Sand berms didn't help with BP spill, experts say

There is a saying, haste makes waste; Gov. Bobby Jindal pulled an expensive boner here.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, who pushed the venture over the objections of scientists and federal agencies, has strongly defended it. And despite the commission's scathing report, he plans to move ahead with the project, though with some changes to make it more beneficial.

In their stinging report, commission staff said they can "comfortably conclude that the decision to green-light the underwhelmingly effective, overwhelmingly expensive Louisiana berms project was flawed."

Sand berms didn't help with BP spill, experts say

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Hindsight's a wonderful thing.

pbrauer said:

There is a saying, haste makes waste; Gov. Bobby Jindal pulled an expensive boner here.

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You are absolutely right, he should have done nothing...just like President Obama. There's only one problem...who knew the oil wouldn't make it to the coast line?

Why MSNBC DID! Field Notes - Will oil deal final blow to besieged marshland? Oh, wait, they thought it'd make the coast line too.

I mean seriously, are you going to fault the guy for taking action? So the berms were not as needed as once thought. Find me a source that said none of the oil would reach land. Oh, and in your own article it says the berms have a dual purpose of restoring the shore line and protecting the wildlife, so even if the oil doesn't/didn't reach land, the project is still an enviornmentalist/conservationists wet dream.

ksu_aviator said:

You are absolutely right, he should have done nothing...just like President Obama. There's only one problem...who knew the oil wouldn't make it to the coast line?

Why MSNBC DID! Field Notes - Will oil deal final blow to besieged marshland? Oh, wait, they thought it'd make the coast line too.

I mean seriously, are you going to fault the guy for taking action? So the berms were not as needed as once thought. Find me a source that said none of the oil would reach land. Oh, and in your own article it says the berms have a dual purpose of restoring the shore line and protecting the wildlife, so even if the oil doesn't/didn't reach land, the project is still an enviornmentalist/conservationists wet dream.

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I agree. Although not a supersmart thing to do ignoring most everyone..... but it makes sense to me. What IF the oil washed up on those beaches? Then again...... all your doing is extending the beach furthur out into the sea..... so IS that beneficial?

BTW Obama did do things to try and help. Just not in a very logical way.

spud_meister said:

Hindsight's a wonderful thing.

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It is not hindsight when experts say it is a bad thing.. then it is stupidity.

PeteEU said:

It is not hindsight when experts say it is a bad thing.. then it is stupidity.

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So it didn't stop any oil, who cares? It wasn't tax payer money anyway, the money came from BP, and the report says that, though ineffective for it's primary purpose, the berms will help restore the coastline anyway.

the commission said in its report. "From a long-term coastal restoration perspective, the berms may indeed be a 'significant step forward,' as Gov. Jindal has claimed, but they were not successful for oil spill response."

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spud_meister said:

So it didn't stop any oil, who cares? It wasn't tax payer money anyway, the money came from BP, and the report says that, though ineffective for it's primary purpose, the berms will help restore the coastline anyway.

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Not the point. Point is the jackass Jindal was all over the Feds over this, using it as a political ploy and then the Feds finally caved after lots of pressure and now it turns out.. the Feds were right. And in the end, the tax payer will pay because when the US is successful in destroying BP via legislation and the company is bought up by an American company, then there will be less money to pay for damages.

PeteEU said:

Not the point. Point is the jackass Jindal was all over the Feds over this, using it as a political ploy and then the Feds finally caved after lots of pressure and now it turns out.. the Feds were right. And in the end, the tax payer will pay because when the US is successful in destroying BP via legislation and the company is bought up by an American company, then there will be less money to pay for damages.

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The Feds were the jackasses, not Jindal. Check out some facts here, Jindal blasts BP commision, and see what ridiculous crap the state of Louisiana and Plaquemine Parish officials had to put up with and berms were one of the few solutions that Jindal was able to muster after Feds delayed the plans (or nixed other plans). Check out pictures of Barataria Bay marsh grasses that were contaminated with oil needlessly while the US Guvmint, led by the clueless Obama, used delay tactic after delay tactic. I have coworkers whose family worked on that half-assed effort by the Feds - they witnessed first-hand the waste and inefficiency of the Feds in this effort. And Bobby Jindal was supposed to do nothing... just like Obama! If the berms would have been erected sooner, they would have been more effective. Considering the predictions of most "experts", the berms would have been an asset had those dire predictions unfolded.

I guess that Jindal should have just sat on his hands like our last governor, the liberal Democrat deer-in-the-headlights dumbass Blanco, did during and after hurricane Katrina! It really hurts you libs... ooh, I mean "Centrists"... when a conservative does the right thing!

At least Jindal tried.

Obama didn't seem to care (he even seemed to relish in it) other than to destroy American oil companies and leave all the oil for other countries to drill.

PeteEU said:

Not the point. Point is the jackass Jindal was all over the Feds over this, using it as a political ploy and then the Feds finally caved after lots of pressure and now it turns out.. the Feds were right. And in the end, the tax payer will pay because when the US is successful in destroying BP via legislation and the company is bought up by an American company, then there will be less money to pay for damages.

