Understanding Government

The Obama administration has deployed the ‘BP Squad’ of federal investigators to the Gulf to probe whether there was any wrongdoing on the part of government regulators or private companies related to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

As Peter Henning points out in The New York Times, the criminal probe focuses mostly on (more…)

The subhead in the New York Times says “U.S. Concedes It Must Rely on BP for Help.” The Washington Post writes “Obama administration conflicted about relying on BP to stop gulf oil spill,” which is the approach the Post often takes to turn a national story into a Washington story and keep it alive.  More informative is the Post’s own blogger, Joel Achenbach.

And as the federal government struggles to cope with an unprecedented disaster, don’t let any comparisons with Hurricane Katrina fool you.  Government neither can nor should be responsible for the cleanup of a disaster caused not by force-majeure but by a private corporation’s own errors.  BP is both responsible for the spill and for the cleanup.  It owns the oil — whereever that oil may end up.

BP’s containment dome didn’t work to stop the Deepwater Horizon’s oil geyser, which is spewing anywhere from 210,000 to 2.5 million gallons of oil per day. Yesterday the EPA announced that it has approved further use by BP of chemical dispersants, both on the surface and underwater, even though the agency notes that

“The effects of underwater dispersant use on the environment are still widely unknown, which is why we are testing to determine its effectiveness first and foremost. If it is determined that the use of this dispersant underwater is effective and that BP may continue its use,the Federal government will require regular analysis of its impact on the environment, water and air quality, and human health. We reserve the right to discontinue the use of this dispersant method if any negative impacts on the environment outweigh the benefits.”

It’s not Dawn dish soap, no matter how BP and the government spin it. “Testing” on a grand scale in the biologically diverse and important Gulf of Mexico and then deciding over time if the negative impacts might outweigh the benefits?   (more…)