How Well Would Have The American Political Class Handled The Chilean Mine Crisis?

The rescuing of the 33 Chilean miners, who had been trapped thousands of feet underground for the past two months or so, was certainly the feel good story of the year so far. Kudos to the miners, their families, and everyone involved in this dramatic and extremely difficult rescue. According to an October 15, 2010 article, there had never been another situation where the rescuers had to drill so far down to reach trapped miners, never mind the fact that at the onset of the crisis, no one even knew whether they were alive or where they were located. Nevertheless, the rescue mission was a success.

As I read the article, I was struck by a number of things: 

1. Within days after the crisis began, the Chilean President appointed an engineer, Andre Sougarrett, to be in charge of getting the miners out alive. In other words, there was a clear cut leader from the start of the rescue, a leader who had the expertise to do the job.
2. Sougarrett immediately flew to the mine where he quickly eliminated the "nest of confusion" that awaited him on his arrival. He quickly put a team together to start the process. In other words, he got the effort focused properly and right away.
3. They drove into the mine and assessed where the cave in had occurred and determined that drilling through the debris might cause another cave-in, leading them to conclude that the only safe way to get to the miners was to drill a new shaft. In other words, they assessed the situation and worked out contingency plans.
4. In addition to looking at maps, they talked to those  miners that had gotten out of the mine before the cave-in in order to more accurately determine where the survivors below the cave in might be located. Also, the Chilean President had asked for help from anyone around the world who had the expertise to help in the rescue. In other words, they quickly utilized all possible resources that were available to them.
5. Once the men were found alive, Sougarrett started three more drill holes called Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. Why three plans? According to the article, Sougarrett said: "The only way to minimize risks is to have alternatives." In other words, more contingency planning.
6. Sougarrett talked to the miners every day, first using phones and then via a video link. He talked to them about what they were doing and accepted the advice and suggestions from the miners themselves. In other words, he was open to all possible answers.

 Now compare this approach with the way the American political class handled the Gulf Oil Spill:

1. Clear cut leadership - there was never anyone one person who had clear cut responsibility and authority to coordinate the oil spill situation. Parties involved in getting the oil spill under control included President Obama, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the Coast Guard, the EPA, BP, state government officials, etc. but as always with our political class, everyone was in charge but no one was responsible.
2. Got the effort focused properly and right away - was there ever any focus to the Gulf spill situation? Seems like the events just kind of happened randomly with no one in charge and very little direction or focus on how to stop the leak. Seems like days and weeks went by with no one developing a plan of attack for ending the crisis.
3. Assessed the situation and worked out contingency plans - it was pretty clear from the start of the Gulf crisis that neither BP, the government, or our politicians had any contingency plans for stopping or plugging the leak. They were making up the process haphazardly as they went along. It was clear that the Interior Department had not required anyone, inside or outside of government, to have a well thought out and executable contingency plan process to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf. Attempts to stop the leak were all linear, i.e. try something and if that did not work, stop and try to think up a new approach. There was no parallel action plans (like Sougarrett's Plans A, B, and C), simply because no one in the political class and specific government agencies had taken the time and effort to develop them. Weeks and weeks after the spill began, the government started talking to a movie director, James Cameron, to see what help he might provide, based on his experience of filming underwater. Seriously, you are clueless when a movie director becomes your subject matter expert. And even if Cameron was helpful, why did it take so long to bring him in for a discussion? Again, grasping for straws in belatedly turning to a Hollywood director because they had not contingency plans.
4. Quickly utilized all resources available to them - there were numerous reports that President Obama turned down offers of help from some European countries who had expertise in dealing with and cleaning up spills in the deep waters of Scandinavia. It is still unknown why these offers of help were refused, international expertise was essential in the Chilean coal mine rescue.
5. More contingency planning - besides lacking an contingency planning for plugging the leak, there were no contingency plans for capturing the oil once it was into the Gulf's waters. When states asked for permission to do their own clean ups they had to wait weeks to get an answer back from the government. In the meantime, oil slicks and the such started fouling the states' beaches.

