Gulf Oil Leak Plug Failure — “Top Kill” Didn’t Work, Obama Likely Won’t Accept Blame Even Though BP Is Operating Under His Authority, Rep. Scalise Hits the Roof (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on May 29, 2010
Sign posted at Grand Isle, Louisiana - 'Beach Closed'
Back to the drawing board…
From AOL News, BP Says ‘Top Kill’ Has Failed to Plug Gulf Oil Leak:
ROBERT, La. (May 29) — BP admitted defeat Saturday in its attempt to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil leak by pumping mud into a busted well, but said it’s readying yet another approach to fight the spill after a series of failures.
BP PLC Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the company determined the “top kill” had failed after it spent three days pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well 5,000 feet underwater. More than 1.2 million gallons of mud was used, but most of it escaped out of the damaged riser.
In the six weeks since the spill began, the company has failed in each attempt to stop the gusher, as estimates of how much is leaking grow more dire. It’s the worst spill in U.S. history – exceeding even the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 off the Alaska coast – dumping between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf, according to government estimates.
“The company has failed in each attempt to stop the gusher” — translation: Team Obama, who is in charge of everything since “Day 1,” per Obama’s press conference proclamation on Friday, failed in this attempt. For the record, here are a few declarations excerpted from Obama’s press conference:
“The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort. …But make no mistake: BP is operating at our direction.”
And the president also said this in the press conference:
“Now, with respect to the relationship between our government and BP, the United States government has always been in charge of making sure that the response is appropriate. BP, under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, is considered the responsible party, which basically means they’ve got to pay for everything that’s done to both stop the leak and mitigate the damage. They do so under our supervision, and any major decision that they make has to be done under the approval of Thad Allen, the national incident coordinator.
“So this notion that somehow the federal government is sitting on the sidelines and for the last three or four or five weeks we’ve just been letting BP make a whole bunch of decisions is simply not true.”
No guts, no glory. No taking charge as the head cheese and receiving any resulting praises and accolades for successes without taking the blame for any failures. Can’t try wiggling about to have it both ways, Mr. President.
But in Hopenchange Land, I’m sure that they’ll try. If the top kill procedure had succeeded, well, we have a darned good idea who would have shamelessly hogged all the credit.
Associated Press: Top Kill Fails; BP Trying Other Options
Rep. Steve Scalise is sick and tired of Obama’s finger-pointing, excuse-making, and frustrating “lip service” — in this C-SPAN video, Rep. Scalise demands that the president stop politicizing, stop making excuses, to step up to the plate, and to DO HIS JOB before more of the fragile Louisiana coast is destroyed. Yes, yes, yes… we KNOW for the umpteenth time that BP is responsible and will pay for all this (we’ve heard this over and over and over), but the president, per his specific constitutional duties, is mandated to keep the states of this nation safe. And he’s dropping the ball miserably… even liberal, left-wing media commentators are getting peeved at him. Chris Matthews has lost that “special tingle” and James Carville has called Obama’s efforts “pathetic.”
Louisiana is in grave environmental danger, and all we’ve heard from Obama and his cronies is blame, blame, blame. Obama needs to halt his vacation and approve the sand berm plan that was presented weeks ago by Gov. Jindal. Even if it fails, it won’t be any more of a failure than everything else Obama has approved already.
