Today’s Oil Spill Outrage

For anyone left who thinks the government is doing a great job containing the oil spill we suggest you look in on Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal as he went to the dockside to see the departure of the barges loaded with spill equipment. The feds maintained that they had delayed the departure of this critical equipment because they need to be checked for safety equipment; life vests, fire extinguishers, etc.

The following is from an ABC News report:

“Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state’s oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor’s wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.

“It’s the most frustrating thing,” the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. “Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges.”

Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP’s oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

“These barges work. You’ve seen them work. You’ve seen them suck oil out of the water,” said Jindal.

So why stop now?

“The Coast Guard came and shut them down,” Jindal said. “You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, ‘Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.’”

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

“We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.”

Note that there was no assertion that the safety equipment was missing but that they actually needed to see it. This is bureaucracy at its most offensive worst. At the current flow, each and every minute of delay releases another 35 gallons into the Gulf. An hour is 2100 gallons total and in one day, an extra 50,400 gallons.

When will it end?

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon