Coast Guard Cmdr. Thad Allen, who is in charge of overseeing the federal response to the BP oil leak, announced yesterday that BP’s “top kill” is working, halting the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico since last month’s Deepwater Horizon explosion.
Allen was tapped to run the Obama administration’s response to the environmental crisis. And with good reason. Allen has played a major part in many of the nation’s recent crises from September 11th to Hurricane Katrina. After Michael Brown was removed as head of FEMA, Allen ran the government’s response team.
“He performed magnificently in a crisis,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to USA Today. “Nobody could have done it better.” (Read the rest of the profile at Politics Daily)
Meanwhile, “President Barack Obama is encouraging Americans to visit the Gulf Coast despite the huge offshore oil spill, reports the AP.
At a White House news conference Thursday, Obama said while three beaches in Louisiana have been fouled by oil, the rest of the region’s beaches are clean and safe. He says Gulf state governors have asked him “to remind everybody” the beaches are open.