Stop the Excuses! Rep. Steve Scalise calls on President to approve sand berm oil protection plan
Related:
Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: He Was Suppose to Be Competent
The New Ledger, Big Government: White House Failure: On Markets, Corruption, and the Oil Spill
ABC World News: BP Oil Spill: Gov. Jindal Asks for Permission to Build Barrier Islands
Gateway Pundit: Louisiana Official to Obama: Your Oil Drilling Suspension “Will Kill Us” and Obama to Hold a Few More Photo Ops Before Addressing Gulf Oil Spill Disaster and Louisiana Rep. Scalise Screams at Obama: “We’re Tired of the Excuses” (Video) and Shameless… Obama Takes Swipe At Sarah Palin During Oil Spill Disaster Press Conference (Video) and Coast Guard Says BP Plugged Oil Leak in Gulf and and Sarah Palin Slams Obama For Lax Response to Gulf Oil Spill Crisis and Jindal Furious: Rips Obama For Dismal Response to Oil Spill Disaster and Dem Congress Jumps Into Action… Will Quadruple Gas Tax After Gulf Oil Spill and Gross. Naked Code Pink Wackjobs Slathered In Crude Oil Protest at BP Headquarters (Video) and Kirsten Powers: Obama Administration’s Response to Gulf Oil Spill “Is Not About Campaign Donations, It’s About Incompetence” (Video) and Thick Blobs of Tar Begin Washing Up on Alabama Shore – Obama Goes Golfing and Scientists Find Giant Plumes of Oil Under Gulf… Obama Shoots Hoops and Breaking: BP Successfully Inserts Mile-Long Pipe to Siphon Oil From the Disastrous Spill and Leaked Report From April 28 Shows US Government Believed Gulf Spill Could Become “Unchecked Gusher” and It Begins… GOP Reps Call for Investigation into Obama Administration’s Slow and Weak Response to BP Gulf Oil Spill
Nice Deb: Psssst…Chrissy – Don’t Give Him Any Ideas…
Tom Russo, Big Government: Louisiana Coast — Last Line of Defense?
Motor City Times: Video: All Hands On Deck from Day One
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Louisiana Coast Oil Spill Photo Op… What in the Heck Is Obama Doing in This Photo? and Gulf Oil Spill Roundup: Obama’s Press Conference, Diving into the Gulf Oil Spill to See the Disaster, & Obama’s Head of Mineral Management Service Resigns in Wake of BP Spill (video) and Do or Die on the Gulf: Carville’s Oil Rant Against Obama, Dowd on Illegal Immigration (video) and Priorities: Oil Spill Help or More AZ Bashing? Obama Thrilled with Phoenix Suns Pro-Illegal Alien “Los Suns” Jerseys in NBA Interview, Drags Feet Responding to Jindal’s Pleas for Help with Louisiana Oil Spill Crisis and Louisiana’s Gov. Bobby Jindal Fed Up, Won’t Continue to Wait for Team Obama’s Help with Oil Disaster — Won’t Wait for Permission, Will Start Building Sand Booms to Save Coast and The Gulf & Golf: Oil Continues to Gush & Contaminate Louisiana Coastline, Bureaucrat Commission Named in Lieu of Actually Getting Involved, & Obama Golfs… Again (video)
Michelle Malkin: No wonder finger-pointing Obama wants oil spill finger-pointing to stop
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Another hope is dead. In the night had to Doug Suttles, BP-operations at the crash site in the Gulf of Mexico, at a press conference to admit that you do not have the so-called top-kill method, the gusher can close.
Three days long you’ve tried everything, but in the end did not work, the top-kill method, BP said the manager. Almost five million liters of mud they had pumped into the ragged hole, at the end of the attempts were in vain.
It’s getting worse, I do not know how it will end.
The law that says the Coast Guard and the Oil Companies are in charge in these conditions needs revision.
I cannot wrap my mind around the suffering of people, animals, fish – the beauty of the region scarred for decades to come.
I agree, SH. It’s an utter tragedy. Gov. Jindal is beyond frustrated with Obama’s lack of true involvement and his not approving the sand booms.
Obama is our Commander in Chief, therefore, in charge of the Coast Guard. Need I say more?
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I have read countless articles that say the President COULD NOT act during the emergency response period that the powers that be consider is still in place. Here is what I found for you:
“Nobody likes to have a feeling that you can’t do something about a very big problem,” Allen told The Associated Press Friday.
Still, as simple as it may seem for the government to just take over, the law prevents it, Allen said.
After the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, Congress dictated that oil companies be responsible for dealing with major accidents — including paying for all cleanup — with oversight by federal agencies. Spills on land are overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency, offshore spills by the Coast Guard.
“The basic notion is you hold the responsible party accountable, with regime oversight” from the government, Allen said. “BP has not been relieved of that responsibility, nor have they been relieved for penalties or for oversight.”
