Oil Spill Update: Will Obama FINALLY accept help from the Dutch?

This is one of many questions with too few answers from Obama and members of his Administration about this oil disaster in the Gulf. The words “Never let a serious crisis go to waste" by Rahm Emanuel keeps ringing in our ears. Was this BP oil disaster the crises Obama and his Administration had been waiting for since right after the election when Emanuel mouthed those famous words?

Rumors have been running rampant since the BP explosion of their oil drilling rig in the Gulf that this was timed to allow Obama to prohibit deep water off shore drilling in the Gulf or off any of our coasts. Why did BP change standard procedures of cementing order several days before the rig blew, plus why did the Minerals Management Office approve the change? We know BP has been ignoring safety rules for years, but this time were they expecting a small explosion and leak that has gotten out of hand?

BP gave into the environmentalist movement years ago trying to buy them off. BP also wrote Cap and Trade for the Obama Administration so any rationale person would consider BP and Obama and his Administration being a little too close for comfort. Is that why Obama didn't want to talk to the CEO of BP? People might discover the connection? We did anyway.

There was something really wrong about Obama's slow reaction as he continued to take vacations, golf, and do Democrat fundraisers putting the BP Oil Spill on back burner. It was like he had been told this is not going to amount to much as BP has it under the control. BP had nothing under control as their Top Kill was known to have failed several hours after it started but they kept up the charade for several days giving it a 70-80% chance to be successful.

This week Obama gave a speech about the Gulf Oil Spill which was universally panned but the one that was recognized the most was from MSNBC and their anchors who have been worshipping Obama: MSNBC Trashes Obama's Address: Compared To Carter, "I Don't Sense Executive Command" -- the comments of Olbermann and Matthews sent shock raves around the World after being on their knees for Obama in the last few years. Former President Carter must be happy not to be considered the worst President of modern history now. That title belongs to Obama after a long 17 months in office. Obama continues to refuse to listen to experts and prefers to surround himself with inept, incompetent people.

Now we learn Obama wants to appoint an Oil Czar Michael R. Bromwich who is an attorney as the Oil Czar and who has no oil and gas background -- more incompetence surrounding Obama. Time for every last Czar to be terminated or be confirmed by the Senate. Taxpayers are on the hook for their salaries and yet our elected Senators have no say in their appointments. High level appointees except in a few instances like immediate staff should all be subject to Senate confirmation.

Another burning question of this oil spill is why did Obama turn a deaf ear to Governor Jindal when he requested help for the Louisiana Coast. Jindal finally got fed up with no response to his request by Obama and the EPA so this week orders up the Louisiana National Guard to drop sandbags between islands to stop the flow of oil onto Louisiana beautiful beaches and into the marshlands to try and put a stop to further damage to the ecology system of Louisiana.

While Attorney General Holder is threatening BP with criminal charges, he might want to take a look at his own boss, Obama, along with others in Administration. We believe they share if not shoulder more of the blame for this continuing dump of oil into the Gulf due to their inaction than BP. Obama refusal to act immediately to accept offers of help from foreign countries, other oil companies, and universities who are experts in oil and gas production along with their lame excuses from oil booms to the Jones Act on union workers should be all the grounds Holder needs to charge Obama, Minerals Management, Coast Guard, EPA, Homeland Security Secretary, and other members of the Administration with 'criminal negligence.'

If you want to place blame, put it at Obama's desk like President Harry Truman said "the buck stops here!"

CHANGE! 53 Days Later Obama Administration Decides to Accept Dutch Offer to Help With Spill

by Jim Hoft

Remember: The Gulf Oil Spill Is Like 9-11

Three days after the Gulf oil rig explosion, the Netherlands offered to send in oil skimmers to pump oil off of the surface of the ocean. The Obama Administration turned them down because they were not 100% efficient and small amounts of oil would be pumped back into the Gulf with the excess water. EPA regulations do not allow for residue water to contain any oil. So rather than use equipment that was not 100% efficient the Obama Administration chose to let all of the oil run into the Gulf.

This is not just bad policy, it is criminal.

Since the Obama Administration turned down assistance from The Netherlands at least 125 miles of Louisiana coastline has been ruined by the BP oil spill. Tar blobs began washing up on Florida’s white sand beaches near Pensacola days ago. And, crude oil has also been reported along barrier islands in Alabama and Mississippi.


