Thread: 24 foreign vessel skimmers operating sinse MAY 11 !??!?!?!?!

U.S. says accepting foreign help with Gulf oil spill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will accept offers from a dozen countries and international agencies to help contain and clean up the BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the State Department said on Tuesday.

"The United States will accept 22 offers of assistance from 12 countries and international bodies, including two high-speed skimmers and fire containment boom from Japan," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

The United States has already accepted offers of assistance from the Netherlands and Norway, among others. It is also considering offers from countries as diverse as China, Kenya and Vietnam.

Overall, 27 countries have offered assistance ranging from vessels and dispersant, to fire boom and technical personnel. In most cases reimbursement would be required.

"To be clear, the acceptance of international assistance we announced today did not mean to imply that international help was arriving only now," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in an e-mail.

"In fact, before today, there were 24 foreign vessels operating in the region and nine countries had provided boom, skimmers and other assistance. As early as May 11th boom arrived from Mexico, Norway and Brazil."

The following link has details of what each country has offered: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/143488.pdf

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; editing by Chris Wilson)

You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!

If aid was there all along...what was all the talk about the Jones Act?????

That is not what i have been hearing either. I heard they were all waiting for the green light to be able to come in and help. Just as the people wanting to voluteer was being limited.

Watching CNN now and they say there are over 1400 skimmers around the continental US. And they have only a handful in the Gulf. They were told that those skimmers are on reserve in case there are other oil leaks. They say they are trying to work on getting more of these skimmers now. For a couple weeks now.

BIG GOVERNMENT RED TAPE!

"U.S. says accepting foreign help with Gulf oil spill"

In truth and fairness, all the nations are "offering" to do is either rent of sell us something, however necessary these goods and services may be. Considering the scale and the cost, I can understand why the U.S. government would want to be cautious and selective in why they want to rent and buy, especially considering some of the source countries. What I don't understand is Americans involved in the international oil industry whom I have seen on FOX stating that large oil spills in other parts of the world are routinely and quickly cleaned up by giant tankers which take in the oily water; separate the oil from the water; store the oil and discharge the clean water back into the the sea. After saying this, these men never disclose where these fantastic tankers are located or who owns them. I gather that these are the ship which the Dutch are offering, although whether they are as huge as the ones this man described, I don't know. Hurricane damage was cleared up in Asia in record time; people on U.S. Gulf Coast and in Haiti saw almost no evidence of aid. It's the same on the Gulf Coast and along our Border with Mexico now.

But I do agree about: What was all the Hullabaloo about the Jones Act, which kept being cited as the culprit?

Originally Posted by hardlineconstitutionalist

You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!

If aid was there all along...what was all the talk about the Jones Act?????

The Jones Act does not allow foreign vessels to move PORT TO PORT. That is to protect the jobs of American workers. And that is as it should be. But these foreign vessels were probably just cleaning up oil out in the Gulf and not going port to port.

CYA time - the world probably grabbed obummer by the balls at the G-20.

The above article states:

"In fact, before today, there were 24 foreign vessels operating in the region and nine countries had provided boom, skimmers and other assistance. As early as May 11th boom arrived from Mexico, Norway and Brazil." There was never any mention of this on the news...


This article was written June 14:

Obama Refuses to Waive Law to Allow Foreign Help With Oil Spill
Article by CEI
(June 14, 2010) in Society / Environment
By Hans Bader
Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill “have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that . . . possess some of the world’s most advanced oil skimming ships.â€

Any questions about why the oil spill was manifested and continues?:


Obama is now using BP’s oil spill to push the global-warming legislation that BP had lobbied for. Obama’s global warming legislation expands ethanol subsidies, which cause famine, starvation, and food riots in poor countries by shrinking the food supply. Ethanol makes gasoline costlier and dirtier, increases ozone pollution, and increases the death toll from smog and air pollution. Ethanol production also results in deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution. Subsidies for biofuels like ethanol are a big source of corporate welfare: “BP has lobbied for and profited from subsidies for biofuels . . . that cannot break even without government support.â€