He and Coast Guard Adm. Mary Landry, the federal onsite coordinator, direct virtually everything BP does in response to the spill — and with a few exceptions have received full cooperation, Allen said.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was even more emphatic.
“There’s nothing that we think can and should be done that isn’t being done. Nothing,” Gibbs said Friday during a lengthy, often testy exchange with reporters about the response to the oil disaster.
There are no powers of intervention that the federal government has available but has opted not to use, Gibbs said.
[Later in this article]
Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, who traveled to the Gulf the day after the explosion and has coordinated Interior’s response to the spill, rejected the notion that BP is telling the federal government what to do.
“They are lashed in,” Hayes said of BP. “They need approval for everything they do.”
If BP is lashed to the government, the tether goes both ways. A large part of what the government knows about the oil spill comes from BP.
The oil company helps staff the command center in Robert, La., which publishes daily reports on efforts to contain, disperse and skim oil.
Some of the information flowing into the command center comes from undersea robots run by BP or ships ultimately being paid by BP. When the center reported Friday that nearly 9 million gallons of an oil-water mixture had been skimmed from the ocean surface, those statistics came from barges and other vessels funded by BP.
Allen, the incident commander, said the main problem for federal responders is the unique nature of the spill — 5,000 feet below the surface with no human access.
“This is really closer to Apollo 13 than Exxon Valdez,” he said, referring to a near-disastrous Moon mission 40 years ago.
“Access to this well-site is through technology that is owned in the private sector,” Allen said, referring to remotely operated vehicles and sensors owned by BP.
http://www.neworleans.com/oil-spill-news/399747-month-after-oil-spill-why-is-bp-still-in-charge-.html
In summary: What makes this complicated is:
Limits imposed on responders by the law passed after the Exxon Valdiz.
Limits due to the fact that BP is a foreign company
Limits due to the fact that all equipment used in this emergency belongs to BP
Here’s more from another site: http://www.jacksonnjonline.com/2010/05/25/u-s-coast-guard-addresses-role-oil-spill-in-gulf-of-mexico/
The national response team consists of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others. Also, the president can declare “a spill of national significance” if the coordination becomes “complicated,” Allen added.
“This is not policy,” he said. “This is a command-and-control structure. It’s actually contained in the Code of Federal Regulations that implements the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. So there are actually clear definitions.”
Allen said the federal response team “needs to make sure [BP] execute their responsibilities as the responsible party and we carry out our responsibilities and be accountable as the federal on-scene coordinators.”
Allen also explained that in this role, the federal government can issue an order to BP to apply resources in a particular way if the government is not pleased with BP’s method. However, BP, or the responsible party, is the one with the means to deal with the spill. The military does not have the equipment or technology to address the Gulf Coast spill alone, he said.
“Ultimately, we are accountable to make sure [BP cleans up the spill],” he said. “The law requires them to play a certain role, to pay for it, to provide equipment and so forth, and particularly with trying to deal with a leak on the bottom of the ocean there — 5,000 feet down.”
While BP works to cap the leak, states have requested support from the Army Corps of Engineers to prevent oil damage ashore. Louisiana has applied for a permit that suggests establishing a system of barrier islands and berm structures, the admiral said.
The Army is evaluating the requests and looking at costs and schedule as well as issues the engineers may face. Building the barrier islands could take as long nine months. The review is still ongoing by the Army and Coast Guard, he added.
Other U.S. military support comes from the Air Force, who has been conducting aerial spray missions to help in neutralizing the oil spill with dispersing agents. Also, the Air Force is transporting boom from Alaska. Meanwhile, the Navy is supplying vessels to act as staging platforms for BP workers and equipment.
Allen estimates that it could take until August to cap the oil spill..
Conclusion – mine: The law is so vague and is being interpreted to everyone’s favor. It has allowed things to get worse because authority to do anything right now rests with BP and the Coast Guart. This has stalled cleanup. This is outrageous.
