Cassidy: Obama Should Take Long View On Spill
Posted in ICYMI, Press Releases Posted by Administrator on Jun 10, 2010Politico
Rep. Bill Cassidy
June 10, 2010
“…Rather than responding with reason and precision, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has provoked overreaction and error from Washington. Seized by emotion and alarm, the administration has reacted in knee-jerk fashion with an unnecessary and counterproductive moratorium on deepwater Outer Continental Shelf energy production…
Lacking the equipment or expertise needed to take control of an oil leak 5,000 feet under the sea, the federal government appears impotent.
In response, President Barack Obama’s emotion is described with a new adjective almost daily. He is ‘frustrated,’ then ‘furious.’ Lately, he is ‘enraged.’
Instead of bounding between emotions in reaction to media coverage, the president should take the long view. He should recognize that the verdict on his administration’s handling of this disaster will be rendered in six months or six years — not on the 6 o’clock news…
Emotion — not evidence — has led the president to this moratorium. It may give him a feel-good, get-tough headline today, but it will cause real suffering for those most affected by the spill.
When the president said he was looking for someone’s ‘ass to kick,’ I hope he didn’t intend to aim his foot at the 320,000 Louisianans who owe their livelihoods to the energy economy.
An offshore moratorium isn’t punishment for executives at multinational corporations that can move their rigs elsewhere. But it is harsh punishment for the welders, pipe fitters, roustabouts and workers in the range of service and support industries connected to energy production in the Gulf Coast…
With one of every 14 Louisiana residents directly or indirectly employed through petrochemical production, the president’s moratorium is expected to cost the state’s workers $330 million in lost wages every month.
The Louisiana Department of Economic Development estimates that this will eliminate more than 10,000 jobs in the near term and more than 20,000 within 18 months…”
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What about the marine life that is being killed? Why doesn’t allow the other countries that are waiting outside of American waters to come in and assist with the clean up? All laws such as the Jones Act should be null and void during a disaster. Why didn’t the Lousiana step up prior and ensure these companies were complying to policies and procedure, inspections to also ensure the safety of the people and the environment. Lousiana holds some responsibility to their people and the companies they are employed by.
The Rich Oil Tycoon paid off Inspectors and there was no rules or regulations enforce according to a friend I know who worked on the Oil Rigs.
Put all the Polictics behind and get the United Nations to come in and clean this up today, not next week today.
I was a registered Democrat and now leaning to the Republican side if they can do something immediately to stop this once and for all.
Please as a Leader for your State and our Country alow the ships to come in and starting skimming the oil of the surface.
I have sat back and have never stated my opinion in anything this strongly but after 50+days and see the devastation this matter has caused, it breaks my heart.
Thank you