News spill: All that we can do?

Though not yet making its way to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, or the Washington Post . .. a refitted Taiwanese tanker is waiting for approval to test skimming potential of, according to owner Nobu Su, 500,000 barrels of oil a day. The owner believes the tanker, “ten stories tall and three football-fields long,” will ingest the oil-water mixture, put it into its bays, where it will separate. Reports are, however, that a 1920 maritime law demands that ships operating in U.S. waters fly a U.S. flag. (The tanker, dubbed the “A-Whale,” flies a Liberian flag.)

The story was mentioned on NPR Friday, June 25, and appeared here in the Daily Press. While there’s probably a “too-good-to-be-true” aspect to this, the question of why it isn’t part of the “we’re doing everything we can do” conversation seems odd. Could it be “ownership of the oil” that is the real concern?