright side, maybe they'll be the ones drowning instead of non-union workers!
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