re: #246 reine.de.tout

You are correct; BP’s fault it happened, and BP is responsible for the clean-up and the claims payment, both of which they’ve done a poor job with.

However, there are legitimate criticisms to make as to how the Obama administration is handling this, the biggest one being the blanket 6-month moratorium.

I can understand how the blanket moratorium might be considered to be a good idea. But it isn’t, and the experts who signed that report have come out and said so, the moratorium is NOT a good idea. For one thing, it forced everybody to immediately seal the wells they were in the process of drilling, meaning everybody had to immediately perform the exact same activity that BP was engaged in when the well blew.

For another, it is punishing companies that have done no wrong.

After the blowout, all the wells out there underwent an immediate inspection; a couple of minor flaws were discovered and fixed. All the other inspections showed no violations. Why are these companies being punished?

But as to the blowout and the “fixing” of the leak and the clean-up - that is entirely on BP, and they’ve screwed up many facets of this process.

Perhaps. But squabbling over who’s fault it is and who’s responsible has effectively kept anyone from actually doing much to ameliorate the effect of the spill.

It struck me this morning that a solid month elapsed between the initial explosion and the appearance of oil on neighboring beaches. The President has broad emergency powers, whose limits are admittedly unknown in a case like this, but which might well be tested. For example, during wartime the President (and/or Congress?) can effectively take control of the nation’s manufacturing capacity and direct it to military production; granted, the Navy probably doesn’t have the capacity or equipment to help with containment and recovery efforts (booms and skimmers) but all the other oil companies working in the Gulf and elsewhere offshore certainly do, and an Executive order directing the deployment of those resources - in place of or as an adjunct to the attempted production moratorium - likely would have made a significant difference. Streamlining procedures for deploying Coast Guard equipment up front, instead of a week after hearing their were regulatory problems in the way, is another example. Deploying the Army Corps of Engineers to assist in rapid construction of barrier berms off the Louisiana cost, another project debated, delayed and still not undertaken, is yet another.

Instead, the Administration has turned this into a political exercise, engaged in partisan finger-pointing and divisive threats instead of simply attempting to engage the problems at hand: shutting down the wellhead, containing as much oil as possible before it reaches sensitive shallow water areas, and cleaning up shorelines that have been directly affected.

We can - and certainly will - argue ‘til the cows come home over who is ultimately responsible. But waiting until BP’s responsibilities are established through the courts - or even through political fiat - is a process that will take months, possibly years. Everyone, from government to industry, needs to shut the fuck up and start dealing with the problem at hand, rather than arguing over who is to blame. In the end, we can send BP and whoever else is deemed responsible a bill for everyone’s time and effort, but that time and effort needs to be expended now, not later.