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Gulf coast

Oil Spill Suggestions: What Should the President Do?

McKay Coppins, writing in Newsweek, asked presidential historians to speculate how the past five U.S. presidents (going back to Jimmy Carter) would have handled the Gulf oil spill if they were in office. Although nobody really knows what how other presidents would have handled the disaster, it makes for an interesting discussion. We asked in an earlier post, “Will President Obama Follow the Lead of Jimmy Carter, or John F. Kennedy?” Our suggestion for the President has been to take action, and put the federal government in charge of the oil spill cleanup.

Given the scope of this catastrophe, affecting millions of U.S. citizens and businesses, this is no time for the President to rest his hopes on British Petroleum. BP has proven that (a) it can’t be believed, and (b) it is not up to the challenge. The truth is that there is only one entity that has both the incentive and the resources to meet the challenge of the Gulf oil spill, and that is the United States of America. [click to continue…]

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Gulf oil spill crisis | A threat & an opportunity

by Michael J. Evans on June 9, 2010

in Uncategorized

Gulf Oil Spill Crisis: Will President Obama Follow the Lead of Jimmy Carter, or John F. Kennedy?

The Gulf oil spill is a crisis that presents both a threat and an opportunity for President Obama. His success does not depend on exhibiting anger, as some in the media have suggested. He cannot “emote” his way out of this crisis. The outcome will be determined not by words, but by actions. The comparison between President Obama and George W. Bush, and the debate over whether this is Obama’s Katrina, is a false issue. It may provide interesting cable news chatter, but the President should not concern himself with that. The real issue before President Obama is “What can I do, now that I know the full scope of the problem and the unreliability of British Petroleum, to protect the Gulf Coast and the health and financial well-being of its citizens?” [click to continue…]

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Michael J. Evans

Michael J. Evans

Oil Spill Suggestion – Dear President Obama: please take over the oil spill cleanup, and send BP the bill.

Updated oil spill suggestion June 7, 2010: BP has paid only $48 million to 18,000 of the 37,000 who have filed oil spill claims. About 90% of the oil spill claims have been paid to individuals, reported the Wall Street Journal. Compare this to the amount BP television ad campaign, plus an unknown amount being spent on pay-per-click Google ads.

Oil Spill Suggestion Updated June-2-2010 – B.P has been, at best, ineffective in running the Gulf oil spill cleanup, and here at BP Oil News, we’ve published over 800 oil spill suggestions. (As of June 7, 2010, we’ve published over 1,400 oil spill suggestions). We’ve had suggestions for plugging BP’s oil leak, and for reducing damage from the Gulf oil spill. Now I want to make a suggestion of my own. No, I don’t have an idea for plugging the hole. But I do think I have a common-sense suggestion for cleaning it up in a way that also minimizes economic losses to people and businesses on the Gulf Coast.

One of the first things to recognize is that BP has the financial ability, and the legal obligation, to pay the federal government a large amount of money because of this spill. Any money the federal government spends on my plan will be recovered in fines and penalties from BP.  (Calculations are explained in a paragraph at the end of this article).

When oil hits the beach, tourism takes a nosedive. The federal government should rent those vacant hotel rooms (fines and damages from BP should easily cover the cost of the rooms). Then fill those hotel rooms with volunteers and unemployed workers who are willing to travel to the beach to help in the oil spill cleanup effort. Additionally, hire fishermen and other Gulf Coast residents who are out of work due to the oil spill. The government could either rent hotel rooms and hire workers directly, or it could contract with private companies/individuals who would rent hotel rooms and supervise workers. Or, perhaps even better, let the government give the money to state and local governments, and let people like Gov. Bobby Jindal and Billy Nungesser make the decisions about how to deal with BP’s oil spill. [click to continue…]

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