The federal government has finally declared BP's oil well dead. Finally. I have to admit, sometimes it felt like they would never plug it. Like it would keep gushing oil forever. I mean, at first, BP made it sound like they could plug the spill in a few weeks, as opposed to the several months it actually took. The government said that oversight for the well would now pass from the National Incident Command, which is headed by Admiral Allen, to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The main well, as well as the two relief wells will be abandoned.
Overall, I think the federal government handled the disaster fairly well. Unlike Hurricane Katrina, there did not seem to be as much squabbling among the state and national agencies over who was supposed to handle what (that's federalism at work for you, right?). The only thing that really annoyed me was the blame game played by the three companies involved in the defect of the well's shut off valve. During the hearings, it just kept going around in a triangle. In my opinion, they were all responsible, and all of them should have taken some sort of responsibility for the situation. Anyway, now that the well is officially sealed, the Gulf will just need to start healing from the after affects.
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