Napolitano defends response to gulf oil spill

    Says federal government’s response is much larger than people think.

    It’s been over 70 days since oil started spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. During her visit to the Philadelphia area this week the Homeland Security Secretary defended the federal government’s response.

    Secretary Janet Napolitano says although people don’t think the federal government is doing enough to fight the oil spill there is a great deal being done.

    “There has never been a larger response at the federal level to an environmental disaster of this type. There are record number of skimmers, record amounts of boom, record numbers of personnel, dispersants being applied, on-surface burns being conducted.”

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    Secretary Napolitano says the work is weather-dependent, and some of it, such as the over 600 miles of booming will have to be done again, when the oil comes over the existing booms and creeps closer to shore. She admits more oil will come ashore and that will mean a cleanup and making sure people hurt by the spill are compensated.

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