AP Gripes at Lack of Freebies in Oil Cleanup

Ernest Istook / June 23, 2010

We need all the international help we can get to clean-up the Gulf of Mexico, but an Associated Press account seems to gripe that the help is not free.

After almost two months of delay, the U.S. last week agreed that foreign oil spill response vessels (but not other foreign ships) can join the effort. Our official government finding says, “there are an insufficient number of specialized oil skimming vessels in the U.S. to keep pace with the unprecedented levels of oil discharges in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Rather than analyzing why we took so long to allow foreign help, the AP issued a story that it headlined, “Cleanup Aid from Overseas Comes with a Price Tag,” bemoaning that the helpers expect to be paid.

Of course they do.  So do the army of American workers, boat owners, and relief vessels working in the Gulf.  And, as President Obama loves to remind us, “BP will pay.” (more…)