Bad Planning, Bad Performance, it’s not just BP...

...our government is also guilty!

The world has watched the environmental horror as the BP oil geyser has continued to gush black gold into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20th.

Of course as in any major disaster, there was the initial shock of “it” happening as heroic crews rushed to the scene in search of survivors and to douse the raging inferno—much like we saw on 9/11.

We then witnessed BP’s limp corporate response, most likely due to them wrangling with the “financial liability issues” and waiting to see what the U.S. government was going to do.

BP’s response—finger pointing and denial of ownership of the oil rig and blowout preventor—finger pointing which continued into hearings on Capitol Hill on May 11th.

Of course the Obama administration responded—and much like past governmental responses it was too little, too late--with the administration rolling out it’s department heads a little over a week after the event to deliver a reiterated and very prepared quote.

Homeland Security chief, Janet Napolitano told Meet the Press that The White House knew "from day one that this could be a catastrophic failure,” and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar emphasized the same talking point on the same Sunday as a guest on State of the Union saying, “From day one there was the presumption of worst-case scenario”.

“From day one…” It kind of has that, “You’re doing a fine job, Brownie,” ring to it, doesn’t it?

If in fact, “from day one” our leadership “presumed” or “knew” of the magnitude of the BP oil spill, why wasn’t the "In-Situ Burn" plan--a plan produced by federal agencies in 1994 that calls for responding to a major oil spill in the Gulf with the immediate use of fire booms—activated?

Because once again, just like on 9/11, post hurricanes Andrew, Katrina and Ike, the recent flooding in Tennessee and just about every other disaster to have hit the U.S.--the federal government was caught flat-footed—unprepared--and that’s the proven truth to our nation’s ability to respond to disasters.

Americans have been told to prepare and to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours since the 9/11 terrorist attacks; yet the government has failed to respond within that time frame to any disaster since--either natural or man-made.

The agency responsible for responding to the BP oil spill did not have a federally required fire boom and it took U.S. officials eight days to locate the sole unit in the country before getting it delivered and conducting a test burn in the Gulf.

Former NOAA oil spill response coordinator Ron Gouguet --who helped draft the 1994 plan --said that officials had pre-approval for burning. "The whole reason the plan was created was so we could pull the trigger right away."

Our leadership, with their multi-paged preparedness plans replete with hierarchy and flow charts has proven their ability to do nothing more than create barriers to immediate and direct response in the event of any disaster.

Perhaps in the early days of the BP blowout, the DHS chief and Interior Secretary could have FedEx’d the printed federal oil spill response plan to Louisiana so as to be laid upon the Gulf—allowing the document to soak up the first few thousand gallons of oil that escaped to the surface.

The reality is, is disaster response requires money--and there is none.

My statement was reinforced on May 11th--just three weeks before the beginning of what some experts are predicting to be an active hurricane season--with a preemptive warning of sorts from FEMA.

It seems that this year's numerous disasters have tapped the Federal Emergency Management Agency dry.
The House agreed March 24 to give the agency an extra $5.1 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. But the Senate has failed to act--despite recent flooding in Tennessee.
Sixteen states experienced a combined 18 disasters this year before the House voted to give FEMA the extra funding.

Since then, major disasters have been declared for winter storms or flooding in Maine, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Connecticut, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Maryland.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said while visiting Tennessee on last Thursday that "there's an urgency" to approving the funding and said the agency could respond to emergencies as they occur but couldn't help rebuild afterward.

Record flooding in early May in Nashville killed at least 20 people and caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damage.
"We are not going to be delayed in helping individuals in the emergency response costs," Fugate said. "But as this flood is going to show, we already have almost $1 billion in outstanding projects from previous disasters that we cannot move forward on."

FEMA is still paying for disasters dating to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. For example, the agency is still rebuilding schools in New Orleans, and an arbitration panel ruled in January that the agency must pay $474 million to rebuild Charity Hospital.

"While we can meet the immediate needs of survivors in these declared disasters, and we can support state and local government in the immediate response, we do not have the ability now to fund permanent work," Fugate said. "And that's going to be a key factor in this recovery as well as previous disasters going all the way back to Katrina."

Based on the historical data and supported by the fact that it’s not a matter of “if” but “when” a disaster will strike, today more than ever, if you’re not putting a personal preparedness plan in place, you’re “BP”.

FEMA’s recent statements practically insure there’s no tractor trailers full of water, food, blue tarps, generators and all the other “free” things hurricane victims seem to love to stand in line for while awaiting deployment at first light after landfall.

While the government has a written preparedness plan, part of that plan is an initial assessment or as I called it earlier, the hand-wringing. The secondary phase of the plan includes amassing equipment and personnel, and that takes money—and we’ve been warned softly—there’s none left, but it might be in the pipeline to being approved.

Now would be a good time to check and make sure you have what your family needs and begin preparing yourselves for this year’s hurricane season.

My suggestion is to plan on surviving without federal help for a minimum of seven days-- or more. That’s depending on how long it takes the Secretarys, Assistant Secretarys, Chiefs and their staff to realize that real people with real lives are hanging in the balance of FEMA’s checkbook and their ability to make a decesion on when they’ll deploy after the winds and tides subside.

For those of you who wish to plan and would like suggestions, our preparedness guide, What To Do til the Cavalry Comes: A Family Guide to Preparedness in 21st Century America is online--FREE. No credit card or personal info required.

What To Do… is endorsed by Mississippi’s Lt. Governor, Phil Bryant and co-authored with three-time Pentagon appointee, Thomas Van Hare. Each chapter is formatted with suggestions and checklists to help you establish a personal family preparedness plan that will work for you.

Email me, Matt@mattlawrencebooks.com and I’ll send you the direct link so you can read it online, full screen, in it’s entirity—thanks to a service provided by fREADo.com.