Today's Mobile Press-Register main editorial asks a relevant question that focuses on the ineptitude of the federal government/White House's response to the BP oil spill disaster. It's a simple question of who is in charge. Clearly, it's not the feds or the White House. BP continues to dither rather than simply explode the well and seal it permanently. BP would clearly rather turn the entire Gulf of Mexico into a dead zone as opposed to lose a potentially profitable well. It's a travesty, yet the U.S. government continues to sit by with it's thumb up its butt rather than dictate to BP what WILL be done to stop the oil leakage now. Here are some highlights from the editorial (P.S. I once lived in Fairhope):*
A MONTH ago, according to Fairhope’s assistant public works director, BP pledged to put out boom to protect the city from the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. But the oil company never followed through. Last week, when oil began showing up on Alabama beaches, the Fairhope City Council quit waiting on BP.
*
At an emergency meeting Friday, council members voted to spend about $626,000 of the $650,000 the city has received through the state from BP, and a contractor immediately began deploying boom in two layers, from the Grant Hotel Marriott in Point Clear northward to the Fairhope Yacht Club.
Fairhope’s experience does not seem to be unique along the Alabama Gulf Coast. From Gov. Bob Riley to a beachside condominium manager, people dealing with the oil spill say BP isn’t following through. Some say they’ve called for cleanup assistance and have gotten no response. So who is in charge of picking up tarballs and scraping oil off beaches?
*
Should it be local governments? Local officials know their sections of coastline better than anyone, and when a city like Fairhope sees no progress for a month, its leaders are right to take action to protect their shores. But they aren’t concerned with the big picture, and their individual actions are piecemeal.
*
But should the federal government be in charge of the cleanup, too, in addition to acting as watchdog over BP’s efforts to contain the catastrophic leak? And where’s FEMA? After all, as implied by its very name — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — FEMA is the government agency that’s designed to coordinate the federal response to emergencies.
*
Meanwhile, municipal and county governments can’t ignore the threat at the edge of their shores. Short of breaking the law, no one can blame them for taking matters into their own hands.
At an emergency meeting Friday, council members voted to spend about $626,000 of the $650,000 the city has received through the state from BP, and a contractor immediately began deploying boom in two layers, from the Grant Hotel Marriott in Point Clear northward to the Fairhope Yacht Club.
Fairhope’s experience does not seem to be unique along the Alabama Gulf Coast. From Gov. Bob Riley to a beachside condominium manager, people dealing with the oil spill say BP isn’t following through. Some say they’ve called for cleanup assistance and have gotten no response. So who is in charge of picking up tarballs and scraping oil off beaches?
*
Should it be local governments? Local officials know their sections of coastline better than anyone, and when a city like Fairhope sees no progress for a month, its leaders are right to take action to protect their shores. But they aren’t concerned with the big picture, and their individual actions are piecemeal.
*
But should the federal government be in charge of the cleanup, too, in addition to acting as watchdog over BP’s efforts to contain the catastrophic leak? And where’s FEMA? After all, as implied by its very name — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — FEMA is the government agency that’s designed to coordinate the federal response to emergencies.
*
Meanwhile, municipal and county governments can’t ignore the threat at the edge of their shores. Short of breaking the law, no one can blame them for taking matters into their own hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment