To many along the Gulf Coast, the oil spill response is Katrina… with a difference. With Katrina, says Mark Riley, an official in Louisiana’s Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Department, the problem was that the federal government showed up with its “hurricane bag” and found a disaster. This time, they showed up with “oil spill bag and found a catastrophe.” And after a week surveying the federal response to this latest disaster, one certainly gets the impression that the feds, have brought a knife to this shootout. By law, the Coast Guard is responsible for coordinating Washington’s response to spills of national significance—SONS. And many Louisianans have a soft spot for the agency. After Katrina, the blue-clad men and women of the Coast Guard were the first—and by all accounts , most effective—federal responders on the scene. They rescued 33,000 people. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/07/14/james-jay-carafano-gulf-louisiana-gulf… added by: congoboy