Besides the above article's points, consider the following observations:

• The Chilean rescue mission looked to be seamless, at least to the outside world. You did not see the bickering like we saw between the states' politicians and the Federal political class and bureaucrats in the oil spill crisis, bickering that probably delayed the clean up effort and the plugging the well effort.
• The rescue mission seems to have taken into account not only the physical well being of the miners but also their mental well being of the miners and their families waiting for them above. We seem to forget that 11 oil rig employees were killed when the BP rig exploded, I never got the feeling that the government or political class gave those that died or their family members the proper respect and support, they were to busy covering up their shortcomings or grappling with the fact that they never put together a contingency plan.
• Everyone in Chile seemed to be laser focused on getting the miners out alive.  I did not see or hear of any bickering of who was at fault and who was to blame during the rescue process. The focus was on the task at hand, sorting out blame for the cave in could wait. Compare that to our political class, that was holding Congressional hearings and diverting attention from the immediate tasks at hand, plugging the well and cleaning up the oil. Instead, BP personnel were called to Washington hearings to testify while the oil was still flowing out of the busted well. Do not think for a minute that facing accusing politicians and facing the possiblity of criminal charges did not divert attention and focus from the immediate needs to handle the oil spill. The hearings to sort out blame could have waited, I guess the political grandstanding could not.
• Everyone in Chile seemed to be genuinely supportive of the rescue mission. In the United States, it seemed our politicians and voters were more concerned in determining what impact the spill would have on the November elections rather than pulling together to stop the flow of oil and clean up the oil that had gotten into the Gulf.
• I also got the feeling that the Chilean President Sebastian Pinera was fully engaged in the rescue process while allowing the experts to do their jobs. I never got the feeling that President Obama took that same type of approach, to me he seemed to treat the oil spill as a distraction. Since the President took two vacations during the crisis, played seven rounds of golf, and took two cross country trips soley to campaign for California Democrats, these actions may account for my feeling that he was not fully engaged in an event that killed 11 Americans and affected the lives of millions of others.

I applaud the entire Chilean relief effort. It was blessed with able leadership and organization, was quickly implemented, it was well planned out, it considered and acted on all contingencies, and it considered the human needs including the mental well being of the trapped miners. Our political class reaction to the oil spill was not well led or organized, the effort was long and drawn out,  it was not planned out at all,  had not considered any contingency planning ahead of time or during the crisis, and disrespected the workers who perished in the explosion.

Fortunately for the miners, they did not work in an American mine, especially this time of year, a year of mid term elections. Our politicians would have left them in order to go home and campaign for their re-election, possibly getting back to the hypothetical trapped miners during their lame duck session after the elections.


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Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back Into The Water... Another Czar Shows Up

On what I thought would be a slow blog day, the Obama administration comes to the rescue again, this time in the wonderful world of Obama's Czar world. Just when you thought we had gone to the most outrageous extremes relative to assigning White House Czars, the administration does itself one better: it recently announced the appointment of a so-called "fish Czar" to battle the bighead and silver carp that are threatening to enter the Great Lakes. Yes, we now have an official government entity focused solely (get it, sole, a fish?) on two invasive species of carp fish.

Before we throw our line into this story, let me make a few comments. I do not mean to belittle or minimize the problem of these invasive species of carp. They have been heading up the Mississippi for many, many years and have left a path of destruction in their wake. They can grow to over a hundred pounds, they crowd out native species, they can destroy the local ecosystem, they are difficult to catch, and they can be dangerous to boaters, given their ability to jump high out of the water at the sound of an approaching motor boat. Most experts expect a serious ecological problem if they are successful in establishing themselves in the Great Lakes. Thus, I am not trying to minimize the magnitude of the problem, it is a problem that must be dealt with.

