A few days back there was a great deal of frustration and anger directed at government red tape in general and the Coast Guard specifically when some barges which had been jury rigged to clean oil were delayed. (Coast Guard overrides Bobby Jindal, orders barges to stop cleaning oil)
At the time of the delay it seemed to Governer Jindal and others that it was extremely urgent that these barges get back to work, following Coast Guard regulations seems like an unnecessary hindrance. From the article:
Brassel repeatedly declined to say whether the Coast Guard balances safety considerations in an urgent, disaster response scenario like what is happening in the Gulf versus ordinary circumstances when time is not of the essence.Of course if the decision had been made to put the barges to work without the appropriate safety measures and an accident had occurred it would have been obvious in hindsight that it was a mistake. An example of this is the case of the Deepwater Horizon
Keeping the BP Deepwater from slipping further behind schedule seemed very urgent just before it exploded and sank. Reportedly short cuts were taken to "to speed finishing the well," which was running "significantly behind schedule. (Lawmakers accuse BP of 'shortcuts')
You'd think that the folks that were urgently pushing to have possibly unseaworthy vessel to sea would be able to put two and two together. A Bravo Zulu to the Coast Guard for sticking to their guns.
K.C.
