WE'LL BE LEFT BEHIND

from the Baton Rouge Advocate:

With the permanent sealing of BP’s ruptured oil well expected in the next two weeks, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen plans to begin discussions today with parish leaders on how and when the thousands of response workers and the vast amount of oil cleanup equipment will be scaled back.

“One of the reasons we’re here is to start a conversation with local leaders about how we transition from a response posture,” said Allen, who is in charge of the federal response to the leak. “Once the well is capped, what remains to be done?”

Allen said he plans to have “frank, open” discussions with parish leaders about what the federal government can do and what its requirements are, he said during a Wednesday news conference in New Orleans.
....

Even though the leak stopped, oil likely will continue to hit the coastline and barrier islands for the next four to six weeks, Allen said. (My emphasis)

He based that estimate on how long it took for oil slicks to make it to shore after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20 about 50 miles offshore.

Allen noted it is becoming more difficult to find oil.

“We’re seeing less and less oil, and the oil that we do see is weathered, it’s sheen, and sometimes it’s not that effective to skim it,” he said.

"...for the next four to six weeks"! And that will be the end of the oil? To read those words spoken by the person in charge, a Coast Guardsman, at that, is chilling.

Parish and state officials have said they’re concerned about how and when the response effort will be scaled back.

Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish president, said Wednesday he is concerned the federal government and BP are going to end the response program too soon.

Nungesser is not the only one concerned.

“It is going to be a new fight from here on out,” he told members of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority at a meeting Wednesday in Baton Rouge. “There’s oil all over Plaquemines Parish this morning.”
....

Nungesser said he spent a day fighting with the Coast Guard and BP to keep equipment in place for fear it would not be returned after the storm.

“Why should I have to fight? They should be coming to me and saying, ‘Billy, what more can I do,’ ” he said.

But that would be in a civilized country.

I expect that the "conversations" with federal officials will not involve much listening on their part. They've declared the job done, although saying it is so will not make it so. An inadequate crew of people with inadequate equipment will remain to attempt an impossible task.