Outrageous! Crude-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard

[bik0]

You got to be shitting me! Because of no life vests and fire extinguishers? Holy crap!

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-gov-bobby-jindals-wishes-crude/story?id=10946379


Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor's wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.


Louisiana Governor Jindal frustrated over decision-making red tape.
"It's the most frustrating thing," the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. "Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges."

Watch "World News" for David Muir's report from Louisiana tonight.

Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.

So why stop now?

"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

"We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.

[Oregone]

1. "You got to be shitting me! Because of no life vests and fire extinguishers?"

Im pro-regulation in regards to this type of stuff.

Life vests and fire extinguishers cost peanuts.

Just like a BOP that would actually work

[MineralMan]

8. Yeah! To heck with safety precautions. Who needs 'em? [Edited]

Oh...wait...safety precautions...wasn't that what started this whole thing? Never mind. Edit: to remove something I said that was incorrect. My apoloies to Oregone.

[Oregone]

14. "You're wrong again, Oregone."

I am?

So you are against safety regulations? You don't think the workers of those barges should have the means to put out a fire? You don't think they should have the means to save themselves in case of an accident?

Regulations are only useful in some scenarios, and not others right? Its ok to have them to stop oil, but fuck the workers who are trying to clean oil up.

[MineralMan]

22. See, that'll teach me to post, based on a post title.

Sorry. I was wrong.

[Oregone]

24. and "again"?

Im rarely wrong, except with Curling trivia.

[MineralMan]

26. Well, isn't that bad enough. Curling is an important sport.

:rofl:

[Oregone]

27. So true

[Fumesucker]

42. "Important sport" is an oxymoron.. n/t

[shraby]

32. The Coast Guard is responsible for the safety of people

who are out in boats on the water. The law requires a life preserver for each person on a vessel as well as a fire extinguisher. Up on the Great Lakes there is a very hefty fine for no having them, although they usually tell people to leave the lake and issue a warning first..next offense is pretty drastic.
Those barges have to follow the law as well. If one went down with a loss of life, or caught fire with all that crude, heads would roll about it. The Coast Guard would have been castigated in the news big time. Then there would have to be an expensive investigation as to the whys and wherefores.
Jindal should have issued a directive when he found out for the barges to get the required equipment and get back on the water asap instead of crying.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Insanity Rules!!

This is why most say there is nobody in charge.
I shake my head and wonder if there is anyone sane in command.

The coast guard has no extra life vests or fire extinguishers

[Brickbat]

3. Frankly, I'd kinda hate it if one of those capsized and people died because there were no PFDs.

[MineralMan]

6. Or if some flammable substance caught on fire and they were

unable to extinguish it. But, hey...safety precautions don't need to be observed. Just ask BP. They're experts in bypassing safety precautions.

Let's just let everyone do as they please on the Gulf. What could go wrong? :sarcasm:

[LisaL]

9. And what? The Coast Guard stopped them for 24 hours,

then apparently without even inspecting them, let them continue (at least that is what was reported yesterday on Anderson Cooper).

[Vinnie From Indy]

28. There is something more here than the story relates.

The barges should have had and probably did have PFD's and fire extinguishers in order to even get their certificates to sail.

As an aside, there are many instances when basic safety procedures should be discarded. For instance, imagine that a ship is sinking. Now imagine a deck officer refusing to allow people into life boats because they did not have the proper flotation devices strapped around their bodies.

[malaise]

4. If they run into a storm and workers drown

the same Jindal would blame the Federal government. The barges should have had the fire extinguishers and life vests before they set off.

[tammywammy]

5. +1 n/t

[LisaL]

7. There is nothing to indicate that the barges did not have

the fire extinguishers and life vests.

[MineralMan]

10. Nor anything that indicates that they did.

That's why the Coast Guard inspects boats. They've inspected my boat. I have all the safety equipment. They gave me a nice sticker to show that my boat was properly equipped. They do a great job of making sure that all safety precautions are taken.

Now, wasn't it BP that had a problem with safety precautions? That's what I seem to remember. Wouldn't it have been nice if someone had made sure that all precautions were taken on that drilling rig?

