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Jindal could be faulted for not usurping federal authority and making needed steps in trying to protect the barrier islands. If the feds are completely useless and not doing anything, local and state authroties and even citizens themselves need to take charge. They should have learned that after Katrina although that was a breakdown on everybody's part, from the citizens to the city to the state and to the federal levels.
Its the same deal here, although mostly it was the federal government that failed.
Obama and Bush are so completely identical now its getting spooky.
Not that it matters--but in the midst of all these complex issues yesterday I saw a National Guard ad advising 'the public' that yes, the National Guard would do its job and do it well --even though cleaning oil out of ocean water isn't the mission of the National Guard.
I suppose the intent was to 'make me think' about conservation of natural resources. I have for several decades. I do what I can privately but have no authority to do more than that.
Someone pointed out that there has been off shore drilling in the Gulf since 1937, IIRC.
They can find BP criminally negligent, bankrupt the company, investigate the Federal government and I suppose state/local governments and utilize the legal process and it sounds like we are still going to lose the wetlands and much more. Understandably we should 'ALL' be upset but that isn't going to do much good.
Some seem to want to hear an angry speech from the President. That won't help either.
You know what, I'm not a huge Bobby Jindal fan at ALL. I think he's pretty fake as a matter of fact.
I'm struggling to figure out what the Federal government or even BP can do that isn't being done. My problem is with folks who argue that Federal government should not be looked to for solutions in the first place arguing that the Federal government hasn't used its nonexistent magic wand that will solve the problem in the first place. Nor, is it my argument that Louisiana should solely have to deal with this problem. But if the argument is that local government is more responsive, then local government, especially one's which are so closely tied with a particular industry, as Louisiana is with off shore drilling, should have greater foresight when such problems arise.
The EPA had an approved disaster plan for an oil spill.
It called for fire booms to be deployed immediately.
The only problem with the plan, approved in 1994, was that the EPA never ordered any fire booms to keep in storage. So, the spill happened, and the government had to put out calls all over the world for fire booms - only 1 was located in the US.
I don't know what it is about politicians from my home state of Louisiana (born in Charity Hospital, raised in the Mighty 13th Ward) but they have one thing in common, they all seem so ill-prepared calamities the Ray Charles could have seen coming.
I wasn't around these here parts during Katrina, but on other forms I was pretty balanced at laying the blame squarely on the local, state and Federal response. Since hurricane Betsy EVERYBODY knew that if a major hurricane hit New Orleans, and any of the levees failed, the city would drown. Not of have any contingency plans on the part of state and local officials was criminal.
The same is true for a major oil spill in the Gulf. Louisiana based oil companies have been drilling in in the Gulf since 1937. For Louisiana not to have its own contingency plan for a major oil spill is, well, criminal. Which brings me to Bobby Jindal.
Bobby is all over the airwaves screaming about the delay in building sand barriers across the Louisiana shore line. It is a half baked plan, hatched at the spur of the moment and that is the rub. By not having a prepared plan this one raises as many questions as it solves. Had such a plan been proposed years ago, pre-approval certainly could have been obtained. But as this Times Picayune story points out, Bobby is better at press conferences than he is on the science of building sand barriers.
Fake indeed. He cries about the permits as if he could build a sand bar in a day. Experts say it would take nine months to build them, and even then it does not seem like a viable solution. A hurricane, or even a tropical storm would wash away such sand bars overnight.
I certainly don't know if the sand berms would work or what the future implications of building them would be. Could they be built in time to do any good, I don't know. The experts would need to evaluate that. But, Jindal, like all politicians, will certainly not allow a good disaster go to waste.
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