[StBernard] St. Bernard President Craig Taffaro's Response to President Obama's Tuesday Address

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard President Craig Taffaro's Response to President Obama's Tuesday
Address 

 

"First and foremost, we are grateful that the President has made four trips
to this region and I believe he's engaged," St. Bernard Parish President
Craig P. Taffaro, Jr. said in response to President Obama's address on
Tuesday. "But part of what we continue to fight is a lack of actual
resources on the ground to be able to attack this oil in the water. That's
what we are hoping to hear more of. And I'm grateful that the President
wants to hear what in the operation is broken and what needs to be fixed.
And those are the messages we will send up.

"I think he understands it, but we need to have the resources. Just like he
referred to World War II and putting a man on the moon, those operations
were successful because there was equipment and resources provided to make
those missions successful. That's what we need here in the Gulf Coast
region, enough resources and assets so that we can make this a successful
fight against this oil spill.

"BP is the responsible party, absolutely. They should be financially
responsible for addressing and supporting the actions that need to take
place. They should not be in a position where they can have power to veto
anything. As the Coast Guard continues to exercise that 51 percent of
control on this issue and within this incident, they should be able to force
the issue of getting resources here. And that's where the breakdowns come
in.

"So, what we need the President to do is reach out and use his Presidential
authority in every state in the Union to make sure that any assets that are
anywhere in this country are brought to this theater. If there's a spill
somewhere else, that those assets have been removed from, then certainly, we
support bringing those assets back to where they came from. But this is
where the disaster is right now, here, presently. That's where the assets
should be, in this theater.

In response to the moratorium put in place by President Obama, Taffaro
stated, "Well, our concern obviously is within this situation, we have many
of our communities -- in fact, four of our local parishes will be further
devastated by the moratorium on these deep-water exploration wells. We want
to have safety. Obviously, that's of utmost -- the utmost priority for the
Gulf Coast region. But we don't want to throw the baby out with the bath
water. Absolutely, make the regulation agencies do their jobs. That way the
safety factor is taken care of and people can continue to make a living.

"The issue of green energy is a great concept. But let's not take in the
midst of a disaster and promote a green energy agenda on the backs of, and
at the cost of people's livelihoods that are already in peril."