Where Are The Skimmers In The Gulf?

Florida Senator George LeMieux (R) asks the question.

Comments

[Horsebutt]

This whole gulf thing is a real mystery. How can this be happening without the news media being up in arms against Obama?

All those skimmers could be in full operation by now, well except for those three that are held in reserve for when Charlie Rangel washes his hair.

[Bruce]

I thought all the skimmers were in Washington D.C.

[wyz gy]

would ya shut-up already !! can't you see we have a crisis here?? if we make this look too easy, we'd have to drop the moratorium on drilling. we need more crisis', higher gas prices and people on their knees begging. we're getting everyone right where we need them-at our mercy...please sir, could we have more??

[GeorgiaDawg]

Yep, its just a another crisis and I don't want to waste it, i'm about to get my Financial
Reform bill on regulations passed ...If this Gulf oil spill will distract enough of the American
people i'll get my Climate (Cap and Tax) bill and will be able to get SCOTUS to rule against
the Arizona immegration bill and get all the Lation votes in november...I mean, whats a few
lives in return for all those liberal votes...I hope my people appreciate what Michell and i
are sacrificing for your future and prosperity....

Life couldn't be better in the White House and my administration...

Your humble servant and all around nice guy,
President Barack Obama

[Coastie]

Well as someone retired from the Coast Guard, the gentleman is leaving a lot out. District 8 for example includes miles and miles of inland waterways where any vessel that is "skimmer capable" wouldn't even be likely to be able to reach the gulf. Also "skimmers" would include vessels such as Aids to Navigation platforms who have ongoing and never ending safety to navigation missions.

That said, my friends still on active duty give me the impression the CG is mobilizing everything it can to get down there WITHOUT neglecting its everyday missions of maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, enforcement of customs and border at sea and safety of navigation.

Now don't get me wrong, I am sure more can be done and more should be done but I just wanted to point out as someone with extensive first hand knowledge from years of service that the Senator's statements while true may have been misleading.

[wyz gy]

umm, coaster, we've got a real catastrophy going on as we speak and you are offering more excuses than a dieting fat lady in line at the gut-busters r us buffet. hells bells, we bring in more of an immediate emergency response to fricken dying, beached whales that wash ashore. we've got other countries begging us to use their equipment-nope sorry. got a thing called the jones act in the way-thanks, but no thanks-we'll call you. our quasi leader is too busy golfing, hosting concerts and tongue-kissing our mexi-neighbor calderon to make the right calls for this gulf mess, but he remains "focused like a laser since day one" on the oil leak??

[Chuck (FL Pundit)]

Knowing you to be a rock solid conservative, I appreciate the insight Coastie.

[Bruce]

@Coastie: I, too, appreciate your expert opinion. Like FoxNews, we need to be fair and balanced, relying on facts to guide our decision making.
Nonetheless, Obama has yet to explain why he continues to reject foreign assistance and at least temporarily waive the Jones Act. I'm guessing he'll relent at some point in time in the future, but only to save face. By that time, any foreign assistance will be meaningless. This crisis is simply too good to waste and gives him cover for all the other issues (immigration, cap-n-tax, financial reform, Hagen, unemployment, etc.)

[Coastie]

Oh don't get me wrong, I am speaking exclusively from the Coast Guard side of the equation since the senator was using a Coast Guard District map and I would believe citing Coast Guard statistics.

To wyz gy, the "excuses" I offer from the CG side are the need to keep our waterways safe by maintaining Aids to Navigation, manning the Vessel Traffic Systems, doing Homeland Security port inspections (the job of our Marine Science Technicians (MST), the same ones trained to manage pollution response) and being available for Search and Rescue.

I have a shipmate, an MST Chief Petty Officer who says there are only 4 men left in his office of 17 in Massachusetts, the rest already deployed to the Gulf. My old Bosun just transferred to a Buoy Tender homeported in San Francisco, he was not even able to help his wife find a home or move in, he immediately caught up with the ship as it was transiting the Panama Canal to get to the Gulf. I have made that trip on several occasions and on a vessel that size and speed it would take three weeks. Another shipmate of mine is the CO of the USCGC Harry Claiborne, a coastal buoy tender homeported in Galveston. He tells me they have nothing but skimming for 6 weeks and are barely given time to return to refuel and replenish. His Aids to Navigation are being maintained by other units as he can't do them himself.

I was stunned to hear we refused offered foreign aid to assist with the spill (whether offered at a cost or not). But those type things would have nothing to do with the graphic and numbers cited by the Senator.