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BP Officials say the Deepwater Horizon well is close to being permanently capped. When this actually happens it will be despite the counterproductive roles played in the spill crisis by a plodding federal government and the Obama administration. Cleanup efforts all along the way were stymied by bureaucratic turf battles, organizational infighting, unnecessary federal permitting delays, and massive paper work. Operations had to be coordinated through five layers of approval and command before responders could be dispatched to the scene.

By Bill Rife

BP Officials say the Deepwater Horizon well is close to being permanently capped. When this actually happens it will be despite the counterproductive roles played in the spill crisis by a plodding federal government and the Obama administration. Cleanup efforts all along the way were stymied by bureaucratic turf battles, organizational infighting, unnecessary federal permitting delays, and massive paper work. Operations had to be coordinated through five layers of approval and command before responders could be dispatched to the scene. A Heritage Foundation team of experts found the U.S. Government, “…unable to organize recovery and response operations before oil made landfall” and that it was “slow to evaluate , accept and integrate international assistance and requests managed by the Army Corps of Engineers.” A modest sampling of government agencies involved includes: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Offices of Air and Radiation, Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Enforcement and Compliance, International Affairs, and Water, the Department of Interior, the Bureaus of Land Management, Minerals Management National Park, and Fish and Wildlife Services.

Then there’s OSHA (The Occupational Safety Health Administration). The Heritage team discovered that “response crews were being prevented [by OSHA] from working at night or for more than 20 minutes out of every hour. And apparently those 20 minutes an hour aren’t even in shifts, but total stoppages.” This means that for every 10 workers putting in their 20 minutes, another 20 will be just hanging around.

Local officials along the Gulf Coast claim the federal government has sent them “phantom assets” for the spill, overstating the number of skimming ships, boom and dispersants, according to a report released last month by Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.  The Issa Report confirms “the number of assets claimed by the White House does not appear to match what is actually in the field.” It chides, “The failure of administration officials to quickly wave laws preventing necessary foreign assets from reaching the Gulf and other regulations are hampering efforts to clean-up and limit damage from the oil spill.” Further, “Local officials strongly dispute President Obama’s insistence that the federal government –and not BP—has been in control since day one. One Coast Guard Admiral told congressional investigators that decisions on the ground are made through a “consensus-based” process with BP. In practice, the federal government is not in charge of oil spill response efforts through a command-and-control approach.” Issa says his report shows “a clear pattern…of efforts to control and manipulate information about the oil spill and response efforts” by the Obama administration.  The report adds “Local officials strongly believe the President’s call for a drilling moratorium will significantly compound the economic damage caused by the spill and will actually increase risk associated with future offshore drilling projects.”

A De facto Drilling Moratorium

In the wake of the April 20 blowout, the Obama administration initiated a moratorium on drilling at 33 offshore wells while an independent panel conducts a six-month study of drilling safety. Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore rigs sued, citing the economic consequences of a prolonged drilling cessation. On June 22, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman agreed and ordered the administration to lift the moratorium.  The administration immediately asked the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the ban. On July 7 a three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled 2-1 against the administration.  A blustering Interior Secretary, Ken “We’ll keep our boot on BP’s neck” Salazar and his assorted minions took exception and issued another drilling ban. Although twice struck down by the courts, the administration’s stubborn opposition to deep water drilling has, according to the Heritage Foundation, “led to a de facto ban on all drilling, whether in deep or shallow water. Indeed, permit requests have already been ignored for some shallow water drillers without explanation from the federal regulators.”

This six-month “pause”, supported by numerous environmental groups, has already wrought havoc and threatens to be more devastating to the Gulf economy than the spill itself. The catastrophic effect on tourism and fishing is already well-documented. The National Ocean Industries Association states that “more than 20,000 jobs across the Gulf Coast are tied to the offshore drilling industry. Specifically, 35,000 workers are directly involved in daily operations on rigs.” The American Petroleum Institute concludes that more than 120,000 jobs could be lost if the ban continues. Of the 33 deepwater rigs in the Gulf when Deepwater Horizon exploded, two gained long-term contracts, one in Egypt and one off the coast of Africa, within a week, as the industry had warned would happen. Louisiana Business and Industry President Dan Juneau wrote in www.daily world.com “The minute I heard the words ‘six month moratorium’ leave President Obama’s lips, my mind went back to the economic miasma of 1986. I realized instantly that if he carried through with that policy, it was going to pummel our economy, eliminate thousands of jobs and disrupt the lives of many families. The damage ….in the 1980s was brought about by economic factors. The danger today is entirely man-made. It is derived solely from a government edict.”

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal recently told President Obama “With all due respect, Mr. President, we don’t want a BP check and we don’t want an unemployment check. We just want to go back to work.”  Lt. Gov. Scott Angelle addressing a large July 7 anti-moratorium rally at the Cajundome, proclaimed “Mr. President, I get the fact that you don’t like oil and gas companies, “ he said. “But this moratorium does not hurt the stock holders of BP or Exxon or Cheveron. This moratorium is hurting the Sherravies and the Colleays and the Dupuis and and the Boudrouxs and the Thibodeauxs.” Governor Jindal, at the same rally, added “We will overcome this oil spill and we shouldn’t have to fight our own federal government.”

The universal condemnation of BP for its role in the disaster is richly deserved. It happened on their watch, they cut corners with tragic results and their attempts at PR have been pathetic. Yet, they may emerge from the crisis with some vindication. President Obama has often stated that his administration is in charge but BP is “handling everything from containment to cleanup.” Ronnie Spangler in State-of-America, June 13 writes “The problem facing the government is competing agencies with different policies have different rules for the way BP deals with containment and cleanup. This has caused mass confusion and has hampered BP and Gulf Coast state governments.” Spangler continues “Not only must BP deal with the economic claims and businesses along the coast, BP must try to understand and follow  overlapping  jurisdictions from an ever-increasing number of government agencies.…..they must first make sure they have the approval and follow the guidelines of each and every agency or bureaucrat.”

In fairness, BP is cleaning up and ponying up, while trying to sort out a surprising number of bogus claims. They are on target for their announced time of capping the well (August).  It’s BP’s technology, not the administration’s, which is getting the job done. This is a long way from Interior Secretary Salazar’s May 26 blowhard threat that “we will push BP out of the way if it doesn’t do enough.”

As the well from hell nears capping, guess who is taking credit. Early in the crisis when BP was the unquestioned enemy, it was “they.”Last month, when the spill began to look manageable, “they” became “we.”  An Obama July speech proclaims “This larger, more sophisticated cap was designed to give us greater control over the oil flow as we complete the relief wells that are necessary to stop the leak….what they’re (Scientists) are working to determine is whether we can safely shut the well….” Careful presidential observers expect “we” to soon become ”I.”

The hurricane season, now upon us, could generate yet more bureaucratic snarls. Eileen Sullivan writes in the August 9 Yahoo! News “If a hurricane hits the Gulf Coast and whips up oil from BP’s massive spill, cleanup workers will not be able to swoop into action to fix the mess. A new Obama administration edict requires that the oil be tested before it can be cleaned, according to as response plan obtained by the Associated Press.” Testing delays could take days. Ed Overton, head of the joint Coast Guard –Northern Oceanic Atmospheric Administration hazmat chemical analysis team (how about that for a government title!) , says “this is insane! You don’t have to hold up the cleanup just because you’re waiting on a crazy lab analysis.” As some Gulf residents might lament “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” (The more it changes, the more it's the same).

And, Mr. President, for the love of God, do not appoint an Oil Spill Czar.