Category Archives: Federal Government

Oil Spill Disaster — Update on June 22

Posted on by
Reply

In the interest of giving all sides of the issue some air time, see Heritage Foundation report titled Stopping the Slick, Saving the Environment: A Framework for Response, Recovery and Resiliency; June 15.  Some good points in here.  But I see only an indirect reference to the possible use of a Presidential Disaster Declaration under the Stafford Act, and no listing of the Ixtoc Oil Spill in their list list of the 10 worst spills to date.

From the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Group, formed in 1989 after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, suggestions re useful resources for researchers and community groups. This is a useful, practical source of information.

One more call for Presidential action, in the style of Post 9//11:
Clean the Gulf, Clean House, Clean Their Clock, NYT 9/20, by Frank Rich

In this 9/11, it’s not just the future of the gulf coast, energy policy or his presidency that’s in jeopardy. What’s also being tarred daily by the gushing oil is the very notion that government can accomplish anything. The current crisis in that faith predates this disaster.

Rich also cites “…a scathing account of Obama’s own Interior Department by Tim Dickinson in Rolling Stone.” See The Spill, the Scandal, and the President (June 24, 2010). This is a detailed account of problems at MMS and Interior under both the Bush and Obama Administrations.

Oil Spill Update – June 14

Posted on by
Reply

Looks like the President is thinking ahead to how the history books will view the BP Spill event: Obama: Gulf spill ‘echoes 9/11’, Politico, June 13.

President Barack Obama told POLITICO columnist Roger Simon that the Gulf disaster “echoes 9/11” because it will change the nation’s psyche for years to come.

Another excellent article on risk and some of the global ramifications of the faulty risk assessment done by BP; Wash Post, June 13.

How BP Flunked its Risk Tests, Wash Post, June 13. Some key quotes:

…whether it’s BP or financial firms, you get the best and the brightest, the smartest and the most highly compensated people in these positions in the private sector. The folks left to do the regulation and the oversight are poorly paid, not as up-to-speed, and the most talented can’t be kept there. And they often get run circles around, despite the fact that they are the guys who are supposed to understand externalities and look after the public weal.

I think for the United States, the BP spill is a really big deal. For Europe, except for BP in London, the much bigger deal is the realistic potential failure of the most important, and heretofore successful, experiment of the free market system ever. If you’re China, if you’re Russia, you’re looking at that.