The Gulf oil spill muddle: when oil nears shore, confusion begins
One day after frustrated Gulf Coast mayors laid into a BP official, saying the company was not doing nearly enough to forestall the spread of the Gulf oil spill, the Coast Guard admiral in charge of the relief effort said that, ultimately, he is in charge.
On Saturday, Orange Beach, Ala., Mayor Tony Kennon was among the mayors laying blame for the ineffective oil spill response at BP鈥檚 door. Oil is now washing ashore on Alabama and Florida beaches, and tourism there has fallen 50 percent this year.
Speaking of one oil slick that came ashore, Mayor Kennon said that he 鈥渃ould not get a skimmer here in time before it made landfall. That's inexcusable. I don't care how much money BP has to spend. I want the resources here to handle any situation.鈥�
IN PICTURES: Louisiana oil spill
But Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is in charge of coordinating the federal response, said Sunday that the people in charge of moving assets around the Gulf chessboard were not BP employees, but federal officials in his chain of command.
鈥淎s far as prioritization and directing the oil response, it is the federal on-scene coordinator, the United States Coast Guard鈥� that is responsible, Allen said on CNN鈥檚 鈥淪tate of the Union.鈥�
It was a rare moment of clarity amid the often confusing posturing that has marked the halting Gulf oil spill response.
Whose responsibility?
Both the federal government and BP have made broad and non-specific claims of responsibility.
For his part, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward on Sunday reiterated his statement that BP will clean up the mess its well is causing.
"We're going to clean-up the oil, we're going to remediate any environmental damage, and we are going to return the Gulf coast to the position it was in prior to this event,鈥� he said on the BBC. 鈥淭hat's an absolute commitment, we will be there long after the media has gone, making good on our promises."
President Obama, meanwhile, said during a recent trip to Louisiana: "I ultimately take responsibility for solving this crisis. I am the president and the buck stops with me.鈥�
What has been unclear to local officials on the ground in Louisiana 鈥� and now Alabama 鈥� is who, exactly, they should call when they spot oil heading for their shores.
For the most part, officials have antagonized BP, and for obvious reasons. BP鈥檚 pronouncement that the containment cap installed last week is working 鈥� siphoning away a 鈥渕ajority鈥� of the leaking oil 鈥� comes too late for mayors watching oil wash ashore.
鈥淚 would love to have one of your guys go down and look at our beaches and tell me that what you see is effective and is working," Robert Kraft, mayor of Gulf Shores, Ala., said at the Saturday local mayors鈥� meeting.
The relief hierarchy
Yet Allen鈥檚 comments Sunday made clearer the actual operational hierarchy at the Gulf. BP, he said, is responsible for making available the necessary assets at its own expense. It is then the Coast Guard鈥檚 job to oversee the response.
Allen summed it up this way: 鈥淐oast Guard is the federal on-scene coordinator for this response. BP is the responsible party. We are the ones accountable to make sure BP does the job.鈥�
That gap 鈥� the space between the logistical capabilities that BP brings to bear and the Coast Guard鈥檚 ability to oversee their deployment effectively 鈥� has been the single murkiest area of command and control during the cleanup.
The federal government has never contested BP鈥檚 management of the effort to kill or contain the well 鈥� BP alone has the tools and technical know-how. But the shoreline has been a gray area.
鈥淚 would say on the shore cleanup side, we have more degrees of freedom and more capability and competency we can bring to bear and a greater, wider set of authorities allow us to effect the outcome than on the sea floor 鈥� that鈥檚 true,鈥� Allen said in a May 24 press briefing.
That area, too, is where BP is most deficient, he added:
鈥淚f I were to give you an area where I鈥檝e had more conversations with BP than any other, it鈥檚 been on the difference between wholesale and retail: BP does wholesale really good as far as massing logistics, moving stuff around, getting it into the warehouses. That last mile of retail, where you get the siting of the oil, you got to get the boom 鈥� you got to coordinate all that, that鈥檚 where the formation has got to be tightened up.鈥�
Complex effort
The comments of the Alabama mayors, at least, suggest that the formation has not been tightened adequately in recent weeks.
This is partly because the cleanup effort is not a black-and-white tableau of BP and the Coast Guard. Much of the cleanup is being done by a kaleidoscope of contractors paid by BP. But even in his briefing two weeks ago, Allen said the federal government was at the top of that hierarchy of organizations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a multifunctional team, multi-disciplined team. And they鈥檙e staffed by the local federal on-scene coordinator,鈥� he said.
IN PICTURES: Louisiana oil spill
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