The Spectacle Blog
Ray McKinney is a Republican running for Congress in Georgia’s 12th District against Democrat Rep. John Barrow. A project manager who works at nuclear power plants, McKinney has come up with a plan of action for coping with the disaster caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon well. Highlights of the McKinney plan:
- Immediately suspend or grant waivers to the Jones Act. Saudi and Dutch firms have proven high-tech solutions to clean up the spill in an estimated 3 months, instead of the current projection of 9 months it is likely to take under current policies… .
- Lift the six-month moratorium on offshore drilling. Thirty-three Gulf oil rigs are now idle, and according to the Times-Picayune, Louisiana alone would lose $2.97 billion and 7,590 jobs directly related to the oil industry. …
- Allow local governments to construct all the protective barrier islands (sand berms) they need to keep safe the beaches and marsh lands along the gulf coast. Delay in approval has allowed oil to wash up on the shore… .
- Cut all red tape that may hinder efforts to stop the spill and clean up areas affected by the spill.
- Salvaging the well can no longer be priority one. We must stop the gushing well and return to normal the lives affected by this catastrophe… .
- BP is responsible for the spill and BP, not the taxpayers, must bear the cost of the cleanup.
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Nate| 6.18.10 @ 6:28AM
I've just about had it with you communists talking about "cleaning up the oil spill."
You sound like a bunch of sissies.
You know what's wrong with this country?
Communist sissies like Stacey McCain weeping for pelicans, walruses, and muskrats!
What do you want us to do? Go back to the 18th century, before there ever was any such thing as NASCAR?
Communists. Nazi commie fascist pinko faggots.
whats really wrong| 6.18.10 @ 7:14AM
Left wing poseurs like barak obama and lyin ass nate.
theres a reason none of them will run as a leftist.
137 days til the tsunami naterade....tick tick tiiick
Eric Cartman| 6.18.10 @ 9:09AM
Some people just can't handle LSD.
Troll Watch| 6.18.10 @ 9:24AM
Why are our trolls so stupid? They are not even funny. If they were minorities they could at least win the Democratic nomination for the Senate or the Presidency for that matter. Because they were born white they will just be stupid brown shirt followers of the One. Somebody should tell Nate that McDonalds is hiring.
Mimi| 6.18.10 @ 8:50AM
WOW..!! Can we make Ray McKinney " THE BOSS " for 1 month to right all the wrongs, this President is doing ? Seems like the " pressure " on this well is too high to cap.....hmmm, dug too deep did they? Yes, shut it down!! # 1 priority. Jones Act..... help from other countries should have happened on day ! Bobby Jindle should have been heard and helped right away. Boy does he shine as a great LEADER! Heh....Listen-up Whitehouse, humble youselves, for once do the right thing.... Get RAY in there!!! at least for a talk....Lets get some action! One big question boys.... is your corrupt delay on PURPOSE???
Ned| 6.18.10 @ 8:54AM
I have a great idea to get the oil mess cleaned up. Just give anyone, whether a person, company, corporation, whatever, $3.00 for every gallon of oil they capture from the gulf, and then put into containers for proper disposal or future use.
This would be something like the former gold rushes we have had in our country. Think of the hardships those fortune seekers endured and the ingenious methods devised and employed to get every ounce of gold gathered up.
The folks who live at the gulf could go into the business of selling, at a respectable profit, the equipment needed for the mining of the oil. The oil miners could be put up in the now empty tourist hotels and provided food and drink. Gambling and that other pastime with the ladies could be used to keep whatever money made by the oil miners in the gulf and save their economy.
Oh and one last thing, the most important, the government would need to just stay the hell out of the way and let capitalism clean this mess up.
Nate| 6.18.10 @ 2:24PM
I don't think I've heard a better plan for cleaning up the mess. (I'm being serious. It's a great idea.)
But here's the thing:
BP pledged, on its honor, that it could handle a disastrous spill that poured up to 250,000 barrels a day into the Gulf.
It was ON THE PREMISE you advocate that the government issued the license to drill. The idea was the government should get out of the way and let industry experts police themselves. As long as the industry people were willing to ATTEST to the safety of what they were doing, and promise that if the worst happened they could control the situation, then the government would bow out and "let capitalism" do its thing.
