White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that the federal government has "assets ready" to respond to any environmental problems resulting from the explosion of an oil platform off the coast of Louisiana
Because those “assets” provided such great relief from the Horizon disaster. In fact, wasn’t that the excuse – that the federal government doesn’t have assets to deal with a situation like the BP disaster? Wasn’t that why BP was allowed to do all its own disaster recovery without any interference from the government? Why, yes, I think it was.
Robert Gibbs press briefing, May 21, 2010:
But understand, Jennifer, as I’ve -- I think I’ve also said on a number of occasions, the technical expertise to clean up and deal with the equipment that is 5,000 feet below the surface of the sea, that’s equipment that BP has; that’s the equipment that other oil companies have. That is not based on equipment that the federal government has in storage.[...]
It is their responsibility. They have the legal responsibility and the technical expertise to plug the hole.
[...]
Chuck, we are overseeing the response -- okay?
Perhaps the federal government has "assets" that can handle something closer to shore, or maybe Gibbs is counting BP's expertise as an “asset,” and since they've done such a fabulous job on the Deepwater, they can get the contract to clean up all future "spills".
One of the fun aspects of Empire is how many ironies it creates. -- Glenn Greenwald
Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said that President Obama was in a national security meeting in the White House Situation Room when news of the explosion began to circulate, and he was not certain whether the president had been informed.“We obviously have response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water,” Mr. Gibbs said, during a regular televised briefing.
Oh, obviously.
And, hey, we could use a little more dispersant down here.
On August 1st, the US House of Representatives Committee confirmed that for over three months, in violation of EPA’s official guidelines, the US Coast Guard had fast-tracked 74 permits giving BP the green light to “carpet-bomb” the Gulf. All told, at least 2 million gallons have been dumped into the Gulf, sprayed over the seas, islands and marshes.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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