Will Gulf getaway be much of a vacation for Obama?
A two-day trip to the Gulf Coast for President Barack Obama and his family will feature some beach time but maybe not a great deal of rest and relaxation.
Previewing the first family’s vacation to Panama City, Florida, this weekend, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it would include briefings on the oil spill cleanup, an update on how weather would affect the completion of the relief well and discussions about the spill’s impact on businesses.
Obama will also serve as chief pitchman for the effort to attract tourists back to the region.
“The president will meet with business and tourism leaders to discuss the impacts that they’ve seen on their business because of the oil spill,” Gibbs told the daily White House news briefing.
“It will be important for the president to talk about what are the next steps in bringing the region back,” he said.
For a second day in a row, reporters asked why Obama was only spending a few days in the Gulf in contrast to his planned 10-day trip to Martha’s Vineyard that begins next week.
Gibbs said that Obama and his wife, Michelle, “both believe that it is important to highlight that …the Gulf Coast is, during a busy summer, open for business.”
Obama’s oil oratory — Katrina, drill baby drill, boom and shave
President Barack Obama, in his first formal press conference in almost a year (since July), answered questions about his handling of the oil spill.
There was the one about Katrina comparisons. (Slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina turned into an albatross for former President George W. Bush).
“I’ll leave it to you guys to make those comparisons … and make judgments on it, because what I’m spending my time thinking about is how do we solve the problem?” Obama said.
But it turns out he did have an opinion about future judgment about past actions. “I’m confident that people are going to look back and say that this administration was on top of what was an unprecedented crisis.”
Did he regret calling for expanded offshore drilling before the spill? Obama said he continues to believe that “domestic oil production is an important part of our overall energy mix,” but is insufficient to meet future needs, which is why investment in clean energy is needed.
Then, the president, himself, without any prodding, brought up the phrase that Sarah Palin made famous.
“Extraction is more expensive and it is going to be inherently more risky,” Obama said. “And so that’s part of the reason you never heard me say ‘drill, baby, drill’. Because we can’t drill our way out of the problem.” (If someone wanted to get technical, he actually did say it to make the point that he never said it).
I think the president is sincere however, every effort should be made to solve the problem. This spill will impact not only the gulf, it will affect the entire nation and ocean currents will carry it beyond our shores.
NASA has great photos showing the movement of the oil, noting that the under current could be more severe than what is on top. They also lists books available on line priced at less than 50 dollars that explain the dangers and the impact on the environment oil catastrophe produce.
At the present time it can be seen being draw and surrounding the Mississippi Delta.
Volunteering ideas is fun, but we need people to get on board and clean up the mess and political leaders with resources and wit, and financial means to engineer an answer to stop the spread of the oil.
Hilary spoke today about smart power…? Does she realize she is speaking the will of the people for green energy?
from Environment Forum:
Oil-soaked sand along Gulf Coast raises memories of Exxon Valdez
A handful of oily sand grabbed from a Louisiana wetland brought back some strong memories for Earl Kingik. As a traditional hunter and whaler in Alaska's Arctic, it reminded him of the Exxon Valdez spill. As he and other tribal leaders toured the U.S. Gulf Coast for signs of the BP oil spill, they worried that what's happening now in Louisiana could happen if offshore drilling proceeds off the Alaskan coast.
"There's no way to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic," said Kingik, an Inupiat tribal member from Point Hope, Alaska. Compared to Louisiana, where the waters are relatively calm and cleanup equipment and experts are nearby, the Arctic Ocean is a hostile place for oil and gas exploration. The Arctic leaders made their pilgrimage to the Gulf Coast as part of a campaign to block planned exploratory drilling by Shell Oil in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.
"What I saw was devastating out there," Martha Falk, the tribal council treasurer of the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope in Alaska, said after the Gulf Coast tour by seaplane, boat and on foot. If the same thing occurred off Alaska, she said, "We would have to wait days and days and days for (cleanup) equipment to reach our area."
The planned start of Alaska offshore drilling in July coincides with the spring hunt of the bowhead whale, a central event in the Inupiat culture, Falk said.
"The natural smell of the ocean was non-existent" along the Gulf Coast, said Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, an Inupiat from Nuiqsut, a tiny Alaskan village near the Beaufort Sea. She was brought close to tears as she recalled the faces of the Gulf residents she saw on the tour. "It is a strong burden that I'll carry with me the rest of my life."
The Arctic native people headed for Washington DC after their Gulf Coast tour to plead their case with members of Congress and Obama administration officials. The three members of the Alaskan congressional delegation generally favor offshore drilling as a way to ensure jobs and the continued operation of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. As a former mayor of her village, Rosemary Ahtuangaruak admits it's a tough balancing act to juggle the oil industry's potential impact on tribal culture with the creation of jobs for tribe members.
Environmental activists and members of Congress wrote to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urging him to suspend Shell's drilling plans in the Arctic Ocean, which includes the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Salazar and others have said no new drilling will be approved until May 28, when a report on the BP spill is due.