Please think. The barges are, no doubt, back dealing with the oil, with all safety precautions in place. Good job, Coast Guard!

[LisaL]

15. Nothing in the article suggests they didn't have these

safety precautions in place when Coast Guard stopped them.

[CBR]

11. That is the Coast Guard's job. They should be doing that. nt

[Bonobo]

12. This doesn't pass the smell test IMO. nt

[wiggs]

13. seems like if you're sucking up flammable liquid, ensuring that

there are fire extinguishers and life vests on board is a good idea. Kind of basic. no need for more tragedy. It's not like their registration tags weren't displayed properly...this is a safety issue.

[LisaL]

16. Does it need to be insured by stopping these barges?

This is an emergency, and does not appear to be treated as one.

[Oregone]

18. Its about worker safety, and violating that is also an emergency

[LisaL]

20. Who says it was violated?

Is reading comprehension lacking around here? Needed to confirm barges had life preservers does not suggest that barges did not have life preservers.

[Oregone]

23. That would be up to the CG to say

And thus, why they needed to inspect the rigs.

A lot of people around here seem to think those barges should be allowed to go out, with or without PFD and extinguishers

Thats not acceptable to me.

[wiggs]

50. We should also ask NG or volunteers to pick up oil even if they don't have

hazmat suits? Ask them to continue their work as long as they promise to get a suit tomorrow?

Sounds a lot like cleanup crews at ground zero being told the air isn't hazardous.

[Narraback]

17. Media Matters :"ABC's purposefully misleading Gulf Coast report?"

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201006180011

snip

Last night, ABC's World News Tonight aired a tough, who's-in-charge piece that condemned the federal government for its botched handling of the BP oil spill. Specifically, ABC told a tale as told by Louisiana's GOP Gov., Bobby Jindahl about 16 oil-sucking barges that were temporarily docked by the Coast Guard. Jindal thought they should have been out in the Gulf cleaning up the spill.

Why were the barges docked? Well, here's what ABC reported in its online dispatch :

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.

But guess what? In the report that aired on network TV last night, ABC left out that explanation. (You can watch the report here.) In fact, ABC left out any explanation as to why the barges were temporarily docked. Instead, viewers were left with the impression that the clueless Coast Guard ordered the barges to stop cleaning up the Gulf for no reason at all.

[phleshdef]

19. So f-ing WHAT? This whole mess started because people weren't doing what the CG did here.

And thats ensuring proper safety regulations are being enforced. Get over yourself. Same goes for Jindal.

[bik0]

21. This is what's outrageous...

Fifty-nine days into the crisis, it still can be tough to figure out who is in charge in Louisiana, and the problem appears to be the same in other Gulf Coast states.

In Alabama today, Gov. Bob Riley said that he's had problems with the Coast Guard, too.

Riley, R-Ala., asked the Coast Guard to find ocean boom tall enough to handle strong waves and protect his shoreline.

The Coast Guard went all the way to Bahrain to find it, but when it came time to deploy it?

"It was picked up and moved to Louisiana," Riley said today.

The governor said the problem is there's still no single person giving a "yes" or "no." While the Gulf Coast governors have developed plans with the Coast Guard's command center in the Gulf, things begin to shift when other agencies start weighing in, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"It's like this huge committee down there," Riley said, "and every decision that we try to implement, any one person on that committee has absolute veto power."

[hedgehog]

51. Maybe someone decided the boom was needed more to

protect Louisiana marshes than Alabama beaches?


It's like this huge committee down there, and every time someone doesn't like a decision, they grab a media person and give them half the story.

[lillypaddle]

25. This was posted

over in freeperville. Just sayin ...

[OHdem10]

29. Can you believe it. We have all these oil companies and NO TANKERS

and NO SKIMMERS.

Please can we put our pride in our pocket and borrow some
tankers and skimmers.

FORMERLY, WAIVE that Jones Law, for Gosh sakes and bring
in the countries who wish to help us. Announce it on TV.

The OIL COMPANIES should be made to invest in at least
some Emergency Tankers and SKIMMERS in case of another
disaster. This is for a time later on. It must be done.