However, it is the way that this government and political class are dealing with it that is a major concern. The creation of another department within this administration, and the budget and resources that goes with it raises a number of troubling issues:

• Shouldn't, and couldn't, this matter been handled by experts in the Federal government's Interior Department? One would think that this is their responsibility, especially since they have a bureau within the Department titled Bureau of Fish and Wildlife? If they are not up to the task and this inability caused additional resources and taxpayer money to be expended and a new czar department to be created, shouldn't the people that operate these related parts of the Interior Department be fired for incompetence?
• Shouldn't, and couldn't, this matter been handled by an existing czar, the Great Lakes Czar? If the concern is that the invasive species will cause great damage to the Great Lakes, who better to handle the problem than Obama's Great Lakes Czar? What else could this czar be working on that is so important that we had to create another czar department focused on the same bodies of water? If the Great Lakes czar and his staff are not up to the task, then they need to be fired for incompetence.
• Shouldn't, and couldn't, this matter been handled by the EPA since we are talking about environmental protection of the Great Lakes? If you go to the EPA's website, you see that this organization has been working on this issue for over ten years. Could it be that they have no clue on how to fix the problem, given what little success they have had over the past decade? Maybe they should be fired for incompetence?
• Given that the Federal government and several state governments have been working on this issue for a very long time, why was this czar appointed now, many, many months after the original czars were appointed? Could it have something to do with a lawsuit against the Army Corp. of Engineers and a water agency in the Chicago city government by the state of Michigan? Given that Obama has shown himself to be mostly a political animal rather than a national leader, one cannot help but think the appointment at this point in time has something to do with bailing out the Federal government (Corp. Of Engineers) and his friends back in his home city of Chicago from this state government lawsuit and his little to do with the invasive species problem.
• What will be different once this new czar is in place? Other attempts to slow down the spread of these fish by the government have been ineffective, whether it has been trying to electrocute them or poison them. In fact, in a well documented story, one attempt to poison the carp resulted in thousands of native fish being killed and one, yes one, carp being killed. It is unclear what this newly appointed czar will bring to the table that some other Federal bureaucrat cannot bring to the table. The only good news in this area is that the gentleman appointed appears to have good credentials for the job, it was not like Obama appointed someone who had no experience or talent for the assignment.

The whole thing sounds fishy to me. Why yet another czar (an appointment that, of course, bypasses the Constitutional responsibility of Congress to review high ranking people in the executive branch and thus, undermining the Constitution), why haven't Federal employees in the EPA, Interior Department, or the Great Lakes Czar office been fired for incompetence if another czar had to be named and why now? As with everything else, this administration does not have any strategic and overall plans for anything. It seems they just dash from problem to problem, naming czars or implementing unrelated tactics, hoping something will work. Well, hoping is not a strategy, and just because the political class has taken action, does not mean that anything will get done. We have covered many instances where laws and programs were passed or instituted but never actually solved the core problem (see a recent post, "Bad Laws Behaving Badly" for a detailed set of examples).

Step 34 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" might be a worthwhile step to have had in place in this situation. Step 34 would remove all politicians from Congressional committee posts for not performing up to a minimum standard of performance. Since this problem has been around for over a decade, those Congressional members sitting on the committees responsible for this matter should have been removed from those posts. If you cannot solve a problem like this in ten years, it is unlikely you will ever solve it. Thus, you should be removed and give someone else a chance to fix the invasive fish problem. It's called accountability and should apply to politicians and federal employees alike who have failed us in this matter.

My prediction: you can kiss the Great Lakes ecosystem good bye. The courts are involved, overlapping Federal jurisdictions and departments are involved, and after many, many years, the fish are still winning and getting might close to the Great Lakes. There is no plan for fighting this battle. If there was, I would have thought it would already be in place and working, it is not like this problem just popped up yesterday.

Again, I am not trying to minimize the magnitude of the threat, it appears to be a genuine one. However, attacking the problem like the politicians attack and fail at all other problems, great amount of fanfare at the onset, followed by bureaucratic bungling immediately afterward with no accountability for results, gives me little hope that this battle will be won. As with most government programs, everyone is in charge (EPA, Army Corp. Of Engineers, Interior Department, Great Lakes Czar, Fish Czar, state governments) but no one will be held responsible for failed results. That's where I net out.



Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

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Screwed Up Government Priorities, Case #2 - "Meanwhile, oil continues to spew into the Gulf.."

