Deepwater Horizon Response

One of the popular talking points from the wingnut noise machine is that the Obama administration is doing little or nothing in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon Response site provides news and information about the facts of the response efforts. These facts quickly put the lie to the right-wing meme.

Let’s take a look at a few of the relevant facts:

• The Small Business Administration has approved 121 economic injury assistance loans to date. These total more than $8 million for small businesses in the Gulf Coast.


• The deployment of more than 17,000 National Guard troops from Gulf Coast states has been authorized by the Obama Administration. As of June 28, 1,675 were active. (Note that National Guard troops are activated at the request of state governors. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican and a harsh critic of the Obama administration, has activated less than 20% of the National Guard troops that have been made available to him. Some of those that he has activated were deployed specifically to block media access to spill cleanup efforts.


• More than 28.2 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.


• The Obama Administration has accepted offers of help from Canada, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and the European Union’s Monitoring and Information Centre.


• More than 7,200 vessels are currently involved in the response efforts.

The next time some smarmy, ignorant tea-partying dipshit tells you that the Obama Administration is doing nothing — NOTHING AT ALL, I TELL YOU!! — to clean up the spill, suggest that they follow this simple two-step plan:

1. Get the facts.


2. Shut the fuck up until you do.