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Thirty-two days ago,
the Dutch authorities offered the use of a sufficient number of oil
skimmers and an advisory crew to capture the Gulf oil spillage prior
to it reaching the Louisiana marshlands and destroying it's wildlife
and environment for many years to come. Oil skimming using the Dutch
method is a proven technology that entails sucking up surface oil
and surrounding seawater and depositing both into the cargo hold of
a tanker. The on-board process separates the two and then expels the
water. Minute traces of oil are present in the expelled seawater,
but that's significantly better than the tides and currents bringing
in raw crude oil to saturate the coast, which has already happened
from the Louisiana delta to the Pensacola panhandle. Presidential
dithering can take some time, but a FULL MONTH?
The Obama Administration declined the Dutch offer because our EPA
regulations do not permit even small traces of oil being expelled to
the gulf waters as a part of the oil skimming process. Once again,
the all powerful EPA proves to be penny wise and dollar poor. You'd
think that Obama and his Congress would temporarily suspend the
applicable EPA regulation considering what is at stake. Instead, the
Administration has been focusing on developing sharp words of
criticism of BP, which is deserved, but not to the exclusion of
providing some national leadership in this crisis.
President Obama has been very busy with a full social schedule
lately, so possibly left the decision on the Dutch offer/EPA regs up
to one of his czars, advisors, or cabinet members - perhaps the one
who thought up all the harsh words for BP rather than checking all
available resources. Always the political opportunist, Obama is
using the Gulf oil spill as a reason to introduce Cap and Trade
legislation, where all energy users will be taxed. Spend and tax,
tax and spend are words on the first page of the Obama presidential
manual.
Click on the below Dutch article to learn what their authorities had
to say about our current method of cleaning up the oil spill. Thanks
to Constance for passing this along. |