Yesterday we discussed the first in a series of posts regarding how screwed up our government's priorities are. We saw that while the political class spends almost $16 billion a year in local earmarks for their local states and districts and to generate campaign funds for their re-election, the same political class spends only about $2 billion a year on cancer research, a set of diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. How screwed up is that priority: better to get re-elected then save American lives.

Meanwhile, oil continues to spew into the Gulf...

Today we will look at a second set of screwed up priorities, namely the whole situation with the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf Of Mexico. As an upfront disclaimer, let me state that I find the actions of BP leading up to, during, and after the explosion on their oil rig to be shortsighted, despicable, and inadequate. They took short cuts and probably violated a number of Federal safety statues and laws. Over 60 days later they still have not plugged the leak and really have no other plan in place to stop it for at least another couple of months. They should be held accountable for the damage and safety violations to the fullest extent of current law.

Meanwhile, oil continues to spew into the Gulf...

Unfortunately, over the past week or so, the political class has gotten itself and their egos involved in the process. A White House meeting was held with Obama and his staff and the Chairman and CEO of BP. CEO Tony Hayward later went over to get beat up at Congressional hearings by Congress people that probably had no idea of what they were talking about except that it made them feel good in front of the cameras. And, there is no doubt that Hayward probably deserved some of the beat down since it is obvious that under his watch, BP was not prepared for what happened. However, rather than beat up the head of the cleanup, could we have not waited a little while to crucify him in public? Would not his time have been better spent working on the problem, the continuing spill, rather than jetting to DC? There is plenty of time to get a pound of flesh after the hole is plugged.

Meanwhile, the oil continues to spew into the Gulf...

Anyway, Mr. Hayward is not the only one who should be crucified because of this disaster. What about Interior Secretary Salazar. I would like to get him on the stand and ask him the following questions:

• Mr. Secretary, the Associated Press has reported that an internal investigation has uncovered at least one of your employees responsible for oil rig safety has admitted that he used crystal meth and may have been under the influence the next day at work and that others have admitted to being users of illegal drugs. Did that have anything to do with safety laxity on your watch?
• Mr. Secretary, the Associated Press has reported that an internal investigation has uncovered numerous occurrences where your employees received hunting and fishing trips and other gifts from the same companies that your department was supposed to be regulating and inspecting. Did that have anything to do with safety laxity on your watch?
• Mr. Secretary, the Associated Press has reported that an internal investigation has uncovered numerous occurrences where your inspectors were actively inspecting oil company sites for safety at the same time they were negotiating for jobs at those very companies. Did that have anything to do with safety laxity on your watch?
• Mr. Secretary, an Associated Press report mentions a 2008 report by the Interior department's inspector general that "decried a culture of ethical failure" and conflicts of interest at the responsible Interior agency. Did this culture have anything to do with the safety laxity on your watch and how have you addressed this problem?
• Mr. Secretary, the Associated Press has reported that an internal investigation found that some local employees in your Lake Charles, La. office had a significant amount of pornography on their government computers. Did that have anything to do with safety laxity on your watch?
• Mr. Secretary, the Associated Press has reported that your department conducted sixteen fewer safety inspections at the BP oil rig than it should have. Did that have anything to do with the safety laxity on your watch?
• Mr.Secretary, the Associated Press has reported that safety regulation of the Gulf wells is so lax that "some key safety aspects on rigs are decided almost entirely by the companies doing the work." Did that have anything to do with the safety laxity on your watch?
• Mr. Secretary, the Associated Press has reported that the overall BP safety plan and the safety plan specifically for the rig that exploded never had a chance of being successful, even on paper, and was riddled with inaccuracies, falsehoods, and inadequate preparation for the disaster. Who is responsible for such a lousy plan and document and will there be repercussions for those responsible?

Meanwhile, oil continues to spew into the Gulf...

