Live from the Gulf: Oil Spill Follies… Bayou-Myth or Bureaucratic Red Tape?

James Carafano / July 09, 2010

Angry. That is the first word that comes to mind listening firsthand to how folks on the Gulf Coast feel about the federal government’s response the oil spill disaster. For many, this far worse than Katrina. That hurricane swept through three states in hours, covering thousands of square miles; wiping out roads, communications, and everything else needed to respond to the disaster. It is understandable why it took aid too long to reach too many. The oil spill, on the other hand, has been a disaster in slow motion. Everyday people on the Gulf Coast watch what has been their livelihood for decades succumb to the growing cancer of oil contamination. About one-third of all American fisheries are rooted in the marshlands and estuaries of Louisiana where fish and wildlife breed—all that is at risk; as is a once thriving energy industry as a result of the drilling moratorium.

The oil spill was a disaster, but it was not a catastrophe. It is becoming a man-made catastrophe because of a failure to clean-up the spill and respond quickly to the environmental damage being caused by the oil that makes landfall. While there are many people, from private contractors to the Coast Guard, working tirelessly to support the states in protecting their coastline, for many in the federal bureaucracy it seems like business as usual—or worse. (more…)