Retired General Honore Recommends Stafford Act

Retired General Russel Honore , former commander Joint Katrina Task Force was on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" this morning recommending that the Stafford Act should be invoked and the Gulf BP Oil disaster should be treated like a war. He is also recommending that BP should not be allowed to make the final decisions. He says that is like having a mugger decide how much money you're going to get from him after he mugs you. He says the governors should be in charge at the state level and the president should declare a national emergency and bring in the Defense Department. He says they could then grid the oil out and attack it systematically with numerous military and civilian boats. The retired general also says we need to mitigate the oil disaster before hurricane season because that will seriously exacerbate the current situation.

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) (Pub.L. 100-707), signed into law November 23, 1988, is designed to bring an orderly and systemic means of federal natural disaster assistance for state and local governments in carrying out their responsibilities to aid citizens. The Stafford Act is an amended version of the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-288). It created the system in place today by which a presidential disaster declaration of an emergency triggers financial and physical assistance through the Federal Emergency Managaement Agency (FEMA). The Act gives FEMA the responsibility for coordinating government-wide relief efforts. The Federal Response Plan it implements includes the contributions of 28 federal agencies and non-governmental organizations, such as the American Red Cross. (Wiki)