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How can "the public" possibly feel the "Federal response to Gulf spill rated lower than Katrina efforts."?
How can "the public", in the form of a poll, possibly feel the
"Federal response to Gulf spill rated lower than Katrina efforts."?
That was what I read a POLL said today.
The reactions to Katrina were all capable of being performed IMMEDIATELY by a wide variety of both public and private organizations. That is NOT the case with the "Gulf Oil Well Disaster", where the ability to even operate at the 5,000 feet below the suface of the ocean is limited to less than a handfull of PRIVATE companies, (and maybe ONLY one). The US Government did NOT, and still does NOT, have any equipment capable of dealing with the problem of a gushing oil well at 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. They can, and I am sure they will, bring unrelenting pressure and financial pain to BP, et al, for the spill cleanup. But they can NOT directly perform the TASK!
The problems are PRESSURE and DEPTH.
The oil is being forced out by the pressure it is under deep within the earth.
Until they can relieve that pressure, or in some way overcome it (which they have been unable to do up till now), the oil will continue to gush out, 5,000 feet BELOW the surface of the water.
The purpose of the TWO additional wells is to provide a SAFE passage for the oil, which represents an EASIER (less restricted) path and potential for a higher VOLUME of flow which will in turn reduce the pressure at the failed well head. I assume that the hope is that when the pressure is REDUCED, and consequently the flow is diverted away from ocean discharge, that they can then go back and repair / cap the original well.
Much as I am sure that stopping the oil spill is high on the agendas of both president Obama (the democrats) and the republicans, the well is SO DEEP that only the private sector actually has the capability to do the work at that depth.
One could better ask, "Who was pushing to allow drilling at that depth in the first place?", and "Why did they not have better safe guards?". I suspect that off shore drilling will get a LOT of regulation and preventative planning requirements in the future.
30 years in the hose & coupling industry
4 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
The difference is thousands Died needlessly for Katrina
Bush,s Katrina....All the while Bush was stalling to react, because of Partisan Politics. To make a La. Democrat Governor look bad...People were drowning, or Dieing of exposure, in their attic,s in 100 degree summer weather..Thousands Died...Poor White folks and people of color..
The Deep Well was new technology, and highly complicated...They had decent safeguards, but they Failed , probably because of the first explosion.
The government couldn,t take over, the oil companies are the only qualified to respond, everyone knows this except the News Media and Partisan Politics.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Personally, I think the lack of government response is about the same. The big thing the government had control over, EPA permiting for dredging and building artificial barrier islands, was substantially delayed.
I also don't see where the government should have a substantial response to this. Capping the well is clearly the duty of BP. Government really has no roll to play in this except assisting in the protection of the coast and the clean-up. The national guard & the coast guard have been in place since the beginning working on these issues-big difference from Katrina.
I think the public's response is based on the number of perceived days of the disaster. Once the city was evacuated, people outside the affected region thought the government response was completed. In fact, the need for government assistance continued long after the initial Katrina emergency was over.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Let BP deal with that but who is stopping the oil from hitting the shore line . BP said 2000 people and 200 fishing boats . WTF . How are 2000 people and a meir 200 fishing boats going to stop a slick that stretches all the way across the gulf going into florida ? You need to get every unemployed person in the states wanting to work and give all of them a job cleaning up and send the bill to BP . If they was on top of it there would have been no oil getting into the marsh lands but as it is entire species are dieing off . What we to afraid BP or Britain is going to get peed off . To hell with them there killing us as it is .
