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>>Volunteers ready but left out of spill cleanup >>By TOM BREEN, AP >>3 hours ago >> >>Loading... Share No Thanks Must Read?Thank YouYes >>161 >>A huge oil slick approaches the beach in Orange Beach, >>Ala., Friday, July 2,... >>Share | >>Email Story Discuss Print >> NEW ORLEANS — BP and the Obama administration face >>mounting complaints that they are ignoring foreign >>offers of equipment and making little use of the >>fishing boats and volunteers available to help clean >>up what may now be the biggest spill ever in the Gulf >>of Mexico. >> >>The Coast Guard said there have been 107 offers of >>help from 44 nations, ranging from technical advice to >>skimmer boats and booms. But many of those offers are >>weeks old, and only a small number have been accepted. >>The vast majority are still under review, according to >>a list kept by the State Department. >> >>And in recent days and weeks, for reasons BP has never >>explained, many fishing boats hired for the cleanup >>have done a lot of waiting around. >> >>A report prepared by investigators with the House >>Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for Rep. >>Darrell Issa, R-Calif., detailed one case in which the >>Dutch government offered April 30 to provide four oil >>skimmers that collectively could process more than 6 >>million gallons of oily water a day. It took seven >>weeks for the U.S. to approve the offer. >> >>White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Thursday scorned >>the idea that "somehow it took the command 70 days to >>accept international help." >> >>"That is a myth," he declared, "that has been debunked >>literally hundreds of times." >> >>He said 24 foreign vessels were operating in the Gulf >>before this week. He did not specifically address the >>Dutch vessels. >> >>The help is needed. According to the high end of the >>federal government's estimates, millions of gallons of >>crude have spewed from the bottom of the sea since the >>April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers on the >>Deepwater Horizon oil platform. >> >>According to the government's estimates, the disaster >>would eclipse the 140-million-gallon Ixtoc disaster in >>the Gulf three decades ago and rank as the biggest >>offshore oil spill during peacetime. The biggest spill >>in history happened in 1991 during the Persian Gulf >>War, when Iraqi forces opened valves at a terminal and >>dumped about 336 million gallons of oil. >> >>Still, more than 2,000 boats have signed up for >>oil-spill duty under BP's Vessel of Opportunity >>program. The company pays boat captains and their >>crews a flat fee based on the size of the vessel, >>ranging from $1,200 to $3,000 a day, plus a $200 fee >>for each crew member who works an eight-hour day. >> >>Rocky Ditcharo, a shrimp dock owner in Buras, La., >>said many fishermen hired by BP have told him that >>they often park their boats on the shore while they >>wait for word on where to go. >> >>"They just wait because there's no direction," >>Ditcharo said. He said he believes BP has hired many >>boat captains "to show numbers." >> >>"But they're really not doing anything," he added. He >>also said he suspects the company is hiring >>out-of-work fishermen to placate them with paychecks. >> >>Chris Mehlig, a fisherman from Louisiana's St. Bernard >>Parish, said he is getting eight days of work a month, >>laying down containment boom, running supplies to >>other boats or simply being on call dockside in case >>he is needed. >> >>"I wish I had more days than that, but that's the way >>things are," he said. >> >>Billy Nungesser, president of Louisiana's hard-hit >>Plaquemines Parish, said BP and the Coast Guard >>provided a map of the exact locations of 140 skimmers >>that were supposedly cleaning up the oil. But he said >>that after he repeatedly asked to be flown over the >>area so he could see them at work, officials told him >>only 31 skimmers were on the job. >> >>"I'm trying to work with these guys," he said. "But >>everything they're giving me is a wish list, not >>what's actually out there." >> >>A BP spokesman declined to comment. >> >>Newly retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the >>government's point man for the response effort, >>bristled at some of the accusations in Issa's report. >> >>"I think we've been pretty transparent throughout >>this," Allen said at the White House. He disputed any >>suggestion that there aren't enough skimmers being put >>on the water, saying the spill area is so big that >>there are bound to be areas with no vessels. >> >>The Coast Guard said there are roughly 550 skimmers >>working in the Gulf, with 250 or so in Louisiana >>waters, 136 in Florida, 87 in Alabama and 76 in >>Mississippi, although stormy weather in recent days >>has kept the many of the vessels from working. >> >>The frustration extends to the volunteers who have >>offered to clean beaches and wetlands. More than >>20,000 volunteers have signed up to help in Florida, >>Alabama and Mississippi, yet fewer than one in six has >>received an assignment or the training required to >>take part in some chores, according to BP. >> >>The executive director of the Alabama Coastal >>Foundation, Bethany Kraft, said many people who >>volunteered are frustrated and angry that no one has >>called on them for help. >> >>"You see this unfolding before your eyes and you have >>this sense that you can't do anything," she said. "To >>watch this happen in our backyard and not be able to >>help is hard." >> >>___ >> >>Associated Press writers Jay Reeves in Orange Beach, >>Ala., Michael Kunzelman in New Orleans, Harry R. Weber >>in Houston, and Seth Borenstein, Erica Werner and >>Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this >>report.
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