White House Threatens to Take Over in Gulf

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Belatedly, the Obama administration is starting to talk about moving BP out of the way and taking control of the disaster in the Gulf.

An oil-soaked bird struggles at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, 05/09/10. (photo: Gerald Herbert/AP)

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-17 # Guest 2010-05-23 21:39

What? government intervention? NO WAY. Leave the matter to private industry. They know best.

+10 # Guest 2010-05-23 22:52

Salazar is wrong and too damned indulgent of BP. If BP had the real expertise needed in oil drilling operations they would have been smart enough to prevent this ghastly blowout. They would have used proper safety measures, including a halt back when the shredded "annular" was spotted, and 11 people now dead would still be with us. We need to have every segment of the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers, plus the best consultants available from both industry operations and academic research, running the effort now eaax4with BP paying for all of it. Meanwhile, Gov. Jindal is absolutely right in his demand for protective berms around the islands and shores. And yes, BP should pay for all the materials and labor of those salvage efforts.

+5 # Guest 2010-05-24 07:49

Regina, I completely agree. I'm glad Bobby Jindal is (finally) threatening to take action, but I'll be even happier when it amounts to more than threats. I find it interesting that Kathleen Blanco was lambasted for not acting within days of Katrina, but here we are 5 weeks into this disaster and people are acting as though Jindal's chest-beating qualifies him as a savant. Oh, well, if he finally does something, anything, it will be an improvement, though probably in the 'too little, too late' column. BP damn well better be made to pay for every cent of whatever clean-up and reparation costs are incurred. Meanwhile, does anyone remember that among Bush's first acts as resident was the revocation of environmental initiatives instituted by Pres. Clinton? I sure as hell do, and I'm sick and tired of the influence Big Oil has in Washington.

+7 # fempatriot 2010-05-24 00:26

All I can say is "It's about time!" Those poor, poor creatures that are now suffering and dying...

+3 # Guest 2010-05-24 00:58

I agree with the ones who say the oil companies rule, and the Bush family,- since the 30's have been part of the big oil. Obama was bought and paid for to play the patsy, rather knowing or not, and the republicans plan to take over in 2012, thus the Tea Party Movement,- and then will have all the control. The Tea Party is the same as the American Liberty League that was behind Prescott Bush's coup plan in 1934, to oust FDR and take over.

+6 # Guest 2010-05-24 02:28

It is not a spill, it is a gusher and I wish the media would refer to it corretly. And it is still going on.

+13 # Guest 2010-05-24 02:44

This is what happens when governments are owned by the indusrial world and the Banking business along with Wall Street.

We pay one hell of a price for Capitalism.

Especially Disaster Capitalism.

We pay no attention to the writers who have filled the book stores with warnings.

Naomi Klein, for instance.

I can't wait for November!

+7 # Guest 2010-05-24 08:44

America has now got a horrible reputation because of the greed, resource destruction and creepy lies of the "Ownership" class.

+4 # Guest 2010-05-24 05:44

Isn't it too late for that, Mr. Obama?

First, you should bring charges on those cupable of the mess and I don't mean just the BP executives, I mean the entire Republican Party in Congress, past and present. They have done something that even Adoph Hitler would have hesistate to do. In other countries they would have hanged these sorry corrupted politicians and corporate crooks.

What says ye, Mr. Obama? Are you still trying to bring the GOP into the conference table to undo the mess they did for 8 whole years. Or have you forgotten your promises now that the votes have been counted?

They will be counted again this November, Mr. President, and they will be counted again in 2012. The Democratic voters are now looking at Mr. Alan Grayson to replace you in 2012, Mr. President. In view of what I have seen about you during the last 11-15 months, I shall be looking forward to see Mr. Grayson replacing you.

+7 # Guest 2010-05-24 06:12

Let me get this straight. Everything was deregulated during the Bush administration because private enterprise knew better how to handle business than government. BP supposedly has the expertise to handle the problem -- which the government does not. So now it's Obama's fault. Baloney!

+7 # Guest 2010-05-24 06:26

I don't know why the government didn't step in immediately. Why would they expect a corporation, whose sole goal is to make a profit, to spend the money necessary to fix this problem the right way? Remember, corporations are people. They need to be prosecuted for committing environmental crimes, not just told to "clean up" their mess.

Also, I just read on msnbc that since Obama proclaimed a ban on new drilling permits, 7 new permits have been given, 5 of them with "environmental waivers". Is Obama really the President, or is he just a spokesman? Since the explosion, there have been at least 19 environmental waivers and 17 drilling permits granted, for the Gulf alone!

0 # Guest 2010-05-24 06:31

It's about DAMN TIME!

+2 # Guest 2010-05-24 08:40

Blood in the Gulf waters,oil in the air, clean up crews face the same sickness and death as did the 9/11 clean up crews.This time however , the government " cool aid" isn't going down so easily

+2 # Guest 2010-05-24 08:45

I agree that this cataclysm is the result of corporate takeover of our government in the last 25 years. When regulating corporations is translated as socialism and politicians depend on corporate lobbyists for campaign money, the slippery slope is heavily greased and in this case with oil. We arrived at the bottom of that slope. All of us are angry but none should be surprised. This can be Obama's Katrina no doubt but really, what can a government do when it is owned by those who seek profits over people? This administration is as helpless as any and the Republicans and Tea Partiers have ensured that it will never have the resources to address the causes and results of lax environmental regulation. Unless we have a Constitutional Amendment that makes all local, state and national elections publicly financed putting people before proftis will be no more than a mere fantasy.

+5 # Guest 2010-05-24 09:10

Yes, I agree with those who say our government should take charge; but I have two caveats: 1) BP has to remain at the scene, but acting under the direction of our government; this is for the sake of whatever technical competence, howsoever little, they may possess; and 2) the whole of BP should be placed in trust, with the US government as the trustee, since it's entirely possible that the totality of BP's assets will fall short of their liability for damage.

+1 # Guest 2010-05-24 15:05

Brian is right. It is time to fire BP totally; they are liars and sociopaths who do not care about life or law. Let the government take charge: they have 24 tanker ships which can come in and siphon off the oil as they did in the Persian Gulf (ref Mike Papantonio). And, no, Obama is not helpless; he can bring in some good, Progressive advisers and use his bully pulpit to harness the anger of the Progressives who elected him. Let's start winning the next election now by telling it like it is - and acting.

+2 # Guest 2010-05-24 15:34

take over the spill site?... WTF!
GDI... take over the well entirely and use the money that the well itself will generate to pay off the costs of the entire cleanup!!!

return the well to its title holders only once all litigation is done which should help speed up the litigation process immensely.

we don't need to look to the Exxon Valdez disaster for a legal example to follow as we all know how that ended... 30 years later...

+1 # Guest 2010-05-25 11:45

Government take over? I don't think anyone knows what to do. If someone had a plan to stop this, wouldn't they have done it? Do the Republicans have a secret plan to stop this? They are the ones who are complaining about inaction, yet what specific action do they propose?

This is not the Persian Gulf. The discharge is a mile under water, not from a storage facility pumping station. The Gulf of Mexico is a vastly larger body of water with wave action and currents.

0 # Guest 2010-05-26 18:01

I agree, Kelly, and the irony is, and in large part probably what kept the Obama Admin from taking the disaster on in the first place is their concern about how to play it politically with the Republicans, such as the Governor of Louisiana, now asking the government to do, demanding the government do, more, the same people who have been so about privatization, so against government regulations etc. for so long. What's the guy to do?

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