Originally Posted by ShellyCrash

Agreed. I doubt the vessles were initially refused solely because we're all John Wayne assholes who don't want no help from nobody. I'm sure there is some catch (just as I am sure US Aid comes with strings as well).

As a gulf coast resident I really don't care who gets the oil, and as they are resorting to burn off methods maybe BP is finally starting to realize they can't keep trying to hold on to all the "black gold" they are poisining the waters with for themselves.

Based on happenings I would guess that the boats were probably initially refused because of BP's refusal to work in conjunction with any outside clean up effort. I think it's a mistake the way it was handled, but untl recently everything with the clean up effort was run through BP for their approval. BP's response seemed to be that any separate entity not under BP orders and control would further complicate the situation and distract important BP company resources from their own clean up efforts- in a nutshell BP's line has been that they're the experts in the field and anyone else will just fuck it up. If you have something to bring to the table, don't offer it to the US government, offer it to BP and they'll pick and choose who they allow to do what (and under strict BP supervision of course).