Louisiana's Jindal: Where's Obama?

Louisiana's Jindal: Where's Obama?

Investor Business Daily Edtorial
May 25, 2010

Gov. Bobby Jindal looks at oil that got past booms as he tours a land bridge built by the Louisiana National Guard to hold back oil from the BP spill...

Gov. Bobby Jindal looks at oil that got past booms as he tours a land bridge built by the Louisiana National Guard to hold back oil from the BP spill... View Enlarged Image

Emergencies: As frustration with the federal response grows, Louisiana's governor lashes out at the feds for doing little except blame BP for the Gulf oil spill. Meanwhile, Congress sees a chance to raise your gas taxes.

While the Obama administration continues on its quest to fundamentally transform America, the largely unabated Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatens to fundamentally transform the ecosystems and economy of Louisiana and the Gulf region.

The federal government's response so far has consisted largely of scapegoating BP and ignoring its own responsibilities and lack of preparation, railing against Big Oil, while Congress makes plans to quadruple the federal gasoline tax, ostensibly to finance cleanups.

Never let a good crisis go to waste when there's a chance to make big government bigger.

"We've been frustrated with the disjointed effort to date that has too often meant too little, too late for the oil hitting our coast," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said on Day 36 of the spill.

As of Tuesday morning, he was still waiting for the federal government to provide millions of feet in booms and to approve an emergency permit for a state plan to dredge and build new barrier islands to keep the oil from reaching the marshes and wetlands.

Jindal, who is so desperate for the islands that he says he'll build them himself even if it means going to jail, states: "We need more booms, more skimmers, more vacuums, more jack-up barges that are still in short supply. Let's be clear: Every day that this oil sits is one more day that more of our marsh dies."

As we reported recently, the Mobile Press-Register has reported that an "in situ burn" plan produced by federal agencies in 1994 called for responding to a major oil spill in the Gulf with the immediate use of what are called fire booms. These are water-cooled floats developed to contain surface oil in the early stages of a spill and burn it at the site far from shore.

When the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, the feds had not a single fire boom ready to deploy in accordance with the plan. Federal officials later had to scramble to purchase one from a manufacturer in Illinois. By then it was too late, as the oil had begun to spread out of control and emulsify from the water and the weather.

The administration so far has dispatched Cabinet secretaries to the Gulf, released a photo of President Obama on the phone and generally just bashed BP. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Sunday: "If we find they (BP) are not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way appropriately."

And what about what the feds are supposed to be doing about an oil spill that occurred in federal waters? To which, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the man put in charge of the federal response, responded: "To push BP out of the way, it would raise a question: Replace them with what?"

More bluster and conflicting instructions, perhaps?

Incredibly, as oil gushes from the remnants of Deepwater Horizon, the Environmental Protection Agency is more concerned with the chemicals and dispersants BP uses to mitigate the spill's effects. The EPA has launched an investigation into whether there was a "less toxic" alternative to the one BP chose on the basis of time and availability.

Less toxic than what? Where are the booms and permits, EPA?

We are not absolving BP of responsibility by any means. But clearly the feds need to do more than point fingers and raise taxes. They can't wash the oil off their hands either.

And where has Bobby Jindal been for the past month? After all, it's affecting his state.

And this is what pees me off about politics - everyone is playing it.

Because it hasn't affected his state till the slick started coming his way. Not to mention, there's only so much he can do as far as federal things go... by law.