Louisiana Needs to Take the Lead on the Oil Spill

Living in South Louisiana it is clear that the federal government and corporations are poorly equipped to undertake regional problems. The same mistakes continue to be made for the residents despite the hard lessons that have been learned. The coast is of utmost and constant importance to those who call the area home. Large corporations and the federal government filled with procedure and politics are unable to react and manage problems in a crisis.

Bigger is not necessarily better in situations of this nature and responsibility needs to be delegated to those who have a grasp of the situation. There has been talk of the Obama administration taking the operations from BP and this is disturbing. Granted, the problem needs leadership, but the federal government taking over leaves the people of Louisiana in a precarious position.

The state and local leaders have been through disasters more than anywhere else in America. Mitigating and avoiding disasters is an issue of anyone's campaign that runs for office in South Louisiana. From the Governor to the lowest offices of Parish Government these people have to know what to do in a disaster. Nobody can have a grip on these issues like a resident that knows the area and how to use what is there. Many of these officials have been through some of the worst disasters in American history and know how to deal with the terrain and people.

BP should not be removed from operations to shut in the oil spill as it is their equipment. Taking BP out of these operations would only result in a learning curve Louisiana would pay the price for. However, operations mitigating the spill as it reaches the coast should be taken over by the local parishes.

The federal government should support state and local operations, but have no lead in it. The President has enough projects right now that he cannot dedicate the time they require to. State government needs to take the lead in coordination and the parishes in execution. Janet Napolitano needs to stay in Washington as she is not accomplishing anything here except photo ops. Ms. Napolitano drove the state of Arizona into the ground and then walked away like the over financed in her state have had to do with their mortgages. How a woman with the least secure border became the director of Homeland Security eludes me. I guess Obama thought Nappy did a heck of a job down there.

Though my rhetoric may be opinionated, it cannot be disputed that it is more efficient for people who know the area take charge. When someone has to get a briefing on the town they are going to that time takes away from solving the problem. Documentation, procedure and trying to avoid a mistake has left us waiting for over a month for action. There are many willing to take the bull by the horns, yet it seems as though they will never be allowed the chance.