Time For The Obama Administration To Show Who Is Boss In Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill Response - NOLA

Time for the Obama administration to show who is boss in Gulf of Mexico oil spill response: An editorial
By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune
May 25, 2010, 5:47PM

<snip>

Americans are growing impatient with the Obama administration's inability to elicit a more urgent response to the BP oil spill and to better protect and cleanup the coast.

That has federal officials on the defensive, and the nation is demanding that President Obama assume a more forceful role in commanding BP to stop the gushing oil and clean up this mess.

The administration argues that federal law limits its ability to take over cleanup efforts from the company. Officials also note that the industry, not the government, has the expertise and equipment needed to stop the leak.

But the federal government, which is supposed to ensure that BP assumes responsibility for this disaster, has often acted timidly during the crisis. President Obama has the bully pulpit to come down hard on BP and its executives, and he should use it. Most Americans are ready for the president to light a fire under the company and under the bureaucracy overseeing the disaster response.

The White House appears to be getting the message. On Tuesday it announced that President Obama will travel to Louisiana Friday, the first time he will assess the cleanup on the ground since his May 2 visit.

In addition, ProPublica reported Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency is considering banning BP from getting government contracts, an action that would cost the company billions in revenue.

BP's next move is to try to stop up the blowout preventer atop the well. Much is riding on this so-called "top kill" effort, as the firm doesn't seem to have another option to stop the leak in the near future. Relief wells are not expected to be completed for another two months.

Yet even now, BP is acting with intolerable arrogance. The company on Tuesday told U.S. Rep. Edward Markey that it planned to turn off a live video feed of the leak during the "top kill" attempt. The company backed away after Rep. Markey and others criticized the move. Rep. Markey last week used his public position to browbeat BP into releasing that live feed and he called BP's attempted video blackout "outrageous."

Americans share that outrage -- and so should the federal government.

<snip>

Link: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/its_time_for_the_obama_adminis.html

And that was putting it nicely...

:shrug:

use his supper strength to tie the metal pipe and then weld it shut with his laser vision.

JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK HE CAN DO ?

By being really angry.

"The administration argues that federal law limits its ability to take over cleanup efforts from the company. Officials also note that the industry, not the government, has the expertise and equipment needed to stop the leak.

But the federal government, which is supposed to ensure that BP assumes responsibility for this disaster, has often acted timidly during the crisis. President Obama has the bully pulpit to come down hard on BP and its executives, and he should use it. Most Americans are ready for the president to light a fire under the company and under the bureaucracy overseeing the disaster response."

Just sayin...

:shrug:

and by signing papers and obtaining court injunctions . . . then maybe the U.S. government could do something," said Byron W. King, an energy analyst at Agora Financial. "But really, Uncle Sam has almost no institutional ability to control the oil spill. For that, you need people with technical authority, technical skill and firms with industrial capabilities."

Read: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/24/AR2010052404071_pf.html







That is all.

to shame BP then we're really screwed.

Have a nice day.

:)

one if BP succeeds and one if BP fails.

I'm wondering if the reluctance for Obama and the government to take over the management of this gusher is because - at least now if BP is in charge most of the rancor will be directed at them. If the government takes over and is unsuccessful - then the full brunt of the criticism will be directed at solely at Obama.

I got to think that the Repugs are just waiting to change their tune again - if and when the government does take over and begin to dump on Obama for taking control.

Again he's faced with one of those 'no win' situations that he'll have to take responsibility for - that most likely was the cause of 8 years of anything goes for the oil companies from the Bush/Cheney administration that brought you wars, financial ruin and the demise of the American way of life.