GulfLive – Officials wish oil spill response handled better by BP and Feds
Wicker was asked what he would do differently after a flight over the Mississippi Sound on June 26.
“I guess we should have had an even greater expectation of bureaucratic cumbersomeness than even I expected,” he said. “I never have put much store in huge bureaucracies. Katrina was a great example. The Interior Department and BP are huge bureaucracies and their wheels grind exceedingly slow.”
Wicker said he knew the spill was “unmitigated disaster” within the first few days after the explosion that killed 11 rig workers.
Barbour also responded after a flight over the Mississippi Sound. The governor had announced in a news conference in Biloxi on June 25 that the state was contracting the construction of 23 skimmers.
“I wish three weeks into the storm, into the spill, we had come to the conclusion that a static defense wasn’t the right thing for Mississippi,” said Barbour. “To just put down boom wouldn’t protect us. So, we presented, about three weeks after the spill, to the federal unified command and BP that we wanted an active, in depth, multi-layered defense and they took it, considered it and approved it.
“But the further we went into it, it was clear they couldn’t execute. It wasn’t for the lack of trying, but problems with command and communications that Congressman (Gene) Taylor was talking about and the deficiency in the amount of equipment needed to do the job. By God’s grace, we didn’t get any oil for nine weeks.”
GulfLive
7/5/10
Magnolia Tribune
