EDITOR:
The utter inaction of the president over the gulf oil spill shows his complete inability to hold the office.
1. Even before BP started to drill, they offered to build the sand berms requested by the governor of Louisiana. But because of pressure from the unions, Obama refused to give permission.
2. Three days after the rig explosion the Dutch government offered oil skimmers which could capture 20,000 tons of oil per day.
This was also refused by the president who was totally unconcerned until nine days afterward. The English also offered to help but were turned down. The Jones Act of 1921 preventing foreign ships in gulf waters could have been temporarily rescinded as Bush did after Katrina, but not Obama.
3. The Allegiance Capitol Corp. of the U.S. also offered thousands of feet of oil booms as well as the state of Maine which had warehouses full of them. Again, refused by Obama.
4. Now we have the administration wanting to stop all offshore oil drilling for six months for safety inspections. If this takes place, gas may jump to $7 per gallon and many more gulf workers will be out of jobs.
In 2005 President Bush requested oil drilling in the Williston Basin (North Montana through North Dakota and into Canada). Test research showed the largest untapped oil reserves in the world (more than 2 trillion barrels).
But the lunatic fringe environmentalists put pressure on congress to stop it, never mind it would have reduced the price of gas to 60 or 70 cents per gallon.
There would no longer be a need for foreign oil or even offshore drilling.
Why should we continue to let small groups of nut jobs and an incompetent president dictate our lives and economy?
Dan Ballard
Gardnerville