Not one Oil Company would have been prepared for this
disaster. Their plans say let the oil get on the sand.
This makes it much easier to collect.

Stop the finger pointing, GET US SOME Help from other
countries and keep as much oil off the beaches as possible.

[MineralMan]

30. Uh...you've not been following this, have you?

The skimmers are there. Have been for awhile. Tankers are there, too. Don't depend on political websites for your information. The information is out there, you know. You just have to look for it. And, when you do, you'll be better informed and less likely to post incorrect information.

Learning is good.

[kestrel91316]

34. Stop listening to Faux and reading on FR. Skimmers have been there for

quite a while, in part because we accepted the donation of their use by other countries (in case you wanna proclaim that the US rejected foreign help).

[Abq_Sarah]

46. I believe we actually paid for the equipment

Or, I should say BP paid for it. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h5J2HkjTwU39lxZISFKF2mbJjHbA

[kestrel91316]

31. Yeah, that workplace safety crap is a lotta BS. If the ship gets into trouble,

just let the workers burn to death or drown. There's plenty more where they came from.

:sarcasm: I SHOULDN'T need this, but there's always SOME idiot who thinks I'm serious.

[hayu_lol]

36. Stop and think a minute...

if the drilling rig had required safety gear(lifevests at the least)when the rig caught fire...perhaps some of those 11 dead workers would still be alive.

[kestrel91316]

41. Don't presume to chide me. READ MY FUCKING POST. You know,

that SARCASM thingie?

Jesus H Christ. What the hell do you think MY POINT was??

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

43. I don't think those 11 people died because they didn't have lifevests.

They died because they blew up.

[Autumn]

33. Why did they have to contact the people

who built the barges? Why not get on board the barges and inspect the equipment and let them get back to work? I would think it would have taken a few hours to make sure they were there. Makes no sense.

[LisaL]

35. Exactly.

If the Coast Guard needed to confirm that the barges had life preservers, why not get out there and confirm it on the spot?
Seems to me like the left arm doesn't know what the right arm is doing.

[Autumn]

38. Right.

We had a boat about 15 years ago. We spent a couple of days out on the water at a large lake and the rangers actually came on board to check out our life preservers and fire extinguishers. No big deal.It took them no time at all. This is just stupid.

[hedgehog]

49. "There were also concerns about the stability of the barges. "

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010 Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010


Wild ass guess, but someone wanted to make sure the barges were ballasted properly so they wouldn't capsize.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

37. Much ado about nothing. If basic safety preparation were lacking

that it is a red flag they were not ready to go to work. Step one get their act together.

[Abq_Sarah]

47. Could the coast guard

Not have checked the ships individually at sea instead of ordering all of them to port over possible violations?

[notadmblnd]

39. Is this the barges first time out in the water?

Why would they not have live vests, boats and fire extinguishers? How long does it take for the Coast Guard to hop on board and check? Was there really a good reason for them to pull all 19 barges? Why don't Jindal just hop his ass in a limo and run down to Wally Mart and pick up the 5 dollar vests and 10 dollar extinguishers if the barges aren't outfitted with them already?

[FBI_Un_Sub]

40. Read Title 33 of CFR, Subchapter NN

The CG is trying to enforce regulations that speak to the transfer of the pollution risk and hazard risk from the high seas into down town Morgan City, Houma, and New Orleans. It's about more then fire extinguishers, scuppers, and life vests. It's about bringing the hazards to Audubon Park and Vieux Carré.

[doc03]

44. Well that is the law and the CG is paid to enforce the law.

If one of those barges would catch fire or a worker would drown because he didn't have a life vest Jindal would be the first one to blame the CG and of course Obama. I think there is much more to this story than meets the eye. Oh and yesterday the MSM was condemning BP for telling their workers if they wore a respirator they would be fired. Today they do a 180º and condemn the CG because they enforce the safety regulations.:argh:

[Scurrilous]

45. Kick

:kick:

[blindpig]

48. Great stinking ppiles of hypocracy

Yet the workers under BP control and denied necessary protective equipment, cause it will look bad.

Kill Capitalism