• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

US accepts international assistance for Gulf spill

jujuman13

DP Veteran
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
4,075
Reaction score
579
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Independent
Link
US accepts international assistance for Gulf spill - Yahoo! Finance

Quote(WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.)


Not too bad, only 70 days to accept external help. Wonder if this means that the Jones act is temporarily suspended?
 
Good Question. It took the Bush administration 3 days to temporily suspend the Jones act during Katrina. Bush was highly critisized for the slow response. Here we are on day 71 and the messiah is just now allowing foreign aid.
 
Umm... aid without organization is no aid at all. See: Haiti Quake
You cant just let the flood doors open. Theres also probably no contingency to follow for a spill of this type and size hence the slow stupid response from organizations. But of course, obama is merely an inept socialist who you expect to move mountains singlehandedly. I don't see how you're pinning this on him.
 
This is not the first international help accepted, and this help is not free, we are being charged for it.
 
Umm... aid without organization is no aid at all. See: Haiti Quake
You cant just let the flood doors open. Theres also probably no contingency to follow for a spill of this type and size hence the slow stupid response from organizations. But of course, obama is merely an inept socialist who you expect to move mountains singlehandedly. I don't see how you're pinning this on him.

Did you blame bush for the slow response to Katrina?
 
You werent there for the scandalously inept appointees who were busy shopping or screwing around while people were dying?

Reality is not infantile and tit-for tat.
 
This is not the first international help accepted, and this help is not free, we are being charged for it.

Do not worry, remember the Meessiah said BP will pay.
 
The whole thing is a f-ing mess. Obama hasn't been steller, but there's plenty of blame to spread around.

I am disappointed that the Democrats haven't delivered on the environment. They talk pie in the sky cap and trade, climate change, carbon credit flowery speech. But when it comes to nuts and bolts, they haven't delivered. Obama, Bush, I don't see much difference.
 
Funny how the article is "unfinished" and creates one hell of a bias.

U.S. Accepts International Help for Gulf Spill - CBS News

Here is the whole article and it reveals..

"To be clear, the acceptance of international assistance we announced today did not mean to imply that international help was arriving only now," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "In fact, before today, there were 24 foreign vessels operating in the region and nine countries had provided boom, skimmers and other assistance."

He said as early as May 11, boom arrived from Mexico, Norway and Brazil.

Hmmm 24 foreign vessels operating in the region.... aint that the criticism from the right that this was not happening?
 
Then how to explain this fiasco: Avertible catastrophe

In sharp contrast to Dutch preparedness before the fact and the Dutch instinct to dive into action once an emergency becomes apparent, witness the American reaction to the Dutch offer of help. The U.S. government responded with "Thanks but no thanks," remarked Visser, despite BP's desire to bring in the Dutch equipment and despite the no-lose nature of the Dutch offer --the Dutch government offered the use of its equipment at no charge. Even after the U.S. refused, the Dutch kept their vessels on standby, hoping the Americans would come round. By May 5, the U.S. had not come round. To the contrary, the U.S. had also turned down offers of help from 12 other governments, most of them with superior expertise and equipment --unlike the U.S., Europe has robust fleets of Oil Spill Response Vessels that sail circles around their make-shift U.S. counterparts.

Why does neither the U.S. government nor U.S. energy companies have on hand the cleanup technology available in Europe? Ironically, the superior European technology runs afoul of U.S. environmental rules. The voracious Dutch vessels, for example, continuously suck up vast quantities of oily water, extract most of the oil and then spit overboard vast quantities of nearly oil-free water. Nearly oil-free isn't good enough for the U.S. regulators, who have a standard of 15 parts per million -- if water isn't at least 99.9985% pure, it may not be returned to the Gulf of Mexico.

When ships in U.S. waters take in oil-contaminated water, they are forced to store it. As U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the official in charge of the clean-up operation, explained in a press briefing on June 11, "We have skimmed, to date, about 18 million gallons of oily water--the oil has to be decanted from that [and] our yield is usually somewhere around 10% or 15% on that." In other words, U.S. ships have mostly been removing water from the Gulf, requiring them to make up to 10 times as many trips to storage facilities where they off-load their oil-water mixture, an approach Koops calls "crazy."
The Americans, overwhelmed by the catastrophic consequences of the BP spill, finally relented and took the Dutch up on their offer -- but only partly. Because the U.S. didn't want Dutch ships working the Gulf, the U.S. airlifted the Dutch equipment to the Gulf and then retrofitted it to U.S. vessels. And rather than have experienced Dutch crews immediately operate the oil-skimming equipment, to appease labour unions the U.S. postponed the clean-up operation to allow U.S. crews to be trained.
 
Last edited:
Umm... aid without organization is no aid at all. See: Haiti Quake
You cant just let the flood doors open. Theres also probably no contingency to follow for a spill of this type and size hence the slow stupid response from organizations. But of course, obama is merely an inept socialist who you expect to move mountains singlehandedly. I don't see how you're pinning this on him.

Exactly what didn't you understand about 70 days?
 
Exactly what didn't you understand about 70 days?

And what don't you understand about the fact that foreign vessels began helping before 70 days?
 
And what don't you understand about the fact that foreign vessels began helping before 70 days?

Do you really think the Obama administration would just hide the fact that foreign vessels have been giving us significant help in the 70 days since the spill began? Do you not smell a rat in that proclimation. Chances are that most of those vessels already had licenses to operate in the gulf. Chances are a lot of them are not equipped with the kind of technology the other ships have to make a significant impact. I would really like to know what these 24 foreign vessels are actually doing. No, this revelation after 70 days doesn't make any sense. I understand your gullibilty if you are an Obama supporter. It doesn't get him off the hook in any way with me though.
 
Do you really think the Obama administration would just hide the fact that foreign vessels have been giving us significant help in the 70 days since the spill began? Do you not smell a rat in that proclimation. Chances are that most of those vessels already had licenses to operate in the gulf. Chances are a lot of them are not equipped with the kind of technology the other ships have to make a significant impact. I would really like to know what these 24 foreign vessels are actually doing. No, this revelation after 70 days doesn't make any sense. I understand your gullibilty if you are an Obama supporter. It doesn't get him off the hook in any way with me though.

They have not hidden it. They have in fact announced it. BP has also announced it. Example: Unified Command for the BP Oil Spill | Admiral Allen Provides Guidance to Ensure Expedited Jones Act Waiver Processing Should It Be Needed
 
Back
Top Bottom