Creative Ideas Come Through in Louisiana
[Guest post by DRJ]
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports on creative ways people have found to clean up the oil. In addition to the 16 barges carrying vacuum trucks deployed by the Louisiana National Guard (discussed here yesterday), Louisianans have come up with other simple yet effective solutions:
“[Plaquemines Parish President Billy] Nungesser is ready to try just about anything. He recently gave the go ahead for parish workers to test shop vacuums to remove crude trapped between marshes and containment boom. He was pleased to learn that two of the devices sucked up almost 150 gallons in a matter of minutes.”
A Hollywood celebrity has joined in, too — Kevin Costner and his oil-separating centrifuges. As discussed in this article, Costner and his brother got interested in oil cleanup methods after the Exxon Valdez. Costner invested over $24M to buy and improve a centrifuge project that separated oil from water, but the centrifuges sat unused for almost 10 years until this spill.
— DRJ
Could end up being the best thing he’s ever done (besides “The Untouchables”).
Icy Texan (d1faea) — 6/18/2010 @ 9:35 pmThey are all miles ahead of Obama.
Mike K (82f374) — 6/18/2010 @ 9:36 pmis this a testament to American win or to American fail I can’t tell anymore
happyfeet (19c1da) — 6/18/2010 @ 9:39 pmHi DRJ here is an article that tracks a lot with your BP p.o.v. I think
happyfeet (19c1da) — 6/18/2010 @ 9:45 pmMike K – Obama is drowning in incompetence. Virtually anybody would be miles ahead.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/18/2010 @ 9:46 pmPlus Obama should for reals apologize for America’s arrogance to those countries what offered to help out and were turned down.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 6/18/2010 @ 9:47 pmthat’s an amazing story what still hasn’t been told in its shocking amazingness yet I think daley
happyfeet (19c1da) — 6/18/2010 @ 9:53 pmOf course, you know, nothing anything anybody can do will be tried. You have to have approval from the the Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of State, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Resources, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Treasury, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Justice.
You may get a pass from the Department of Veteran Affairs, unless a veteran is involved.
The only solution I can see is a Department of Leaky Fossil Fuels, except that may already be a subsection of the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Homeland Security, the IRS and Amtrak.
Ag80 (1b8eea) — 6/18/2010 @ 10:00 pmFollowing on from Ag80 comments, it is useful to remember a favorite recurring line from Instapundit as to why this simple solution will not work. No graft. The reason we were offered virtual fences instead of actual fences was that the payola from Boeing is way more than you could ever expect from a guy who builds walls. How do you think Gubmint works?
Gazzer (d79016) — 6/18/2010 @ 10:11 pmthis is kinda cool if you scroll down… it’s a bunch of yammer about how wikipedia is saying we guess it’s ok if we use this picture we don’t really have the rights to…
I was looking for pics cause these oil rig things are a lot majestic I think.
This one is like a Robert Frost poem if Robert Frost wrote poems about big majestic oil rigs.
here they stand silently against the horizon like watchful sentinels.
Beautiful.
happyfeet (19c1da) — 6/18/2010 @ 10:30 pmCostner has been waiting since the spill began for someone to say it was OK to use his equipment.
Somebody had a link to this earlier today:
http://www.transterrestrial.com/?p=27632
If you didn’t see it before, take the opportunity to see it now.
MD in Philly (5a98ff) — 6/18/2010 @ 10:51 pmThis could help a little I think.Thank you for posting this one.
Jessica (7288f9) — 6/19/2010 @ 2:04 amHas O-bambi waived the Jones Act, yet? C’mon Chrissie…tell us all how great HE is doing!
rtrski (6ae5bb) — 6/19/2010 @ 5:17 amIf he builds it, they will suck (oil). Kudos to Costner for this constructive effort.
RB (198d7e) — 6/19/2010 @ 5:42 amIl Duce does not approve of any successful individuals unless he deems them so.
HeavenSent (a9126d) — 6/19/2010 @ 7:04 amNotice how Costner deployed a capitalist’s POV on the problem, rather than do a Sean Penn or Travolta and do meaningless gestures accompanied by a full array of media outlets.
Our country has slowly morphed from a can – do place to a can’t – don’t – without – your – betters -in – government- approval rinky – dink kleptocracy.
Dmac (3d61d9) — 6/19/2010 @ 8:21 amClift of Newsweek, asked what tea partiers would do to clean it up–this article answers her well.
Of course all these heroes will be arrested now by G-men for violating federal rules and regs.
Patricia (160852) — 6/19/2010 @ 9:14 amA competent President would have put someone in charge with proven leadership skills, handing him a letter that says,
AD - RtR/OS! (4ae013) — 6/19/2010 @ 10:14 am“Give the bearer of this note all the cooperation and assistance he requires”, over the President’s signature.
And then, he would have stood back and let this man or woman do their job, with the expectation that he would be briefed periodically.
And, if anyone resisted, by omission or commision those requests for assistance or cooperation, they would be summarily sacked.
Oh, and Eleanor is an idiot, that was amply pointed out by the commentariat at that site.
AD - RtR/OS! (4ae013) — 6/19/2010 @ 10:16 amAD – Obama should have immediately put W Bush in charge. If he succeeds Obama shares credit, if he fails then he has the scapegoat already positioned.
Have Blue (854a6e) — 6/19/2010 @ 10:39 amWhy does American ingenuity and fortitude upset people like Eleanor Clift or escape others like President Obama? Had the extraordinary restraints not been in place and the endless layers of bureaucratic committees needing to approve every minuscule decision, I think we would have seen a flurry of immediate action, some very effective and some not so much.
Americans are not stupid or lethargic (although our government may feel differently) and at the heart of our country, people are not naturally disposed to waiting for some suit to direct their path. When natural disasters strike, most Americans strike back and take action as best they can. We don’t lack for ingenuity or tenacity but what we do lack for is the space and freedom to set possibly great and beneficial ideas into action. The impediments grow daily.
One Louisiana fisherman was interviewed on the radio last week and said that the worst thing happening next to the spill were the endless layers of people that they were forced to run every little decision through – he said he honestly had no idea how many committees were now actively involved and none of them seemed to know what the next one down the line was doing. And worst of all, none of them wanted to be the final “yes” or “no”.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 6/19/2010 @ 10:53 amGood for Costner. Hopefully even better for the Gulf.
It takes a cowboy mentality. Not Obama’s forte.
em (017d3c) — 6/19/2010 @ 1:37 pmSo I really want to know: is this oil like lost treasure? Can people go out and scoop it up and sell it for money? (I mean, as oil, not as souvenirs, although come to think of it that would probably make money too. It would just scoop up a lot less oil.)
If it’s profitable to recover this oil, then the only thing that makes sense is to let people have at it. My goodness, that’s like tossing dollar bills out of a helicopter. You’d have all kinds of unemployed people down there, renting equipment, and going out and making theirselfs a Beverly Hillbilly fortune in Texas Tea.
One stone.
Two birds.
Gesundheit (6acc51) — 6/19/2010 @ 7:47 pmI know my brother would agree with you here, but I’m not sure that’s accurate in all cases
Argentina Rosenbarger (e7b4b8) — 1/1/2011 @ 7:22 pmGood info, but I think there needs to be more details in the 3rd paragraph. Not everyone is going to understand exactly why…
Lucio Archacki (3ab2aa) — 3/2/2011 @ 12:45 amI’m not so sure I agree. Most pros will be able to spot the problem before it gets that severe.
Pearlie Curley (850f89) — 3/19/2011 @ 3:01 pm