Delmarva Saltfish Discussion Forum: Why the Gulf Clean up is SO SLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wall Street Journal Editorial!!!!!!!

Why the Gulf Clean up is SO SLOW!!!!!...

Delmarva Saltfish Discussion Forum » General Fishing Discussion » Archive through July 13, 2010 » Why the Gulf Clean up is SO SLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wall Street Journal Editorial!!!!!!!

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Bully_bob
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Username: Bully_bob

Post Number: 708
Registered: 08-2006

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Posted on Saturday, July 03, 2010 - 08:38 am:

If you love to fish, and think the Gulf Coast is one of the most beautiful places in the world, this WSJ article may make you sick it did me. Forget about who you voted for or what your political beliefs are this is sickening, if we have now politicized the Gulf, Fishing and a way of life for millions of people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is the federal government that dysfunctional???????????????? I fear it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This article in today's Wall Street Journal is very consistent with other stuff I have read by the Heritage foundation and just listening to Bobby Jindal, and even James Caravel of all people??????????????????????????

OPINION Wall Street Journal 7/2}
JULY 2, 2010
Why Is the Gulf Cleanup So Slow?
There are obvious actions to speed things up, but the government oddly resists taking them.
Article
By PAUL H. RUBIN
Destin, Fla.

As the oil spill continues and the cleanup lags, we must begin to ask difficult and uncomfortable questions. There does not seem to be much that anyone can do to stop the spill except dig a relief well, not due until August. But the cleanup is a different story. The press and Internet are full of straightforward suggestions for easy ways of improving the cleanup, but the federal government is resisting these remedies.

First, the Environmental Protection Agency can relax restrictions on the amount of oil in discharged water, currently limited to 15 parts per million. In normal times, this rule sensibly controls the amount of pollution that can be added to relatively clean ocean water. But this is not a normal time.

Various skimmers and tankers (some of them very large) are available that could eliminate most of the oil from seawater, discharging the mostly clean water while storing the oil onboard. While this would clean vast amounts of water efficiently, the EPA is unwilling to grant a temporary waiver of its regulations.

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Next, the Obama administration can waive the Jones Act, which restricts foreign ships from operating in U.S. coastal waters. Many foreign countries (such as the Netherlands and Belgium) have ships and technologies that would greatly advance the cleanup. So far, the U.S. has refused to waive the restrictions of this law and allow these ships to participate in the effort.

The combination of these two regulations is delaying and may even prevent the world's largest skimmer, the Taiwanese owned "A Whale," from deploying. This 10-story high ship can remove almost as much oil in a day as has been removed in total�roughly 500,000 barrels of oily water per day. The tanker is steaming towards the Gulf, hoping it will receive Coast Guard and EPA approval before it arrives.

In addition, the federal government can free American-based skimmers. Of the 2,000 skimmers in the U.S. (not subject to the Jones Act or other restrictions), only 400 have been sent to the Gulf. Federal barriers have kept the others on stations elsewhere in case of other oil spills, despite the magnitude of the current crisis. The Coast Guard and the EPA issued a joint temporary rule suspending the regulation on June 29�more than 70 days after the spill.

The Obama administration can also permit more state and local initiatives. The media endlessly report stories of county and state officials applying federal permits to perform various actions, such as building sand berms around the Louisiana coast. In some cases, they were forbidden from acting. In others there have been extensive delays in obtaining permission.

As the government fails to implement such simple and straightforward remedies, one must ask why.

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One possibility is sheer incompetence. Many critics of the president are fond of pointing out that he had no administrative or executive experience before taking office. But the government is full of competent people, and the military and Coast Guard can accomplish an assigned mission. In any case, several remedies require nothing more than getting out of the way.

Another possibility is that the administration places a higher priority on interests other than the fate of the Gulf, such as placating organized labor, which vigorously defends the Jones Act.

Finally there is the most pessimistic explanation�that the oil spill may be viewed as an opportunity, the way White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said back in February 2009, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." Many administration supporters are opposed to offshore oil drilling and are already employing the spill as a tool for achieving other goals. The websites of the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, for example, all feature the oil spill as an argument for forbidding any further offshore drilling or for any use of fossil fuels at all. None mention the Jones Act.

To these organizations and perhaps to some in the administration, the oil spill may be a strategic justification in a larger battle. President Obama has already tried to severely limit drilling in the Gulf, using his Oval Office address on June 16 to demand that we "embrace a clean energy future." In the meantime, how about a cleaner Gulf?

Mr. Rubin, a professor of economics at Emory University, held several senior positions in the federal government in the 1980s. Since 1991 he has spent his summers on the Gulf.

On_delivery_sportfishing
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Username: On_delivery_sportfishing

Post Number: 14
Registered: 03-2010

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Posted on Saturday, July 03, 2010 - 11:01 am:

Politics aside, this spill will have effects on all fisherman in the gulf, and up and down the coast for years to come. The gulf is the nursery for many of the pelagic species that all of us enjoy chasing. You think we have had a few tough years catching tuna now. Wait until the spawning cycle has stopped for the couple of years. Stocks are going to crash, allowing NMFS to close fishing in future years (this is my opinion) Is our government acting in the publics best interest or are they following the agenda of the few?

Bully_bob
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Post Number: 709
Registered: 08-2006

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Posted on Saturday, July 03, 2010 - 11:28 am:

Just a few points: joc, you said what I feel for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't want to make this post about the politics of the situation, which is what it is really. This is not first leak/spill of this magnitude larger ones have happened and been dealt with, in the north sea and off of Austraila, the technology is there to skim, burn etc, I pray it is not intentional, but man it is nuts to think, the federal government is this incompetent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the media complicit. I have skin in the game I own a home on the Gulf coast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike you make a very good point!!!!!! A freind I fish with worked for Shell in off shore exploration in the North sea. He told me that anytime the raw oil gets to a certain depth with out being skimed the bottom is "DEAD" (not sure what that means) but he said fishing in this area is DONE and will not come back for GENERATIONS!!!

I think awareness and voicing outrage at the federal government is critical. Oil exploration is one of the most regualated by federal statute of any industry in the world and the FEDERAL government is resposible for the actual clean up an restoration???????????????????????? The same people that are going to run health care??????

Rm2
Senior member
Username: Rm2

Post Number: 2026
Registered: 05-2003

Enjoying my boatless status!

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Posted on Saturday, July 03, 2010 - 12:18 pm:

Bully_bob wrote on Saturday July 03 2010 - 11:28 am:
but man it is nuts to think, the federal government is this incompetent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the media complicit.

I don't think it's nuts at all but rather obvious.

Rob IR Delaware
Member:Indian River Captains Assoc - DMS # 2252 - Dana Lynn Charters