Clean-up workers pick up blobs of oil in absorbent snare on Queen Bess Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay near the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., Friday, June 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

We have a hard time fathoming that the Dutch offer made three days after the spill was not acted upon immediately. The EPA roadblock that you cannot pump oil and water back into the Gulf doesn't hold water. Oil floats to the top and water sinks to the bottom so you pump water out of the bottom to make more room for more oil so you are not pumping oil and water out unless it is a miniscule amount of oil. It would have saved the coast of Louisiana from the oil washing up on shore and harming our environment and wildlife along the Gulf Coast.

Obama and his Administration turned down the Dutch, Brits, and an oil boom operator from Maine. Jake Tapper of ABC once again has the story on the booms that this Administration said were inferior which are not:

That was about 52 days into the spill, and as Tapper notes a full two weeks after the incompetent BP checked out the facility.

The federal government, despite call after call from Packgen, never passed on the information on to the National Incident Commander and Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. A reporter had to inform Allen.

Embarrassed, the federal government moved quickly to test the boom before quickly declaring it sub-standard and unacceptable for use in the oil spill. I was skeptical, wondering if the boom “failed” because its passage would make the federal government look even more incompetent for not moving faster.

Turns out there may be something to that theory. Jake Tapper is on the story again today, and he reports that an independent engineering analysis found the boom to be not only acceptable but actually exceptional.

First the General from the Coast Guard had to be told about the booms from a reporter. BP checked out the booms long after the spill and declared they were inferior and the Obama Administration went along. Now we learn that the booms are not only acceptable but actually exceptional. Why did BP and the Administration turn their back on these booms? Did it not fit the Obama agenda at the time to have a 'crises' to manage? Why wouldn't a major oil production company know about every boom manufacture in the world?

Now we have The Examiner reporting the US Government (Obama) is reconsidering the Dutch offer. What took so long?

The Examiner reported:

The U.S. Government has apparently reconsidered a Dutch offer to supply 4 oil skimmers.

These are large arms that are attached to oil tankers that pump oil and water from the surface of the ocean into the tanker. Water pumped into the tanker will settle to the bottom of the tanker and is then pumped back into the ocean to make room for more oil. Each system will collect 5,000 tons of oil each day.

One ton of oil is about 7.3 barrels. 5,000 tons per day is 36,500 barrels per day. 4 skimmers have a capacity of 146,000 barrels per day. That is much greater than the high end estimate of the leak. The skimmers work best in calm water, which is the usual condition this time of year in the gulf.

These systems were developed by the Dutch as a safety system in case of oil spills from either wells or tankers. The Dutch have off shore oil development and also import oil in tankers. Their economy, just like ours, runs on oil. They understand that the production and use of oil has dangers and they wanted to be ready to cope with problems like spills. The Dutch system has been used successfully in Europe.

The Dutch offered to fly their skimmer arm systems to the Gulf 3 days after the oil spill started.

The offer was apparently turned down because EPA regulations do not allow water with oil to be pumped back into the ocean. If all the oily water was retained in the tanker, the capacity of the system would be greatly diminished because most of what is pumped into the tanker is sea water.

As of June 8th, BP reported that they have collected 64,650 barrels of oil in the Gulf. That is only a fraction of the amount of oil spilled from the well. That is less than one day’s rated capacity of the Dutch oil skimmers.

Turning down the Dutch skimmers just shows a total lack of leadership in the oil spill.
The Obama Administration turned down offers to help clean up the spill from The Netherlands and the British Government just days after the explosion.

They didn’t accept the British help because they didn’t have the proper paperwork. The administration still has not given the OK to allow emergency workers to use a Maine company’s oil boom even though they were made aware of the warehouse full of containment boom back on May 21.

From The Examiner:

'Source Documents' to the efforts of the Dutch to help us. Here are some with the first one being the most relevant:

Radio Netherlands Worldwide
(http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/dutch-oil-spill-response-team-standby-us-oil-disaster%22target=%22_blank)

Christian Science Monitor
(http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0601/BP-oil-spill-Will-the-sweeping-arm-system-from-the-Dutch-help%22target=%22_blank)

Seattle Times (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012118082_oilforeign15.html%22target=%22blank)