Responding to an Emergency

[billroper]

You know, normally you'd expect that in an emergency, you'd waive some of the usual rules in order to take care of the problem. But apparently not.

I will note -- as the linked article does -- that the first Bush administration managed to do something approximately as stupid, so... You'd like to think we'd developed a bit more sense after 20 years.

Comments

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

It's pretty sad when the "globalization" mantra is given such a cold shoulder, and at such environmental expense.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I note that the article decries the US regulators for not allowing the Dutch vessels to come in because they don't meet a standard of 15 PPM, but they don't mention how much they miss by -- only that they extract "most" of the oil. If what they suck in is, say, 10% oil and what they put back out is only, say, 2%, that would certainly be "most" but not be a very good job of actually cleaning the water.

However, admitting that all I know of the Dutch involvement is what the linked article says, I imagine that BP had a lot of influence, if indirectly, on the decision, and that they pushed really hard to keep them out, because it would have undermined their message that they could handle it themselves and they would. In a case like this, I think the environmental standard was the official legal justification for holding the Dutch back, but it was just reinforcing the decision that had already been made. If they'd wanted the Dutch ships, I suspect they would have waived the rule, rather than waving it.

[billroper]

I haven't been able to trivially find a measure for what percentage of oil is captured by the Dutch skimmers. However, it appears that each ship is rated to remove 5000 tons (36,500 barrels) of oil per day.

That's a good amount of oil removed from the ocean, regardless of the amount of water pumped to do it.

[grey-lady.livejournal.com]

I do tend to feel there's a certain arrogance and an "anything you can do, we can do better anyway" attitude. But maybe that's just my cynical streak emerging.