The story grows on unused boom

     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'.