Obama's Oil Spill

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i didn't realize who was involved either. as for using this as an example of small govt fans not wanting involvement from the feds; this imo is one case where absolutely they should have been involved. this isn't just an oil spill, but a catastrophic failure on many levels, with wide-ranging impact on a number of industries-and of course the impact on the environment and wildlife is just disgraceful. the lack of real reaction by our leaders is unreal, especially considering just how long this has been going on.
thing is, we already are paying through the nose for a variety of govt agencies, which have shown they are certainly not worth the investment. the part of the slate article that discussed the federal agencies was a real eye opener. it's a disgrace.

I agree completely with, "why the heck is this still going on, why has nothing been done" - I'm furious over that.

But the trouble is, regarding "the government taking over": what is the government supposed to do after they "take over"? Serious question. They've been "supervising" BP - the government doesn't have the equipment, or the manpower, or the technology (not that BP specifically does, they are winging it at this depth). I suppose one could scream at BP louder? It's obvious BP could care less about the environmental damage in any sense other than PR and fines. I think the only thing that could have been done by the government was get on BP faster, more quickly, about their covering up the amount of spilled oil; bring in independent scientists sooner as government agents? I thought that happened after two weeks, I could be wrong.

I heard that there are oil company tankers (sitting full of oil) that Obama could command to the area to take up spilled oil from the surface (they can separate out the water/oil), but what do they do with the thousands of gallons of oil already on board (they would have to empty out somewhere, somehow, first), and can the President commandeer private property? (I assume he could in a national disaster, don't know)