does the Army have any engineers on the gulf at all?

[Syrinx]

When I first heard this called Obama's Katrina I thought it was silly.

But he has really handled it very poorly. Barely handled it at all.

It's totally like he's out of touch.

[mmonk]

1. I believe the government has been avoiding the area

and leaving it up to BP except for the Coast Guard and their mission it seems has been to chase inquiring and curious people and organizations away from the area.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Seems just a few USCG operating under BP's rules.

[Lerkfish]

3. good question.

a quick perusal of some of these links appears to indicate the ACE is dragging their feet in helping, at least according one guy asking for their help:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=army+corps+of+engineers+bp+oil+spill&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Jindal and Nungesser said they are awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an emergency dredging permit to dredge sand from nearby areas for the construction of a line of sand berms-in effect, a series of new barrier islands-40 miles on either side of the river. The berms would block the oil, they said, and the new, man-made beaches would be much easier to clean than the marshes that teem with plant life.

Neither official was certain what was holding up approval of the proposed dredging project.

A telephone call to the Corps for comment was not immediately returned.

(this from one of the links_

[stray cat]

4. An engineering degree doesn't mean any expertise in working a mile below the ocean

without any equipment outside of that owned perhaps by oil companies. A civil, mechanical or structural engineer doesn't do this kind of stuff. Its like asking a gym teacher to form a superbowl team from scratch in a month because he/she is a gym teacher.