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La. Pols: BP Can't Handle Slick, Let's Take Over

Calls for gov't intervention grow as oil approaches shore

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff

Posted May 12, 2010 5:13 AM CDT

(Newser) – As oil threatens more bays and wetlands in Louisiana, including the state's most fertile fisheries, Louisiana lawmakers have ramped up calls for BP to hand over cleanup efforts to the government. “We’re relying on a private company that seems to be overwhelmed,” a state rep. complained. “We need to handle this like a hurricane, with the governor’s office in Baton Rouge in charge.”

BP is currently in charge of both stopping the gushing offshore oil well and supplying coastal towns with containment materials such as booms, which are in increasingly short supply. "We have some boom out and we’re waiting for more. We have to wait on BP," one local official tells the Christian Science Monitor. “The US government and the state need to step in and takeover from BP,” says an official in Jefferson Parish, where workers are scrambling to protect inland waters.

Members of the Louisiana National Guard hook a sandbag to a helicopter in Port Fourchon, La., May 11, 2010. Helicopters are dropping sandbags at the mouths of marshes.
Members of the Louisiana National Guard hook a sandbag to a helicopter in Port Fourchon, La., May 11, 2010. Helicopters are dropping sandbags at the mouths of marshes.   (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Risers, the outer casings of oil drill pipes, are seen on the service vessel Joe Griffin as it prepares to head to Port Fourchon at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, May 11, 2010.
Risers, the outer casings of oil drill pipes, are seen on the service vessel Joe Griffin as it prepares to head to Port Fourchon at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, May 11, 2010.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, pool)
Oily water is seen at sunset at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana Tuesday, May 11, 2010.
Oily water is seen at sunset at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana Tuesday, May 11, 2010.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, pool)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 17 comments
fishhook
May 13, 2010 12:23 PM CDT
Let the local and the federal govt take over the solution to this horrendous problem and make sure the 3 Musketeers foot the bill.
JonmarkP
May 12, 2010 7:35 PM CDT
Where the hell are all the other oil companies? They ALL have containment equipment and employees-Obama should give them a choice: help with the cleanup, or lose your gargantuan tax breaks immediately.
Guvner
May 12, 2010 3:13 PM CDT
So the truth finally comes out. What about all that chest thumping by the administration about being in charge "from day one"? Not so much, eh? Guess that NYTimes article about gov incompetence in this matter was correct.

Probably behind the scenes there's communication, but the active role belongs to BP.
 

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