Now I know that you are not supposed to & definitely are not required to indict yourself so you can understand just how shocked I was when BO admitted @ his news conference yesterday that he had been in charge & was personally responsible since day one - which was 38 days ago & counting - for control of the oil leak that resulted from the BP/Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20.
This is not the sort of thing most people would take responsibility for especially when they have no expertise in such matters. In fact shortly after the news conference began BO made another startling admission - namely that BP & the other oil companies were the only ones who have the technology to possibly stop this leak that originated in an oil reservoir that was 13,000 feet below the sea floor that was 5,000 feet below the water surface in the Gulf Of Mexico. Who in his right mind could imagine that the EPA, Coast Guard, Army Corp of Engineers, or BO - all of who have never produced a drop of oil in their lives could manage such a task? But this is the politically correct ignorant world we live in.
As many of you know I spent my engineering -construction career building chemical plants all over the world. Part of this experience was building the incineration portion of sludge incineration plants for such clients as the City of Detroit (largest wastewater treatment plant in the world), the Cleveland Regional Sewer District, & the Orange County Water District. All of these clients were required to have a licensed professional engineering firm write the specs for our projects - which always without exception came with a performance guarantee - & of course approve our drawings & calculations & inspect our work in the field until the project was complete.
The problem started when the professional engineering firm did not know how to write the specs & accordingly our sales engineering department wrote the specs for them. Once we became the low bidder the client's engineering firm justified their existence by finding everything wrong with our drawings & calculations that they could - of course delaying the project completion while we resubmitted the drawings & calculations.
My experience with these municipal sewage treatment clients mirrors exactly what BO was describing @ the news conference re BP & government control of the clean up & control effort of the oil leak in the Gulf. Detroit's incineration plant projects would have been far more successful if the clients & their engineers would merely have gotten out of the way & let the people who knew the technology execute their performance contracts.
If anything, since BP is responsible for the cost of the cleanup & every other damage they should be the kingpin in charge of the Gulf oil leak matter. BP should determine the government's role, if any, asking for help from the government, if any is required. Now I know that the leak occurred in federal waters & that in accordance with some ill conceived law that the federal government is legally in charge, but when you think of all of the above points you can clearly see one more colossal case of falsely relying on government when they really have no business being involved @ all - especially while industries & livelihoods are being destroyed.
Chicago was rebuilt after its fire, as was Galveston after its hurricane, & San Francisco after its earthquake, all without a dollar of government money. The philanthropy & charity of the American people, coupled with the free market capitalistic system that has made America the envy of the world, restored these cities. This is the same force that ultimately will restore the Gulf Coast if BP fails to meet its obligations.
