Morning Bell: Oil Spill Response is “Stuck on Stupidâ€
(From the Heritage Foundation!)
...Ironically, royalties from offshore drilling in Louisiana are designated by the state constitution to pay for critical infrastructure protection and coastal restoration. The longer this drilling moratorium continues, the longer Louisiana has to wait to protect itself from future disasters. Eric Smith, an energy expert at Tulane University, pointed out that the moratorium also increases the risk of a spill because that threat increases every time you start and stop operations. Smith also pointed out that putting two to three independent safety inspectors on each rig, paid for by the oil companies, would be a low-cost alternative to the moratorium. ...Offshore platforms are already leaving the Gulf, and many more are marketing their services elsewhere. Once they leave, it may be years, if not decades, before they return. And if they do return, it will be at added cost due to the potential for more broken contracts. ...The second item we heard most often was that unnecessary federal permitting delays were making environmental and economic protection impossible. The marshes, waters and estuaries make up a complicated eco-system that protects south Louisiana from flooding and prevents oil from reaching inland. Yet, without the ability to build rock jetties, dykes and sand berms, the environment is going unprotected. Why? Because the left absurdly believes the protective measures might cause long-term damage, despite assurances that all measures are temporary, could be removed, and BP would pay for it. Ignoring this crisis in favor of a mythical one 30 years away must end, today. ...Local officials are positive that plans they have had in place for years will work, and that shallow water vessels exist that minimize potential long term impacts. In the last ten years, these same communities have helped build 700 acres of new protective marsh. President Obama needs to listen to their input and stop the delays. ...We also discovered that response crews are being prevented from working at night or for more than 20 minutes out of every hour. And apparently, those 20 minutes an hour aren’t even in shifts, but total stoppages. Louisiana fishermen are no strangers to working at night, or long hours. BP could easily afford the GPS, maps and lights needed to extend work hours. But so far, the daily response time to this crisis is simply unbalanced to the disaster itself...***end quote***
The President has apparently spoken three times on the spill since it started; His administration has gone out of it’s way to make sure that no one knows about the results of the spill (press and people are banned from entering areas to report on the oily birds and such); His administration has stopped efforts to build barriers to keep the oil from reaching the shore for fear something might hurt the environment; His administration declined help from outside the US to collect the oil and let the oil drift; His administration is trying very hard to end oil drilling, period. Kind of hard on the people of the Gulf that need the jobs. Also, the drive to make BP pay for everything RIGHT NOW is killing the company…but if the company was kept healthy they could pay for cleanup until, ummmm, it was all cleaned up?
~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {=-{<
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