Well. Here we are. This is the future we were promised. This is the Golden Age. Democratic and Republican presidents signed onto the program. Salazar, it turns out, was no different than any Reaganite. If the industry says they have a fail-safe plan to deal with a spill, they must have one. Because why would they lie? And who in the government knows more about drilling oil than engineers at BP?
Good questions. The answer is, "No one." No one in the government knows more about drilling than the engineers at BP. But still it's not enough, and the Gulf of Mexico is in big, big trouble because of it.
I know, I know. I'm a communist, etc.
Jeff Perren | 6.18.10 @ 8:44PM
You may or may not be a communist; I don't know you. But you clearly lack some understanding of capitalism.
It does NOT entail letting companies do whatever the hell they wish, so long as they promise to be good.
It does not imply that only oil companies have rights and therefore they are NOT responsible for any damage they do to others.
Of course, all this is fairly moot, since in the present situation we have NOTHING whatever even close to a free market in oil, property, fishing, etc.
Free markets in a capitalist system operate within the rule of law. They are not equivalent to anarchy where there is none.
This is just another of the endless false alternatives presented by Progressives: onerous and continual violations of individuals rights vs no protection of individual rights by government.
Tony Rome| 6.18.10 @ 9:09AM
One more suggestion. Once the well is capped give it to Louisana and allow them to have all the proceeds from the sale of Oil from the platform. BP has plenty of wells. I'm thinking this baby has a bottomless pit.
JP| 6.18.10 @ 9:19AM
"BP is responsible for the spill and BP, not the taxpayers, must bear the cost of the cleanup"
No one said they weren't. And if one considers that they've essientially handed over to the federal government every red cent they will earn for the next 20 financial quarters, it will be a miracle that they will last that long (BP has only $3 billion in cash on hand). The President better hope that the price of crude doesn't drop off significantly.
owyheewine| 6.18.10 @ 10:12AM
I don't want to dismiss the problems caused by the oil well blowout, but the reporting is pretty sensationalized. There are more than a thousand miles of coastal wetlands (read slimy, alligator and mosquito infested swamp and marshes)between the tip of Florida and the Rio Grande. This morning I heard that 52 miles of coast has been affected so far. That's far from the environmental disaster that we hear and hear about daily. A few birds have gotten oil coated and some globs of oil residue have washed up on some beaches, but certainly not the end of the world scenario that the press is putting on.
The mess needs to be cleaned up, and BP needs to pay for it, but some rational reporting would be nice.
Jeff Perren | 6.18.10 @ 8:50PM
"The mess needs to be cleaned up, and BP needs to pay for it, but some rational reporting would be nice. "
Wouldn't it though? Don't look for it anytime soon from the mainstream media, for whom death and disaster are irresistible sirens. Objectivity and perspective is the furthest things from their minds.
But then, I'm sure you know that already.
Bayou Babe| 6.18.10 @ 10:26AM
Ray McKinney must be channeling Bobby Jindal. Bobby has been hammering those bullet points from the start of this horror.
Exit question: Given Bobby had to take matters into his own hands – deploying siphoning barges – and was stopped by the USCG for the stupidest reasons on record, will the DoJ file suit against Louisiana as it plans to do against Arizona? Think about it. Both governors are trying desperately to protect their states from utter destruction. Apparently, the feds hate that.
astonerii | 6.18.10 @ 7:28PM
"BP is responsible for the spill and BP, not the taxpayers, must bear the cost of the cleanup. "
This is the only one I am going to argue with. Considering the ineptitude of the federal response, how can you charge the cost of failure to the company? For Obama, this is a dream come true, he can throw as much money away as he pleases feeding money to his supporters at the expense of BP. Does this seem like the right thing to do?? If BP was in charge, if BP was making the decisions, this would be right and fair, but since the government makes the choices, the government should pay for each and every poor choice and BP should only pay the bill for those programs that work efficiently and get the job done.
heather | 7.25.10 @ 2:23PM
not channeling Bobby, copying Bobby is more like it - it's a big difference. He's good at riding peoples tailcoats - trust me...you don't want him in a decision making roll - he ran for President in '08...not to stable but nice enough guy.