The article “Trim the ‘Experts,’ Trust the Locals” by David Brooks comments on the way the cleanup of the gulf is being handled in terms of actions on the part of city officials, BP, or the subcontractors’ hired by BP to clean up the mess. The article suggests that the efforts of these three groups are anything but coordinated or efficient and that the combined attempt by these parties is confused by mismanagement or incompetence at the policy and government level. The author, based on the examples provided in the article, is inferring incompetence on the part of oil spill cleanup policy makers and government officials within reason.

The inference made by the author of the article is that the efforts of the three groups are not effective is a primarily a criticism of the way cleanup plans are actually implemented by state and local authorities. For example the article states that local officials in Magnolia Springs, Ala., drew up plans to protect the Magnolia River and sent the plans to the appropriate officials for approval in May but that it took the officials’ weeks to review the plans.

More evidence for officials’ ineptitude at carrying out plans for cleanup can be found

In an article in The Advocate of Baton Rouge, La. This article describes how federal, state and BP officials fly over coastal areas and recommend where cleanup work should be done. But then the plans don’t get executed; according to the article.

Yet another example that would support the primary suggestion made by the article can be found in Okaloosa County, Fla., where local authorities had obtained a state-approved plan to protect their waterways but were unable to implement the plan due to resistance from the Coast Guard. This example shows how, even if one hurdle in policy is overcome, another similar challenge can be expected at the next level of government. The article show a clear correlation between the number of government departments involved and the delay in a plan’s realization in the effort to move forward with the cleanup

“National Mission”

The editorial “National Mission”,written by the senior editorial staff of the New York times is an opinion piece that calls for establishment an economy-wide “cap-and-trade” system to solve the oil spill disaster in the gulf. Published on June 20, 2010 this article follows a number of attempts to solve the environmental problem and responds to President Obama’s handling of the situation with disappointment. The main claim is that President Obama was not specific enough in moving forward with the establishment of this system; that there is too much room for alternative policies and, that this move is a stalling tactic.

The article state clearly who its intended audience is with the introduction which targets anyone watching the oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico.  For this reason the audience should be considered the general American public. Policy makers in government might also be included because the article assumes to be speaking for the reader who, as a member of the voting public, might be expected to be of interest to policy makers.

The main claim is bolstered by several recent events, including the numerous delays in approval of the pertinent bill last year. The article suggests that partisan argument over the economic fallout of establishment of the cap-and-trade system is exactly the type of stalling action that is hindering the policies implementation. The primary point of argument is whether or not capping and pricing carbon emissions would cripple the economy by driving up the cost of energy.

In rebuttal to the main claim the author does mention that other bills have had potential and needed consideration but were faulted mainly for not including mandatory greenhouse gas reductions or a price signal. The article provides evidence for the existence of such bills by mentioning the measure sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, would require utilities to generate 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2021.

The qualifier is made that by themselves these individual solutions may be good ideas but are not going to be able to reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels and the resulting affects on the global climate.

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