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United States News Title: True or false? FOX News: Obama & unions block oil spill clean up efforts It's an election year and politics seems seep into everything like a viscous oil slick. Like a thick gooey slime, there are those who want to take advantage of a national tragedy for their political gain. Fox News' Brian Wilson yesterday published a story yesterday June 11 that was clearly meant to raise the national blood pressure. Wilson's story also paints an unfair picture of the US Coast Guard. The story leaves readers with an impression the Coast Guard is raising bureaucratic obstacles and actively blocking the use of advanced vessels and technologies because of a law called the Jones Act. In his story Wilson uses Joseph Carafano of the Heritage Foundation to raise the public's wrath against labor unions. His story continues: After 50 plus days of oil flowing freely into the gulf, the question could be asked: Why do effective and proven foreign clean up ships remain on the sidelines? Carafano believes it may have something to do with the Obama administration's close relationship with labor unions. "Cause this is a big thing for unions," Carafano said. "The unions see it as... protecting jobs. They hate when the Jones Act gets waived, and they pound on politicians when they do that. So... are we giving in to unions and not doing everything we can, or is there some kind of impediment that we don't know about? When you read Wilson's story, one is left with the false impression there are foreign vessels with advanced technologies just sitting idle in the gulf and being prevented from assisting the oil gusher clean-up and recovery operations. If it was true, it adds oil and fuel to nation's collective anger. If it was true... Well... a simple call and email correspondence yesterday afternoon with the Unified Command unequivocally disputes and refutes the Fox News story. In an official statement by the Unified Command's Lt. Erik Halvorson, Chief, Joint Information Center of the Unified Area Command said: All potential foreign technology solutions are being reviewed for their suitability to meet response requirements. As Admiral Allen said this morning, he will review waivers of the Jones Act if they are requested, but so far no requests have been made. I am not aware of any instance in which needed foreign ships or technology have not been accepted due to the Jones Act. The Jones Act is not preventing us from getting the technology that we need. Simply put --- Labor unions and the Jones Act plays no role, zero, nada, zilch in the evaluation of clean-up vessels or technologies. To imply that labor unions and the Jones Act could be blocking the use of the world's best technologies is simply false and misleading. It is not true that Obama is colluding with labor unions to prevent the use of any vessel or technology, foreign or domestic. There are no foreign vessels with advanced skimming and clean-up technologies just sitting around waiting for Jones Act waivers. Fox News, the Heritage Foundation and Wilson's politicized story do nothing to contribute to any solution needed to help the gulf coast. At best, Wilson's story serves only to drive a political wedge amidst a national tragedy. There is a time for politics but the truth is for all the time. ADDENDUM: I followed up on readers' comments and again asked the US Coast Guard to elaborate. Their direct response is again through the Unified Command's Lt. Erik Halvorson, Chief, Joint Information Center of the Unified Area Command and is as follows: "...I tell you that we have reviewed all international offers of assistance. More specifically, that the Unified Area Command has received 21 offers of assistance from 17 countries and four international organizations. These offers came through the U.S. State Department. All offers were reviewed by the Unified Area Command. All qualifying offers were accepted. Those offers of international assistance that were not accepted did not meet the operational requirements of the Unified Area Command. These offers have not been declined. They may be needed in the future as our response strategies change. We will reconsider them as necessary. The Unified Area Command reviews all offers of assistance as the operational situation changes and if an offer meets an operational need, we will pursue acceptance." Again, according to the USCG, the Jones Act was not a consideration. That said, I am still waiting for the USCG to clarify the story about declining the Dutch offer.
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#1. To: go65 (#0)
Yobie who?
#2. To: Badeye (#1)
Brian who?
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