White House to the Netherlands - Thanks, but no thanks

I am of the opinion that presidents get far too much blame for disasters when there's really not much they can do. However, when another country offers their expertise to help and the response they get is, "Thanks, but no thanks" is when the blame falls squarely on the Oval Office.

Three days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and was sent to Davy Jones' Locker, the Dutch offered assistance with as much of their resources and expertise as possible. According to Geert Veeser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston, “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks...’”

One can interpret the response from the White House any way they want to. I personally see it as a response of selfishness, in respect to  not wanting to show the world that America is too weak and incompetent to fix the problem ourselves. When not accepting the offer shows just the opposite. After all, and contrary to popular environmentalist beliefs, the Dutch gets most of their energy from offshore oil drilling and are resident experts at building dikes.

The official reason why the White House refused help from the Dutch is the Jones Act, a maritime law that requires all goods be carried in U.S. waters by U.S. flagged ships, which has prevented Dutch ships with equipment from entering U.S. coastal areas.

And Veeser asked the right question in his response, “What’s wrong with accepting outside help? If there’s a country that’s experienced with building dikes and managing water, it’s the Netherlands.” I'm sure that this law could have been thrown out the window on this instance, particularly since hindsight is 20/20.

Then there is bureaucratic red tape. For instance, a Maine businessman by the name of John Lapoint of Packgen in Auburn who has more than enough oil containment booms to assist in the effort. With the help of Senators Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Governor John Baldacci, word was sent to the Secretary of Interior and NOAA that John Lapoint and Packgen could help.

On may 24, ABC reported this:

On May 2, Gov. Jindal requested that federal authorities and BP provide three million feet of absorbent boom, five million feet of hard boom and 30 “jack up” barges. Of that, less than 800,000 feet of hard boom has arrived — less than a fifth of the request. About 140,000 feet of that hard boom is sitting waiting for BP to tell contractors where to take it.

“It is clear we don’t have the resources we need to protect our coast, we need more boom, more skimmers, more vacuums, more jack-up barges that are still in short supply,” Jindal said today. “Let’s be clear, every day that this oil sits is one more day that more of our marsh dies.”

Lapoint made a risky decision and began manufacturing oil boom, thinking that his company could sell it to help in the containment and cleanup effort. He added shifts and employees, and started cranking out the oil boom right away. It was a huge financial risk, but he also figured that in an emergency of that magnitude, you had to act quickly, and figured that BP and the government would have to act quickly too.

Well, he thought wrong and the risk he took was all for naught. Why? Once again, the White House declined the help.

Oh, let's not forget this: