There seems to be a bad case of unrealistic expectations going on around here over how the Obama Administration is handling the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. This is ridiculous, especially for a Democratic website. If the Obama Administration is guilty of any wrongdoing in this crisis, it is how they have handled the media on this. But as far as actual hands-on work is concerned, there is not much else they could be doing right now to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
More below...
One of the things I think people might be forgetting here is that the definitive solution to this is to drill a relief well. This method is "tried and true" and it will work. The problem is that it takes a couple months to accomplish. In the meantime, there is not much else that can be done. This is the reality of the situation. Obama didn't create this problem. Indeed, I'd be willing to bet that if Bush was running the show, BP wouldn't even be pressured right now to try alternate methods of sealing or slowing down the massive leak. Now, would you rather BP focuses solely on drilling the relief well without at least trying to contain or slow down the leak, or would you like to see them at least try a few ideas that might possibly work?
To hear people say things like, "Why is Obama still letting BP run this operation?" is being ignorant of the situation. Folks, the government can't push BP to the side and "take over" because the government doesn't have the technology, the equipment or the experience to deal with this. The ONLY other companies that could possibly even handle this job would be Exxon, Chevron or Shell.
Let me give you an analogy. I'm a professional plumber, by trade. This actually happened to a co-worker of mine about three years ago...
A customer called him out to perform repair work on a dripping faucet in their house. The plumber arrived and goes to shut off the water to the faucet at the shut off valve under the sink. Well, apparently, the old rusty pipe that the valve was connected to was on it's last leg and just from trying to turn the valve by hand, it broke off inside the wall. Water lines are typically under 50 to 100 psi of water pressure, which is a lot. So, water starts gushing everywhere. Immediately the plumber goes to shut off the main valve located in the underground meter box outside. Unfortunately, the customer recently had landscaped the front yard and covered the meter box with cedar chips. To make matters worse, the customer couldn't remember exactly where the meter box was. So now the plumber is frantically digging through the cedar trying to find the meter box to shut off the water. In the meantime, water is gushing everywhere. It's flooded the kitchen hardwood floors and headed for the living room. It's also raining down through the floor, soaking the antique billiards table and even coming through the light fixtures in the rec room below. The technical term for this situation is "a big fucking mess".
Now, let's suppose you're the homeowner and this happens at your home. What do you do?
- Call the police.
- Hire another plumber.
- Tell the plumber to leave and you'll fix the problem yourself.
- Let the plumber keep working and keep your fingers crossed.
- Scream at the plumber.
It's obvious, isn't it? You let the plumber keep working. It is the fastest way to solve the problem. At this point, you may hate the plumber, but you know you still need him to get you out of this crisis. There will be plenty of time to point fingers of blame later. Right now, you just need to contain the damage as much as possible.
Well, to finish the story, the plumber found the meter box after about ten minutes of frantic digging and was finally able to shut off the water. But the damage was fairly severe. I arrived on the scene about 30 minutes after the water had been turned off. The plumber was still busy trying to clean the water up with rags and a shop vac. I assisted him with the clean-up. I was there for about an hour and during that time no one said a word to each other. The customer was so angry they were silent. The damage was done and there was really nothing left to say. Unfortunately, the plumber had to stay to finish the original repair plus fix the broken pipe in the wall. Poor bastard.
(As a side note: Before I even get to the customer's front door, I visually locate the meter box. It's how I was trained. If the other plumber had learned this habit, a lot of damage could have been prevented.)
Anyway, back to the original point of this diary. I suspect that Obama is keeping his cool because he knows that BP is 1) The best option for doing the job. and 2) Yelling and screaming will only make the situation worse.
The solution is the relief well. It's not what you want to hear, but it is the truth. If you want the leak stopped sooner, then you have to accept there will be failed attempts. At least they are trying.
Now, all that being said, BP still knowingly lied about the amount of oil spewing and they also seem to be doing more damage by using the dispersant Corexit. And, the MMS is certainly at fault here as well. But the government is looking into these issues and the best minds in the world are working on a rapid solution to stop the oil geyser. Realistically, what more can you expect them to do?
About the improper booming...
As Fishgrease pointed out, the booming was done improperly. Perhaps you want to blame Obama for that or for not firing the Admiral. But understand, Fishgrease also pointed out that there isn't enough boom in the world to protect these beaches. And, when you boom properly, you use more boom because you're doubling the boom and running it at angles (as opposed to single-line straight booms). So, if you only have 20% of the boom that you actually need, how do you decide which marshes get ruined and which ones don't?
This disaster didn't begin on April 20th. It began long before that when the MMS failed to do their job. That was a long time ago.
One last thing about Obama...
I fully expect Obama to come out like a dragon with a bad cough once the oil eruption is under control. He's holding back right now on purpose. He knows that they're doing everything they can reasonably and realistically do. Now is not the time to start a media war with BP. But, I can assure you that once the crisis of getting the well capped is over, Obama will be there and will use this disaster to make major gains in environmental policy as well as energy policy. I guarantee it. If he doesn't, then I will support trashing this administration. But as far as things are right now, I don't see what else Obama could really be doing that would speed up the effort to stop the oil geyser.
Sometimes there just is no easy solution.
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