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So the fact that what's being complained about did no harm, and is actually a good thing, is not the point? And I do sincerely doubt that the US government will be able to destroy the 4th largest company in the world.

rebelbuc said:

It really hurts you libs... ooh, I mean "Centrists"... when a conservative does the right thing!

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I resent that.

PeteEU said:

It is not hindsight when experts say it is a bad thing.. then it is stupidity.

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Amen, brother.

The Giant Noodle said:

What IF the oil washed up on those beaches? Then again...... all your doing is extending the beach furthur out into the sea..... so IS that beneficial?

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In theory, yes..as far as ignoring expert testimony and going ahead with what is basically a publicity stunt to spur federal action where it is needed, I think it is clear that he took a misstep..but the idea itself is to provide a buffer between the oil and an ecological sensitive and already-depleted coastline. Ecologically, it would be much less damaging for the oil to be absorbed by the berm than to be introduced directly into the existing coast.

spud_meister said:

So it didn't stop any oil, who cares? It wasn't tax payer money anyway, the money came from BP, and the report says that, though ineffective for it's primary purpose, the berms will help restore the coastline anyway.

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It wasn't tax payer money, but it was still drawn from a pool of limited resources, that being how much BP wants to spend on reversing bad PR, which could have been used more efficiently.

rebelbuc said:

The Feds were the jackasses, not Jindal. Check out some facts here, Jindal blasts BP commision, and see what ridiculous crap the state of Louisiana and Plaquemine Parish officials had to put up with and berms were one of the few solutions that Jindal was able to muster after Feds delayed the plans (or nixed other plans). Check out pictures of Barataria Bay marsh grasses that were contaminated with oil needlessly while the US Guvmint, led by the clueless Obama, used delay tactic after delay tactic. I have coworkers whose family worked on that half-assed effort by the Feds - they witnessed first-hand the waste and inefficiency of the Feds in this effort. And Bobby Jindal was supposed to do nothing... just like Obama! If the berms would have been erected sooner, they would have been more effective.

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rebelbuc said:

Considering the predictions of most "experts",

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Which ones?

rebelbuc said:

I guess that Jindal should have just sat on his hands like our last governor, the liberal Democrat deer-in-the-headlights dumbass Blanco, did during and after hurricane Katrina! It really hurts you libs... ooh, I mean "Centrists"... when a conservative does the right thing!

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Jindal criticizes the "cost-benefit analysis" as failing to account for the livelihoods of people who live in the Gulf..but doesn't he fail to account for the opportunity cost of his action, that the same amount of money could have been put to more effective use in protecting them? For the record, I wasn't impressed with either his or the Feds' response, and although I do credit him for at least trying to do something, I think that something was more of a political calculation to raise awareness and shift the blame than a pragmatic solution.

PeteEU said:

Not the point. Point is the jackass Jindal was all over the Feds over this, using it as a political ploy and then the Feds finally caved after lots of pressure and now it turns out.. the Feds were right. And in the end, the tax payer will pay because when the US is successful in destroying BP via legislation and the company is bought up by an American company, then there will be less money to pay for damages.

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The MSNBC article did a pretty basic job of outlining why the berms were not the best approach, but was Jindal's aim to create a realistic solution or to pick one that would have high visibility and push the Feds toward a more agressive response? I would say the latter. I would like to give Jindal enough credit that he wasn't picking this strategy and ignoring experts who argued against it because he trusts his gut on environmental issues more than scientists. I think what he did was indeed political, and I can hardly blame him for it. Personally, I would like to see the commission take the time they spent on this portion of the report and instead worry about strengthening the federal response measures.

Erod said:

At least Jindal tried.

Obama didn't seem to care (he even seemed to relish in it) other than to destroy American oil companies and leave all the oil for other countries to drill.

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And your mega hyperpartisanship continues.

Obama and the feds co-ordinated one of the largest cleanup operations in history.

Assisting Oil Spill Cleanup

The response to the worst oil spill in U.S. history was unprecedented in scope, scale and technology. It included more than 45,000 people, 7,000 sea vessels, 150 airplanes and the cooperation of many government and industry groups. BP reported using "improved methods for tracking spilled oil and greater experience with controlled burns of oil on the water's surface and in mobilizing private fishing boats as skimmers."

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Yep, no one cared :coffeepap:


Just because they couldn't seal the whole quick enough for your liking, doesn't mean he didn't care.

Of course it was gonna take time to plug the whole, no one had ever done such a thing before, bar using a nuclear weapon to glass it like the Russians did. I'm not exactly the biggest Obama fan, but all the bitching and moaning about "just seal the whole already Obama" crap was just annoying, if they coulda just sealed it, they would have.

PeteEU said:

Not the point. Point is the jackass Jindal was all over the Feds over this, using it as a political ploy and then the Feds finally caved after lots of pressure and now it turns out.. the Feds were right. And in the end, the tax payer will pay because when the US is successful in destroying BP via legislation and the company is bought up by an American company, then there will be less money to pay for damages.

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Jindal was given advice by scientists not to pursue this, he chose to ignore them and many conservatives praised him for it.

The berms didn't, "help", because the oil never came far enough towards shore to reach the berms, which means that the berms didn't have a negative effect, either.

I know, I know, way too much reality at once for some folks.