Let me know what you think Vicki
You’re right – Obama IS in charge of the Coast Guard. I’ll bet he can see it from his house in Chicago, too!
Thanks for helping me sort this out in my mind. This is a great post.
Did you happen to see your dear self mentioned in a post I did called “Out of the Box Blogs”?
I will start linking to sites again soon but I am amazed at the traffic I have got from the search engines.
No, I’ve not seen it yet (but I will pop over now)! Ooh, sounds cool (I dearly love links to me!) Thanks ever so much, SH… and as far as search engine traffic goes, a lot of it is contingent on a fickle public and a cool title. Sounds like you hit a home run! Bravo for you, dear friend!
Good grief, who authored this garbage? Seven-year-olds? “We’re in charge, but we’re not in charge” is my thumbnail synopsis of this – looks like a monstrous government case of CYA. Ridiculous.
But, BHO said he and his appointed team WERE in charge of the BP oil spill during his press conference – he’s letting BP be the science/tech experts (most of the time), but they still can’t do diddly-squat without his permission (or that of an appointed proxy, I’m assuming). So, based on Obama’s own interpretation of the law and what he’s proclaimed to the press, he’s the Numero Uno head honcho on this catastrophe. He’s also in charge of all military as the CiC, so the Coast Guard takes directions from him. From all this, I believe blaming Obama for the lack of prompt action and not trying everything possible (he still hasn’t approved Jindal’s request) is entirely appropriate.
I have no doubt that the flip-flopping nature of the interpretation of the law (and Obama’s own flip-flopping nature) will do a 180-turn in the coming weeks as the spewing continues and people become more angry and the polls smack him hard. And they will, I do predict this. But this is what he said, from this week – are a few quotes from various sources:
From Lynn Sweet, Chicago-Sun Times, May 28 (http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/2327760,CST-NWS-sweet28.article):
Summary of press conference, from The Daily Caller,
(http://dailycaller.com/2010/05/27/live-blogging-obamas-press-conference/)
From Obama’s transcript, Real Clear Politics (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/05/27/transcript_of_obamas_press_conference_105774.html):
Same press conference, later on:
More from that press conference:
From all this, I cannot see how anyone would genuinely think that Obama’s hands were figuratively tied on oil cleanup/capping efforts. If indeed he’s lying about all that they did from day 1, that will come out at some point. But you can’t be the POTUS, claim you’re on top of it from the first day, doing all that is humanly possible, being top dog in charge, denying any action unless it has been approved by you, but then have someone in the liberal press (NY Times, Associated Press, etc.) defend him by whining that he can’t do it all, the law hinders him, what do we expect him to do?, yada yada.
Seems more like CYA than most government laws, as well as giving him cover from liberal journalists.
They’re trying to protect him, keep him from being blamed (which he should be, since he is in charge and no one can do anything without his approval) by putting him behind a thick fortress wall… which is crumbling as I type. Many liberal pundits are voicing their dissatisfaction about his foot dragging – he makes it sound so peachy and quick-moving, but it WASN’T. It took him 12 days to visit the Gulf/Louisiana. Bush responded to Katrina within a couple of days, but couldn’t land because of the devastation and water. Liberals still knock him, but those people who were harmed by Katrina had ample notice to evacuate – many buses sent for that purpose were not used. Obama should be slammed up against the wall for this – the wetlands are being destroyed forever, and he went golfing what – two times, three times? – so far during this crisis. Don’t forget the Paul McCartney concert at the White House on Wed.
He’s an empty suit making excuses, but since he has said he is in charge, he’ll find out the hard way that it means a lot more than his actions to date show.
Vicki – you nailed him! Loved the conversation. Best way to spend a weekend – intelligent talk with an intelligent person. God bless blogging!
Ditto, SH! And thank you again for the link on your post. You rock!
Am off in a bit to a family pool party at my sister’s for Memorial Day – BBQ, music, sun and fun – the works. Just finished up my spicy jalapeno bean dip, with fresh garlic and jalapenos, and made a fab potato salad earlier between bloggings. I live to multi-task.
Will ttyl.