Seventy days after the explosion, and only from a few countries.
Friggin’ unbelievable that it’s taken this long, and that they’re still undecided on the rest:
US accepts international assistance for Gulf spill
US accepts international assistance in dealing with massive oil spill in Gulf of Mexico
The United States is accepting help from 12 countries and international organizations in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The State Department said in a statement Tuesday that the U.S. is working out the particulars of the help that’s been accepted.
The identities of all 12 countries and international organizations were not immediately announced. One country was cited in the State Department statement — Japan, which is providing two high-speed skimmers and fire containment boom.
More than 30 countries and international organizations have offered to help with the spill. The State Department hasn’t indicated why some offers have been accepted and others have not.
Go read the charts in this post, “Under consideration”: the Obamatrina approach to crisis-solving, to get an idea of what countries are offering.
Timeline from RightChange, via Ace,
Oil Spill Timeline from RightChange on Vimeo.
Ace has the flaming skull on this post: Blame the EPA: Dutch Oil Spill Response Ships Could Suck 99% of Oil From Gulf, But Can’t Get Approved, Because EPA Demands 99.9985% Purity. Betsy has a post on the pathologies of the federal bureaucracy. Flopping Aces found “A Whale” – World’s Largest Oil Skimmer Waiting on EPA and Coast Guard Approval
A Taiwanese-owned, Liberian-flagged tanker, the A Whale, has been modified for skimming up to 500,000 barrels of oil-contaminated water a day. To put this in context, if the system works as intended, it could skim in less than two days an amount of oil equal to all the oil skimmed in the past 7o days of the ongoing Deepwater Horizon spill. The A Whale is designed to operate offshore where most skimmers have difficulty operating. It is currently in Norfolk, VA awaiting approval of separate waivers from the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to allow it to begin testing. Because the A Whale would be operating well offshore it is not believed to require a Jones Act Waiver.
If you’re not tearing at your hair after reading that, read this report from the New Orleans Times-Picayune about federal red tape keeping other skimmers out of the gulf. And not just foreign skimmers, either: For instance, thanks to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, you need minimum levels of certain equipment aboard (like booms) or else it’s no go. This is where we’re at after weeks of oil gushing at a rate of around one Exxon Valdez every three or four days.
It’ll get worse. There are hurricanes on the area.
UPDATE
Bi-partisan? Oh yeah, babeee…
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) wanted to fly 10 lawmakers down to the Gulf of Mexico to see the damage caused by BP’s gigantic oil spill first hand.
House Democrats said no.
I say the Republicans should still go, paying for their own expenses, and see the damage.
