So....why are there not enough skimmers then? Or is the cleanup pretty much over?
As of Monday, there were 1,500 skimmer-equipped vessels made available, but not engaged, and owned and operated by American interests. Everyone who wants a paycheck is offering skimmers... which is pretty much everyone in the world with the ability to get them here in a timely manner. That being said, I have no idea why more skimmers aren’t being engaged.
Doesn’t anyone wonder why Republicans from the Gulf states aren’t interested in the skimmer supply? I suspect that it has to do with the ineffective job that they do, especially since only a very small percentage of the oil being released actually floats.
Since most commenters here are neither mariners nor employed in oil exploration (except me, of course), I’m not surprised that everyone’s all butthurt about the Jones Act, but no one is wondering why every locally available resource isn’t being used, despite the fact that in the long run, people are going to go under the bus in droves if anyone actually gets found to be playing games. Still, Since only a very small percentage of all mariners in the US belong to a union, and the oil production side has no unions, I can’t help but think that there’s more important things to worry about than the Jones Act.