Florida Sen. Bill Nelson Frustrated With Oil Spill Cleanup Control

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) says there are "too many cooks in the kitchen" when it comes to who is in charge of cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico.

As gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico continue to creep closer to the Florida coast, Nelson said today on "Washington Unplugged" that he is becoming increasingly frustrated with the chaos surrounding the cleanup. He and members of the media were about to get a closer look at the spill when their plans were suddenly halted by a phone call, Nelson told moderator Bill Plante.

"We had it all set up for several network cameras to go with me with the Coast Guard to look at that patch of oil that was off of Pensacola," Nelson said. "And late the night before, suddenly the Department of Homeland Security calls and says 'you can't take the media.' Now that's just somebody not understanding what's going on and too many cooks in the kitchen, and one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing."

Nelson wrote a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano outlining his complaint, but it's not just that issue that's got him flustered. According to Nelson, there is no clear person or organization in control of the cleanup effort. "We've got to have somebody in charge, and that's the problem," Nelson said.

The senator was told by some that the Coast Guard has 51 percent control of the operation and BP has the rest; by others that the Coast Guard has 55 percent control. "You can't run a major tragic operation... without somebody in charge," Nelson said. "You've got to have a chain of command."

Nelson suggested the U.S. Army might be the organization for the job and then offered a slight warning to the president. "The president has...done everything that he can do," Nelson said. "But right now what he's got to do is he's got to change this command and control or it's gonna come up and bite all of us."

"Washington Unplugged," CBSNews.com's exclusive daily politics Webshow, appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.

[Justsaynotofoxnews]

Looks like Nelson didn't get his photo op and he's not happy.

[hodieb-khalifa]

REQUEST YOUR SENATORS & CONGRESSMEN TO INVITE ME TO TESTIFY & FACE HAYWARD TO IMPLEMENT THIS SOLUTION TO END THE NIGHTMARE

As an expert in oilfields in the Middle East, I've already offered BP the following simple technique that can instantly plug the well. Though BP admitted it can work, it wouldn't implement it because it will kill the Well.

PLUGGING BP WELL BY A STRING OF CEMENT-FILLED CASING PIPES:

{BP has to lower down the wellbore through the Riser Pipe Stub and the Blowout Preventer a string of 16"- 18" Casing Pipes connected together about 500-1000 ft long after being filled with cement. BP Well will instantly be plugged and there will be no need for the Relief Wells. They have a big assortment of Casing Pipes onboard their platform in the Gulf. The annular space between the Casing Pipe String and the well walls can be filled by pumping cement. The whole operation will take few hours}


Eng. Hodieb Khalifa
Cairo - Egypt
hodieb_khalifa yahoo

[hodieb-khalifa]

REQUEST YOUR SENATORS & CONGRESSMEN TO INVITE ME TO TESTIFY & FACE HAYWARD TO IMPLEMENT THIS SOLUTION TO END THE NIGHTMARE

As an expert in oilfields in the Middle East, I've already offered BP the following simple technique that can instantly plug the well. Though BP admitted it can work, it wouldn't implement it because it will kill the Well.

PLUGGING BP WELL BY A STRING OF CEMENT-FILLED CASING PIPES:

{BP has to lower down the wellbore through the Riser Pipe Stub and the Blowout Preventer a string of 16"- 18" Casing Pipes connected together about 500-1000 ft long after being filled with cement. BP Well will instantly be plugged and there will be no need for the Relief Wells. They have a big assortment of Casing Pipes onboard their platform in the Gulf. The annular space between the Casing Pipe String and the well walls can be filled by pumping cement. The whole operation will take few hours}


Eng. Hodieb Khalifa
Cairo - Egypt
hodieb_khalifa yahoo

[nolieshere]

Take a look at the pictures coming from the gulf.

This is what the planet would look like without government regulations on corporations.

Deregulation and failure to regulate have brought us to a worldwide recession and corrupted the Gulf of Mexico.

What's next?

We need leaders with the courage to break up the huge multi-national corporations, insurance companies, banks, big pharma.

The corporations that are destroying our nation must be stopped! If it means nationalizing them then auctioning off their assets, so be it.

Anyone that supports corporatism is shallow and uninformed.

[hodieb-khalifa]

REQUEST YOUR SENATORS& CONGRESSMEN TO INVITE ME TO TESTIFY & FACE HAYWARD TO IMPLEMENT THIS SOLUTION TO END THE NIGHTMARE.

As an expert in oilfields in the Middle East, I've already offered BP the following simple technique that can instantly plug the well. Though BP admitted it can work, it wouldn't implement it because it will kill the Well.

PLUGGING BP WELL BY A STRING OF CEMENT-FILLED CASING PIPES:

{BP has to lower down the wellbore through the Riser Pipe Stub and the Blowout Preventer a string of 16"- 18" Casing Pipes connected together about 500-1000 ft long after being filled with cement. BP Well will instantly be plugged and there will be no need for the Relief Wells. They have a big assortment of Casing Pipes onboard their platform in the Gulf. The annular space between the Casing Pipe String and the well walls can be filled by pumping cement. The whole operation will take a couple of hours- Finito!}


Eng. Hodieb Khalifa
Cairo - Egypt
hodieb_khalifa yahoo

[stormerF3]

What is so surprising about this? Our Governemnt is so inept at handling anything correctly is makes one sick.They all want to lie and say they are on top of the situation,but they have no idea what to do,other than Blame someone else.,.. They denied 13 countries with oil skimming ships to enter the Gulf and help with the clean up because they flew flags other than ours,and did not have martime Union workers on board. Obama still protecting the Unions,From Whom?

[edeltraud-2009]

if you so dam smart wy dont you come up with something.here in America everything last from 12 to noon.if you werent soooooooooooooostupid in America ,the Jobs wouldnt go over seas .now you want the Goverment to help ,another time we dont want Goverment in aur Lifes .make up you friggen Mind ,an dont blame your Misstake on Obama .**** the stupid an Money hungry Republican what cost all this Mess

[RainStar99]

@variablespanner: not enough room at the spill site, maybe, but as the noaa maps and satelite picks show the slicks are spread out over a 150x150 mile radius, or would you like us to forget that?

[hodieb-khalifa]

ACTION IS NEEDED NOW FROM YOU THE PEOPLE

As an expert in oilfields in the Middle East, I've already offered BP the following simple technique that can instantly plug the well. Though BP admitted it can work, it wouldn't implement it because it will kill the Well.

Plugging BP Well by a String of Cement-Filled Casing Pipes:

BP has to lower down the wellbore through the Riser Pipe Stub and the Blowout Preventer a string of 16"- 18" Casing Pipes connected together about 500-1000 ft long after being filled with cement. The wild well will instantly be plugged and there will be no need for the Relief Wells. The annulus space between the Casing Pipe String and the well walls can be filled by pumping cement- Finito!

BP has already an assortment of these Casing Pipes aboard their ships and platforms in the Gulf. The whole operation will take a couple of hours- but who listens or cares!

ENG. HODIEB KHALIFA
CAIRO - EGYPT
[e-mail]