Did the Coast Guard worsen the Gulf oil spill?

“The quicker we get about the business of reducing our reliance on oil the better.”- Condoleezza Rice

Now here is an interesting story about lack of preparedness at the Federal level. Columnist Ed Morrissey writes, Did the government cause the Gulf spill?

The generally accepted view of the Deepwater Horizon disaster has focused on the blowout preventer and the non-standard procedures BP conducted just before the explosion and fire. However, most of the damage and the main source of the spill came from the collapse and sinking of the DH platform [i.e. the biggest leak was from a break in the pipe that connected the platform to the ocean floor] ... A new report by the Center for Public Integrity, based on testimony from people on scene and Coast Guard logs, contains evidence that the platform sunk because of a botched response from the Coast Guard, which failed to coordinate firefighting efforts and to get the proper resources to fight the fire.

Here's what the CPI report, Haphazard Firefighting Might Have Sunk BP Oil Rig, has to say,

The Coast Guard has gathered evidence it failed to follow its own firefighting policy during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and is investigating whether the chaotic spraying of tons of salt water by private boats contributed to sinking the ill-fated oil rig. ... Coast Guard officials told the Center for Public Integrity that the service does not have the expertise to fight an oil rig fire and that its response to the April 20 explosion may have broken the service’s own rules by failing to ensure a firefighting expert supervised the half-dozen private boats that answered the Deepwater Horizon’s distress call to fight the blaze.

... The Coast Guard’s official maritime rescue manual — updated just seven months before the BP accident — recommends Guard personnel avoid participating in firefighting aboard a rig. Instead, the manual requires Coast Guard responders to set up an “Incident Command System” and assign an expert, such as a fire marshal, to lead the efforts to extinguish the blaze.

The Coast Guard failed to obtain an independent rig fire expert but instead deferred to firefighting experts aboard the rig. Witnesses say there was no attempt by the Coast Guard Command Center in New Orleans to designate any fire marshal to take charge. The Coast Guard focused on crew rescue and allowed any boat that showed up to spray sea water on the rig. This may have flooded the damaged ballast tanks causing the rig to list, become unbalanced, and sink. The sinking broke the oil pipeline, making the oil spill much worse. Experts say the proper procedure is to use foam on oil fires but neither the Coast Guard nor the rig fire team requested foam. The rig team itself put out an SOS for ships to spray the rig with water.


Rob Bluey of the Washington Examiner writes,

These new details raise serious questions for the White House, which has repeatedly pinned the blame on BP. If it turns out the Coast Guard is at fault -- either because it didn't follow proper procedures or couldn't respond adequately because of a lack of resources -- the public has a right to know why we're just now learning this information 100 days after the disaster began.

The crippling budget cuts President Obama proposed for the Coast Guard also deserve a closer examination. Obama's spending plan reduced the blue water fleet by a full one-third, slashed 1,000 personnel, five cutters, and several aircraft, including helicopters. ... Adm. Thad Allen warned the budget cuts threatened to turn the Coast Guard into a "hollow force."

Bottom Line

Unfortunately this is typical for federal government rescue efforts. As with FEMA, the federal government says its role is NOT do the actual rescue work but rather to organize the effort through the Incident Command Structure. In theory the government brings value with expert, knowledgeable leadership and coordination. In fact neither occur. With the oil rig, no outside expert was appointed to lead and the Coast Guard let the rig team run the show. This was perhaps not wise - you don't fight a fire with your HQ inside the burning building and staff fleeing for their lives. 

It does seem that the Coast Guard is already a "hollow force" when dealing with maritime fires. If you can not rely on the Coast Guard to properly manage a fire at sea, who can you trust?

PS
For a different story on "everything we know about the oil spill is wrong" see Time magazine's, "The BP Spill: Has the Damage Been Exaggerated?". President Obama has called the BP oil spill "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced" but so far the number of birds killed is 1% of the number killed by the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska 21 years ago. Only three dead mammals (dolphins, etc) have been found. Assessment teams have found 350 acres of oiled marshes, but Louisiana loses 15,000 acres of wetlands every year from erosion caused by "flood control" re-engineering efforts on the Mississippi.
Yes, every oil spill is bad, but it serves the public little good to have the press and government exaggerate the damage, destroy a company (BP) and ban all future drilling.