Oil spill off Louisiana's Gulf Coast raises alarm as DOGE cuts may threaten response efforts (1 Viewer)

[Greenbeard]

Yes, we're getting less for our tax dollars thanks to DOGE, but on the flip side we're saving the taxpayers no money. So, stellar work all around.

Oil spill off Louisiana's Gulf Coast raises alarm as DOGE cuts may threaten response efforts

Former federal disaster response specialists and national environmental groups warn that DOGE job cuts may hamper the response to a major oil spill off Louisiana's Gulf Coast this week, a leak that is fast contaminating marshlands and threatening vital wildlife habitats and fisheries.

More than 1,000 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were laid off or have taken early retirement in recent days. That is in addition to around 1,000 that were cut earlier this year, according to sources familiar with the reduction in forces. This week eight of 28 staff members from NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration Emergency Response Division — the very team tasked with addressing the oil spill — left the agency.

A recently retired NOAA senior manager involved in spill responses told CBS News that the agency has undergone "substantial reductions" in the team that provides scientific support to the Coast Guard, which is currently in charge of coordinating operations, and is the lead agency investigating the cause of the spill in Garden Island Bay.

Adriana Bejarano until this week was a chemical scientist in that Emergency Response Division and was let go because of her probationary status. Although Bejarano had been in the job for under a year, she was previously a senior eco-toxicologist at Shell Oil who holds a Ph.D. and had been in this field of work for 20 years.

"If this continues and other disasters happen at the same time, I don't think NOAA will have the expertise or personnel to respond," Bejarano told CBS News.

 

[ncguy]

a clean environment is so woke!

trump minions dont seem to understand that random cutting of people isn't the same thing as "reducing waste, fraud, and abuse" and increasing efficiency.

 

[Jetboogieman]

Louisiana has voted solidly Republican forever.

It’s time for them to live their values.

No big government coming to the rescue, no sir.

Rough and tumble “rugged individualists” need to take care of themselves.

 

[Hatuey]

Louisiana folks need to put them boots on and get to work. America can't keep paying for these completely avoidable man made disasters. Louisiana people need to grab them rakes, and start cleaning up their own shorelines and corner of the Gulf of America and not expect the rest of us to foot the bill!

This is the golden age, ya dumb cuillons!

 

[ncguy]

Louisiana folks need to put them boots on and get to work. America can't keep paying for these completely avoidable man made disasters. Louisiana people need to grab them rakes, and start cleaning up their own shorelines and corner of the Gulf of America and not expect the rest of us to foot the bill!

This is the golden age, ya dumb cuillons!

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time to buy a lot of dawn detergent, assuming it isn't on a cargo ship from china that turned around due to tariffs.

 

[Absentglare]

Those who do not listen must feel.

 

[SNOWFLAKE]

I for one am not going to act like a rightwing and gloat over this. We had that lot gloating over the wildfires in California, the sort of "they deserve it" attitude. Now I see comments from fellow leftists gloating over what is happening to Louisiana. Not cool.

THAT being said, every time this kind of disaster does happen, the more DOGE cuts to things like FEMA and other federal programs meant to provide aid in a time of crisis, the MORE this exposes the inanity of the Trump policies.

Hurricane season hasn't hit yet and guess which states get the worst of hurricane weather? People suffer as a result. This too is not cool. If you are one of those whose politics makes you gloat over funding cuts to federal programs that provide aid in times of disaster, please go check your moral meter at the door.

 

[MamboDervish]

a clean environment is so woke!

trump minions dont seem to understand that random cutting of people isn't the same thing as "reducing waste, fraud, and abuse" and increasing efficiency.

The highlighted above can probably be the beginning of ten thousand sentences in just the coming year. Although there is some polling data that shows that there is at least a small portion of Trump's idiot acolytes who may finally be catching on to the impending disaster that is his presidency.

 

[Airyaman]

Don't worry, Pope Donald will miraculously clean the waters and marshlands through vigilant prayer.

 

[Grand Mal]

Don't worry, Pope Donald will miraculously clean the waters and marshlands through vigilant prayer.

He's got to, now that it's the Gulf of America. There was no reason to bother with it when it was the Gulf of Mexico.

 

[Integrityrespec]

Yes, we're getting less for our tax dollars thanks to DOGE, but on the flip side we're saving the taxpayers no money. So, stellar work all around.

Oil spill off Louisiana's Gulf Coast raises alarm as DOGE cuts may threaten response efforts

LOL, yeah to fix things you need ridiculous wasteful spending to continue.

 

[ncguy]

LOL, yeah to fix things you need ridiculous wasteful spending to continue.

feel free to prove this was "ridiculous, wasteful" spending.
just declaring it to be ...isn't proof.

 

[Greenbeard]

LOL, yeah to fix things you need ridiculous wasteful spending to continue.

Capacity to provide an emergency response to oil spills doesn't seem wasteful.

 

[coyote505]

Capacity to provide an emergency response to oil spills doesn't seem wasteful.

Only to those who don't want another Deepwater Horizon.

 

[roberthughey]

Throw out the false accusation and the media will run it.

--------------------------------

Former federal disaster response specialists and national environmental groups warn that DOGE job cuts may hamper the response to a major oil spill off Louisiana's Gulf Coast this week, a leak that is fast contaminating marshlands and threatening vital wildlife habitats and fisheries.

 

[Peter]

LOL, yeah to fix things you need ridiculous wasteful spending to continue.

The problem here is you need to have people ready and waiting for an emergency such as this to happen.
You can't just magically summon a vast team of clean-up specialists at a moments notice when disaster strikes.