Day 70 Obama finally accepts offers for help on gulf spill

The title of this topic is odd, because we had another topic from two weeks ago where it was acknowledged that the US was already getting help from many other countries. It hasn't taken until day 70.

http://285bound.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1343&start=8

Here's what Adm. Thad Allen had to say about the skimmers...

http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/2931/627127/


Quote:
Q: There are many people who say that the best dredgers and skimmers in the world come from countries like the Netherlands and France and that they can't—they're not being asked to come in because of the Jones Act. Is that the case? And why not get around that, suspend that, so you can bring that other you know technology in?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, first of all, those are source countries. That's correct, they're available. But we are using them. We are dealing with folks like Norway, the Netherlands, Canada and other places. Anyplace that's got skimming capability that's available, we're willing to talk to them, and we actually have, in some cases, actually transferred the equipment down and will continue to do that.

If it gets—if it gets to the point where there's a Jones Act required, we're willing to do that, too. Nobody's come to me with a request for a Jones Act waiver, but any skimming capability we can bring in, we're looking for.

Q: So are the actual boats being brought in or just the equipment?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, in some cases it's the skimmer itself. In some cases, the skimming equipment is organic to the vessel itself. It depends on what you're talking about. To my knowledge, what we brought in is actually skimming equipment rather than the vessels themselves, but we can give you a detailed listing.

So I don't know what's new here.

SC, your factcheck link isn't working. Here is the correct link...

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/06/oil-spill-foreign-help-and-the-jones-act/


And the spreadsheet is interesting. It shows most of the offers are still under consideration. So far as the Dutch offer for skimmers go (which is the most discussed one), the spreadsheet shows the offer was made on April 30th, and accepted on May 23rd when BP purchased 3 of the skimmers.

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/143488.pdf


The Jones Act has been a nonfactor so far. It does not apply to what has been needed to date. And if it gets to the point where a waiver is required, the administration has put measures in place to expedite waivers.

It's amazing how much misinformation is still out there.

Science Chic wrote: Viking - do you read my posts at all?

It also lists whether they expect reimbursement for their "offers of help.. frankly that pisses me off as we don't expect payment from other countries when they have a disaster.

SC I read your posts and thanks. I agree it sucks that we get less than spectacular support from most other nations (except England and maybe Germany), whether in wars or disasters. Some of it is due to our own arrogance, but not all.

conifermtman wrote:

Wayne Harrison wrote:

conifermtman wrote:
but I do have a problem with the most incompetent president this nation has ever had.

Elections have consequences, remember that in November.

Funny how the "worst president" label gets drawn along party lines..... Pretty good article here on the 10-worst... A little old, but still relevant.

http://politics.usnews.com/news/history ... hanan.html

I might agree about Buchanan. At least none of our recent presidents set the stage for civil war. Although only time, and facts, will tell if any of our recent presidents will make it into the top 10. Or garner that coveted #1 ranking.

This sounds like a potentially great asset, which could suck up to 21 million gallons of water/oil (wish it was just oil, though) a day.

Yes, it's late to the party, but only because it's new and had to be retrofitted. Hopefully it will be a no-brainer for the EPA to approve the fact that this ship, plus other skimmers, will collect and filter highly oil contaminated water, but still release some slightly oil contaminated water which exceeds current EPA limits water back to the sea.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100701/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

NEW ORLEANS – With hurricane-whipped waves pushing more oil onto the Gulf of Mexico's once-white beaches, the government pinned its latest cleanup hopes Wednesday on a huge new piece of equipment: the world's largest oil-skimming vessel.

The Taiwanese-flagged former tanker named the "A Whale" is the length of 3 1/2 football fields and stands 10 stories high. It just emerged from an extensive retrofitting to prepare it specifically for the Gulf, where officials hope it will be able to suck up as much as 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water per day.

"It is absolutely gigantic. It's unbelievable," said Louisiana State University environmental sciences professor Ed Overton, who saw the ship last week in Norfolk, Va.

As the monstrous vessel made its way toward the Gulf Coast, large waves churned up by distant Hurricane Alex left Alabama beaches splattered with oil and tar balls the size of apples. The rough seas forced most smaller skimming boats into port for a second consecutive day, putting many cleanup crews at a standstill.

The ship looks like a typical tanker, but it takes in contaminated water through 12 vents on either side of the bow. The oil is then supposed to be separated from the water and transferred to another vessel. The water is channeled back into the sea.

But the ship has never been tested, and many questions remain about how it will operate. For instance, the seawater retains trace amounts of oil, even after getting filtered, so the Environmental Protection Agency will have to sign off on allowing the treated water back into the Gulf.

"This is a no-brainer," Overton said. "You're bringing in really dirty, oily water and you're putting back much cleaner water."

The vessel, owned by the Taiwanese shipping firm TMT Group, was completed as a tanker earlier this year in South Korea. But after the Gulf spill, the company's CEO and founder, Nobu Su, ordered it changed into a giant skimmer. The vessel was sent to Portugal for the refit and embarked for the Gulf as soon as it was finished.

pineinthegrass wrote: SC, your factcheck link isn't working. Here is the correct link...

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/06/oil-spill-foreign-help-and-the-jones-act/


And the spreadsheet is interesting. It shows most of the offers are still under consideration. So far as the Dutch offer for skimmers go (which is the most discussed one), the spreadsheet shows the offer was made on April 30th, and accepted on May 23rd when BP purchased 3 of the skimmers.

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/143488.pdf


The Jones Act has been a nonfactor so far. It does not apply to what has been needed to date. And if it gets to the point where a waiver is required, the administration has put measures in place to expedite waivers.

It's amazing how much misinformation is still out there.

The Jones Act has been a non-factor because the skimmers are being "sold" to U.S. companies which negates the requirement. Since the government can't find its backside with both hands in a phone booth on this issue, the people interested in moving the ball have found a way to remove the government from the loop.

The largest skimmer of all sits docked in Virginia right now, awaiting government approval for the efficiency of the operation. It seems that the trace amount of oil that it might not capture might prevent it from being deemed efficient enough to be used according to governmental regulations. It would seem that "A Whale", capable of ingesting up to 500,000 bbl of oil contaminated water a day (which is roughly the amount that has been collected in the last 2 months by the converted fishing fleet) is designed to return untreated water, which might contain up to 2% crude oil by volume, back into the Gulf, a violation of current EPA regulations.

So here we have a method of taking in contaminated water containing up to 90% crude oil, remove all but 1 or 2% of the oil before putting the water back into the Gulf and it can't be used because it fails to remove a sufficient amount of oil to pass government regulations? This is someone's sick idea of a joke, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjGd3FnDjzY