Okay, missed this one first time around, but damn, couldn’t just let it go…

From the AP:

If a hurricane hits, the Obama administration’s response plan says workers must sort out where the oil came from and who should pay for it “prior to removal of contaminated debris…the cleanup process after a storm will require representative sampling and investigative work to maintain accountability,” the 35-page document, dated July 14, said. “The sampling process will be conducted as quickly and efficiently as possible to help identify the source of the oil.”

When the government says they are to do something quickly and efficiently, my mind drifts out to sea on a raft of complacency. The Gulf has seen enough, enough to posit that if a hurricane hits this toxic stew of Corexit and crude oil and dumps it all over whatever unfortunate state happens to be in its path, one might be inclined to clean first, ask later. For whatever reason, for the past four months, BP and the government appear to be inhabiting this strange reality where time doesn’t exist.

Delays caused by the testing could range from hours to days, said Ed Overton, a professor of Environmental Studies at Louisiana State University. Once a sample is collected, it takes three to five hours to process the material. Ultimately, the time will depend on how many samples are being tested, said Overton, who is also head of the joint Coast Guard-Northern Oceanic Atmospheric Administration hazmat chemical analysis team. He called the government’s plan crazy. “This is insane,” Overton said. “You don’t have to hold up the cleanup just because you’re waiting on a crazy lab analysis.”

Injecting a point of logic:

What difference does it make if you test the oil in a garbage bag, as opposed to when it is fresh(?) on the beach?

Read the article:

Hurricane could bring bureaucratic delays to Gulf

Have a nice day.