Live from the Gulf: Local Officials Forced to Fight Bureaucracy More Than Oil Spill (VIDEO)

Brandon Stewart / July 15, 2010

For the past two weeks, the Heritage Foundation has been down in the Gulf raising awareness about what is and is not working in the oil spill cleanup and what possible solutions exist that are being ignored by the media. Last Friday, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) led a group of eight Congressmen on a Gulf Coast visit and Distinguished Fellow Ernest Istook joined them, recording what they saw.

During a boat trip at Grand Isle, Louisiana, local officials, including Jefferson Parish Emergency Management Director Deano Bonano, described how bureaucracy—both from BP and from multiple federal agencies—has frustrated their attempts to halt oil from rushing between the coastal islands and into the large bay they border.

But rather than empower local officials to do what is necessary to protect their coastline, their environment, and their way of life, officials feel that bureaucracy has hindered much of the help they have sought to provide. (more…)