Secretary Salazar is not he only person I would want to grill as an American citizen. I would allow Congressman Henry Waxman and Senator Jeff Bingaman, the chairman in Congress who chair committees on energy, to be put on the stand together for the following questions:

• Gentlemen, given the myriad of failures discussed with Mr. Salazar above, how come your committees were so lax in their oversight of the energy safety issues on Gulf drilling rigs?
• Gentlemen, given that your committees are responsible for Gulf drilling rigs, have either of you ever been on an oil rig?
• Gentlemen, given that your committees are responsible for Gulf drilling rigs, are either of you familiar with the Federal safety regulations? I particularly address this to you, Mr. Waxman, since you have already admitted you have not read the entire Cap And Trade legislation even though you are a co-sponsor. Have either of you read the safety regulations of oil rigs?
• Gentlemen, according to a recent Washington Post article that was summarized in the June 25, 2010 issue of The Week magazine, there are currently only 62 inspectors assigned to oversee 4,000 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, or about one inspector for every 64 wells or so while in 1985 there were 55 inspectors for about 400 oil rigs or about one inspector for every seven or eight rigs. Do you accept some of this responsibility for underfunding the need to have more inspectors?
• Gentlemen, Washington has been abuzz about energy and climate change legislation lately. Wouldn't it be wiser in the short term to worry about the continued leak than to focus on a long term energy/climate bill?

Meanwhile, oil continued to spill into the Gulf...

And finally, I would like to sit with President Obama and ask him a few questions:

• Mr. President, you have proclaimed that you and your administration are on top of the situation but since the spill began it has been reported that you traveled to California three times for political fundraisers, played at least seven rounds of golf, took two vacations, participated in several photo ops with athletic teams, and did not meet with Hayward until about the eighth week of the crisis. Is that your definition of being on top of the situation?
• Mr. President, Tony Hayward has taken a lot of heat this weekend because he took time off to attend a yacht race back in Europe. Should you have taken the same amount of heat for taking time off to go to a baseball game Friday night even though the oil leak continues?
• Mr. President, will you prosecute, fine, fire, or take an disciplinary action against government employees who failed in their assigned duties to oversee and regulate the drilling activities in the Gulf?
• Mr. President, why is it taking so long for local governments to get help and permission to stem the tide of oil that is washing over their shores? Why didn't the Army Corp. of Engineers have a contingency plan ready rather than deny permission for sand berms and other actions until they "studied" the implications? Shouldn't that study have been done prior to the disaster?
• Mr. President, why have you not asked for a waiver of the Jones Act so that willing countries can donate their equipment to help with the clean up? Could it be you want to delay the clean up and prolong the problem in order to get the legislation passed that you want?
• Rather than publicly browbeat the very people technically and logistically responsible for stopping the leak last week, would it have not been a better approach to lay off for just a little while and let them focus on stopping the leak and then bring them to Washington for your photo op and thrashing of BP, after the leak was stopped?

Meanwhile, oil continues to spew into the Gulf...

Let's face, this is a disaster of epic proportions. From BP's shortcuts to save a little money and time and flaunting of standard safety protocols to the inadequate Federal oversight and focus on not stopping the leak the leak at all costs, we have never seen anything so disgusting in our lives. And where are the government's priorities? Congressmen and women anxious to show their indignation on television when it was obvious most of them did not know what they a were talking about. Other politicians trying to get their favorite energy and environmental legislation passed while losing focus on the core problem: stop the darn leak. That should be the only priority right now. The TV grandstanding, the press conferences, the feigned indignation, working for passage of legislation, that can all wait under we stop the leak.

Meanwhile, oil continues to spew into the Gulf...

This is just another reason why term limits (Step 39 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government") and ousting the incumbents in November is so important. Long time politicians get to comfortable in their positions and allow laxity to enter into their administering and governing. Regulations are passed but not enforced. Employees are hired but no trained or supervised properly. A crisis occurs and the political class looks at a way to leverage the disaster rather than fixing the disaster. Not only should the top management at BP be replaced but Salazar, Waxman, Bingaman, and all politicians sitting on the committees responsible for oversight of the Gulf drilling need to be removed from their committee and subcommittee posts (Step 34). In real life, if you screw up, there are consequences. Should be the same way in government. Allow an epic environmental disaster to occur on your watch, a disaster that was totally preventable, get removed from your committee post.

Meanwhile, oil continues to spew into the Gulf...



Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Also visit the following sites for freedom:
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http://www.reason.com/
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/http://www.realpolichick.blogspot.com/