Packgen: The trashing of another American company by our government

Update: I am reposting this article as the story grows. Hop on over to Hot Air and note that Captain Ed is fascinated by the fact that Obama is suddenly interested in getting help from foreign countries, now that the story has exploded around the web, on Fox, and on talk radio.


What is more interesting to Tea Party at Perrysburg is that Captain Ed received exactly the same email notification that the Packgen boom was not up to standards...from a different person. Not the Coast Guard this time, but the Navy, Lt. Cmdr. J.R. Hoeft (USN). 


The Washington Post article makes no mention of the quality of the European boom now being accepted; yet again we have the trashing of another American company: Packgen. In fact,  "[T]he government is soliciting additional boom and skimmers from nearly two dozen countries and international organizations." Do these countries' companies meet the same high standards that Packgen's booms do not? And are we utilizing other American technology, as so vividly presented on television, in addition to accepting aid? Or are we not using those companies depicted on television because the workers are not represented by unions?


These are questions that need answers. On Facebook, if necessary.


The Deepwater Horizon group has, in fact, created a group on Facebook to deal with questions and issues and, in a sense, it is good that the government is on top of the social media's response to the government's dithering.


It is a good thing when the government works at transparency; we have no argument with that. It is a bit concerning when government sources are so closely monitoring (to squelch?) the situation to change the meme of what people are saying, while controlling the video of what we see in the Gulf, restricting the air space over the spill, and preventing photographers from even taking pictures. This is a full on assault of news coverage.


Previous post:


A story that has been around the web the last couple days and which we have repeated is about the boom that Packgen has manufactured that is sitting unused in the Maine warehouses. It seems Lt Erik Halvorson, who appears to be a public affairs officer for the Coast Guard, swoops around the web to "correct" misimpressions of what really happened, in this case, with Packgen and the unused boom. 


Here is a link to Packgen, complete with videos about the boom situation, although they do not directly address the issue of being accused of not having a good quality item. It's hard to understand how a company could stay in business making a product if it didn't meet expectations, considering that the owner goes into great detail about the standards his products meet. 

In fact, the issue of Packgen quality is addressed in this article; in addition, the Coast Guard had been informed quite a bit earlier about the boom, which appears to be better quality than the boom the CG purchased from China. (Who would ever question quality standards from something made in China?)


Here is the entire content of the Halvorsen email:

The boom manufactured by Packgen did not pass an initial quality control test. Boom is subjected to great wear and tear when placed in the water and must be frequently tended. In order to retain its effectiveness boom must be of high quality. Once Packgen's boom passes inspection, the company can be considered as a source for supplying boom to the largest oil spill response operation in U.S. history. In the meantime, suitable boom is being identified and obtained quickly and there is currently 459,000 feet of boom stored in the region in addition to the 2.24 million feet deployed.

Hope this clarifies the story.  

LT Erik Halvorson  

Chief, Joint Information Center 

Deepwater Horizon Response 

Unified Area Command 

     It is interesting that the government is addressing these issues around the web; it just seems like a convenient excuse that the quality of the boom was inadequate. It seems like a way to deflect criticism of the untimeliness of both BP's and the Coast Guard's search for measures to alleviate the drastic effects of this oil spill on the environment. 

     Just sayin'.