Ambrose: Does Obama administration share blame for spill?
Staff Reports
Friday, May 7, 2010
It’s becoming increasingly clear that governmental laxity has made it more likely that the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico could result in an ecological and economic disaster of the first magnitude, and here’s the question. After President Obama has finished pointing fingers at everyone else, will he take a long, hard look at his own administration and learn anything?
That’s not his style, of course. To date, whenever he has taken a false step, he has looked over his shoulder and mostly blamed his predecessor, George W. Bush, and as the oil slicks move about in the Gulf, threatening to wash ashore on the coastlines of five states, destroy wetland and wildlife and seriously damage fishing and tourism businesses, he has been blaming British Petroleum, better known as BP, owner of the well.
And yes, BP, perhaps along with the company operating the rig, must be held accountable for the accident that has already taken 11 lives. At the very least, there were errors that perhaps could have been prevented, and at the worst, the company took a dangerous, money-saving shortcut and disobeyed an important restriction, allegations not yet proven. But the story does not end there.
For one thing, as The Press-Register in Mobile, Ala., has reported, the government has had a plan for 16 years to control oil slicks with devices known as fire booms, which trail along behind two boats and collect oil that can then be burned. Come the explosion, however, and no fire boom was to be found. One was purchased from an Illinois company and others sought from overseas.
If they had been immediately available and put to prompt use, says the newspaper, the oil slick could have been dissipated 100 miles from any shoreline.
The lack of these booms must trace back to administrations before this one, but two wrongs, most of us are taught as children, do not make a right. Keep in mind that Obama recently called for lifting some restrictions on offshore drilling and obviously knew of environmental concerns about such a move. Wouldn’t an alert, careful administration have immediately done some checking on anything possibly amiss in the prevention of widespread destruction resulting from a drilling mishap?
Had it done so, it would also have discovered that the Minerals Management Service, which regulates offshore drilling and has been widely criticized, has no requirement that so-called “blowout preventers” include an acoustic valve that various reports say could quickly have stopped oil from flowing from the well. The issue, it turns out, is not a new one, which is to say, it is something the administration could have acted on.
Clearly, this is hindsight talking, but doesn’t most of the political world in hindsight think Wall Street should have know its derivative risks could lead to financial collapse, and as we move in on the event itself, we find the administration was not so Johnny-on-the-spot as it has pretended — initially, an Associated Press analysis notes, there was nowhere near the sense of urgency that developed later.
Especially if nature cooperates, BP may be able to prevent or alleviate some of the worst possibilities of environmental and economic damage, but we can already figure on the death of much sea life and the political death of offshore drilling, even though it appears there are safeguards that could keep such an accident from occurring again.
It doesn’t matter — this idea, as important as it may be for America’s energy future, has almost certainly been flattened, and Obama himself must share some of the blame. He should accept this blame, if not openly with a public mea culpa, at least privately, in discussions with aides, knowing that acknowledgment of mistakes can lead to improved performance in the future.
Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/may/07/does-obama-administration-share-blame-for-spill/?partner=yahoo_feeds
Nashville flood: The South's self-help disaster
Atlanta
The deadly flood that soaked Nashville, including iconic music dives like the Grand Ole Opry, may become the worst disaster to hit the state since the Civil War, and one of the worst
non-hurricane disasters in US history.
So where was the 24-hour blitzkrieg news coverage of a major US city under water?
With the Gulf oil spill and the Times Square bombing attempt dominating the news cycle, maybe the relative lack of coverage and attention can be chalked up to disaster overload or the lack of a broader political and social narrative of the kind that drove hurricane Katrina coverage. Where was Obama and his disaster aid. I know he had to go out on a date with Michelle.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0508/Nashville-flood-The-South-s-self-help-disaster
Why did Obama not take the blame for the Times Square bomber almost getting away? Obama, Janet Napolitano & Homeland Security, not one took blame for what happened. It was the airlines fault that the bomber boarded the plane. (he never should have gotten on the plane)
President Obama like all liberals never takes the blame for anything, just finds fault someplace else. The buck never stops with Obama.
