Hostage to our feckless president who’d rather play golf, give “kick ass” speeches and act tough than try something new to keep the oil off the beaches and out of the estuaries and marshes. Something new such as the A-Whale.
He already blew off the Dutch and their expertise. Not-invented-here, etc. So now the A-Whale is set upon by the fed’s bureaucratic EPA piranha. If Barry doesn’t ignore it, because he can’t get his community-organizer brain around the concept, they’ll chew it to death.
BP was only drilling in 5,000-feet of water in the Gulf in the first place because of our dimwitted politicians who imagine solar and wind can replace oil:
“According to 2008 Energy Department figures, nearly 80% of potentially oil-rich offshore lands are off limits to oil and gas development, and 60% of onshore lands are.”
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
My friends and kinfolk who live and work out there, many in the oil and fishin business, tell me its the most disorganized, confusing mess that you could imagine. Many have given up hope of it ever being shut off. You hit the nail on the head: When they were pushed into extreme deep water, they lost the ability of the crack divers—many navy and seal vets—to handle the problems that were bound to happen.
It’s like the Instapundit says, if you want the executive branch’s feet held to the fire for things like oil spills, you should vote Republican. When the prez is a Dem, the sycophantic media goes to sleep—and government’s natural inefficiencies take over.