Gulf Explosion’s “Fire-Boom-Gate”

Gulf Explosion’s “Fire-Boom-Gate” – You would think that after Katrina the Feds would be at least as prepared as Boy Scouts. Since 1994 they have had a plan to contain spills in the Gulf using fire-booms, and the former coordinator of Gulf response was scathing in his criticism of the response as not executing on that. It turns out they didn’t have any fire-booms in stock, and the fastest they have gotten one in is eight days late. This might come back to bite the Obama Administration:

Representatives from the Obama administration emphatically maintain that from “day one” preparations were in place to handle accidental oil spills. Maybe the administration can explain to the residents of Louisiana why not one fire boom was available when an actual crisis took place?

About Duncan Davidson 228 Articles

Affiliation: NetService Ventures

Duncan is an advisor to NetService Ventures, where he focuses on digital media and the mobile Internet.

Previously he was at four start-ups: Xumii, a mobile social service based on a Social Addressbook; SkyPilot Networks, the performance leader of wireless mesh systems for last-mile access, where he was the founding CEO; Covad Communications (Amex: DVW, $9B market cap at the peak), the leading independent DSL access provider, where he was the founding Chairman; InterTrust Technologies ($9B market cap at the peak), the pioneer in digital rights management technologies, now owned by Sony and Philips, where he was SVP Business Development and the pitchman for the IPO.

Before these ventures, Duncan was a partner at Cambridge Venture Partners, an early-stage venture firm, and managing partner of Gemini McKenna, a joint venture between Regis McKenna's marketing firm and Gemini Consulting, the global management consulting arm of Cap Gemini.

He serves on the board or is an adviser to Aggregate Knowledge (content discovery), Livescribe (digital pen), AllVoices (citizen journalism), Xumii (mobile social addressbook), Verismo (Internet settop box), and Widevine (DRM for IPTV).

Visit: Duncan Davidson's Blogs

4 Comments on Gulf Explosion’s “Fire-Boom-Gate”

  1. So let me get this straight: Republicans are peeved because the administration did not miraculously anticipate that BP was going to be inept enough to not follow safety regulations, and that BP, as a multi-billion dollar industry, didn’t have the firebooms on hand to contain a disaster of its own making? What’s next? Blaming the Obama administration because the World Trade Center buildings were designed to peel open and collapse from steel deformation? You wingnuts need some serious therapy.

    • No you nut job read the paragraph. They are pissed off at obama ministration because they said they were prepared for this type of situation but it turned out they were not prepared. We’re pissed because they lied.

  2. The gov’t passed a law requiring at least 5 of these ready to deploy at various points on the gulf. They could only find one?!?

  3. A $265 billion dollar company, too cheap to drop $200k on a fire boom… I bet they have an onsite difibrillator at BP headquarters… Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time BP was negligent… remember Texas City? Oh wait, aren’t they still on felony probation for that?? Or was it Alaska??

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