According to the Coast Guard there are 400 skimmer vessels working along the affected coast—which, depending on how its measured, is somewhere between 500 miles (the linear measure) and 5,000 (if you measure every cove and creek). There are said to be 2,000 skimmers available in the United States. Gulf Coast residents are wondering just what the other 1,600 are doing. Apparently many of them are required by government regulation to remain right where they are in case of emergency.
In case of emergency... I wonder if these bureaucrats are watching any nightly news shows.
As I mentioned before, this is exactly the problem you end up with when you put people in charge who have no executive experience. They fear being held to account for the downside of making obviously correct decisions. It wasn't long after the spill started that it was obvious the EPA should waive rules that disallow skimmers from dumping small amounts of oil into the gulf. It wasn't long after the spill that it was obvious this is a case for all hands (all skimmers) on deck. It wasn't long after the spill that it was obvious we could use foreign help immediately (rather than having Americans trained while the oil spewed). But we didn't, and haven't done the obvious out of fear breaking the rules. Well get a clue... when the house is burning down sometimes you have to throw the baby out the window -- that's not child endangerment, that's rescue.
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