Speaking to a group of about 20 of the nation's lieutenant governors in Biloxi yesterday, Gov. Haley Barbour used his pulpit to minimize the damage of the destroyed BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, reports The Miami Herald.

Barbour told attendees at the National Lieutenant Governors Association annual meeting that tourism across the Gulf is down by about 40 percent, but said Mississippi's "beaches are clean, the water is clear, the food is great."

"It is funny that you would be here at the tail end of what has been portrayed by the news media as the mega-disaster, the oil spill, and it may well end up being that, but I think it evident from here it hasn't been anything like in Mississippi the way it has been portrayed on television," Barbour added.

The governor also took the opportunity to say the Gulf oil industry did not need additional regulations for deep water drilling, saying that current regulations need to be enforced.

"I can't tell you with certainty, but I suspect as time goes on, we're going to see that the normal procedures for the drilling of this well, particularly at this depth, weren't followed," Barbour said in his speech.

Previous Comments

ID

158913

Comment

Are we really surprised? When he starts making sensible and compassionate remarks, that's when I'll start getting nervous.

Author

dd39203

Date

2010-07-29T11:11:36-06:00