A Brown Pelican covered in oil sits on the beach at East Grand Terre
Island along the Louisiana coast on Thursday. (AP/Charlie Riedel)
Crimson has an excellent day-by-day timeline of Obama's spectacular mishandling of the greatest environmental disaster in our nation's history. If there is one thing that can be said of O, it is that no president has ever failed so consistently and at such a magnitude as this blowhard has -- to accolades from a fawning press, no less.
In any crisis, the policies of the left always fail, without
exception, because you need the producers,
the object of the left's
destruction.
He did nothing for days, weeks, while whole swaths of coast were destroyed. He used the opportunity to kill all offshore drilling. So many bright, creative ideas were tossed aside, much the way he tossed aside all things capitalism, American exceptionalism and international sovereignty. Such incompetence is indicative of complete stupidity and head-in-posterior paralysis, or something more sinister and destructive. Either way, it ain't good.
Crimson has the timeline of events regarding the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico. All events up to May 24 are taken from reports found in the Mobile Press-Register, the New Orleans Times Picayune and Mississippi Press print editions. Time permitting, I will source the events below with online news stories. If you have any comments, corrections or additions, please feel free to help me in the comments section.
Oilbama's waterloo:
The whole timeline is here. Excellent. (hat tip cathy)April
April 20:
The Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) Deepwater Horizon explodes and catches fire in the Gulf of Mexico at about 10 p.m. A crew of 126 people were on board, 11 are missing and at least 15 are injured. Initial reports are that a blowout occurred when oil and methane gas erupted through the riser pipe connecting the Horizon to the well head, 5,000 feet below surface.
April 21:
The U.S. Coast Guard holds its first news conference on the incident. Mary Landry, commander of the Coast Guard's 8th District, says that the Coast Guard is unsure whether any oil has been spilled and that efforts were being focused on recovering the missing crewmen.
April 22:
About 100 survivors from the rig arrive on shore after being treated and debriefed offshore. The 11 missing crewmembers are still missing.
The Deepwater Horizon, still burning, sinks into the Gulf of Mexico, dragging the damaged riser pipe to the bottom with it.
April 23:
The U.S. Coast Guard says that no oil is leaking from the undersea well at the Deepwater Horizon site.
The U.S. Coast Guard officially suspends its search for the 11 missing workers. The 11 missing are presumed to have been killed by the explosion and fire.
April 24:
Reversing the previous day's statements, USCG public affairs states that oil is now leaking from the undersea well at the Deepwater Horizon site. The rate is estimated to be about 1,000 barrels per day, or 42,000 gallons.
April 25:
Remotely operated submersibles are first employed to engage the valves on the blowout preventer device at the well on the sea bottom. The first of many efforts fail. Oil continues at a rate of about 42,000 gallons per day and the first significant images of a slick begin to appear on aerial photographs.
April 26-27:
Severe weather, including thunderstorms, high winds and high seas, suspend cleanup efforts.
April 28:
Crews begin the first "controlled burn" of oil floating atop the water, using specially constructed fire booms. The fire booms, which were not on hand (or even within hundreds of miles of the coast) had to be ordered from Ohio. Experts in marine oil spills criticize BP and the USCG, stating that burning procedures were established in plans approved in 1994.
NOAA announces that five times as much oil (210,000 gallons) is spewing in the Gulf of Mexico than originally thought. Underwater imagery also shows that at least two new leaks in the damaged riser pipe are leaking, bringing the total sources of leaking crude to three.
BP begins mobilizing equipment and resources (see last paragraph at the link) to drill a relief well at the site. BP identifies the relief well as the best, permanent solution for shutting off the leak, but estimates that engineering, mobilization and drilling could take 60 to 90 days.
April 29:
Governor Bobby Jindal issues emergency declaration and requests federal assistance.
President Obama signs the declaration and declares the incident a "Spill of National Significance."
