US says accepting foreign help with Gulf oil spill

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, June 29 (Reuters) - The United States will accept offers from a dozen countries and international agencies to help contain and clean up the BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the State Department said on Tuesday.

"The United States will accept 22 offers of assistance from 12 countries and international bodies, including two high-speed skimmers and fire containment boom from Japan," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

The United States has already accepted offers of assistance from the Netherlands and Norway, among others. It is also considering offers from countries as diverse as China, Kenya and Vietnam.

Overall, 27 countries have offered assistance ranging from vessels and dispersant, to fire boom and technical personnel. In most cases reimbursement would be required.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29161206.htm

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There's quite a bit more information in that article. So long as you avoid the ignorant Republican trolls in the comments section it's worth the read.

BP would be doing the reimbursing right?
I wonder if that's why it took so long.

Could have been freely given.

Posted on Tuesday, 06.29.10
US accepts international assistance for Gulf spill
By TOM BREEN
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS -- The United States is accepting help from 12 countries and international organizations in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the State Department said Tuesday.

The State Department said in a news release that the U.S. is working out the particulars of the help that's been accepted.

More than 30 countries and international organizations have offered to help with the spill. The U.S. hasn't made a final decision on most of the offers.

The United States rarely faces a disaster of such magnitude that it requires international aid, but the government did accept assistance after Hurricane Katrina.

Most of the countries and groups have offered skimmers, boom or dispersant chemicals, according to a chart on the State Department's website.

"To be clear, the acceptance of international assistance we announced today did not mean to imply that international help was arriving only now," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "In fact, before today, there were 24 foreign vessels operating in the region and nine countries had provided boom, skimmers and other assistance."

He said as early as May 11, boom arrived from Mexico, Norway and Brazil.

The chart indicated offers have been accepted from six countries - Canada, Mexico, Croatia, Holland, Norway and Japan. Offers also were accepted from two groups - the International Maritime Organization and the Monitoring and Information Center, which is operated by the European Commission.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/29/1707414/us-accepts-international-assistance.html#ixzz0sK35n0cq