Declare World War III on oil spill in Gulf of Mexico

We must fight the BP oil spill more like World War III and less like a PR, brand-protection campaign.

Initially, there was too much finger pointing about who was to blame, then who was in charge and then who really is in charge.

The bottom line: BP approves all payments. How much money is paid to fishermen who can't fish? How much is paid to fishing boat crewmen? How much is paid to hotels, restaurants and fishing guides with no customers?

You tell me, who really is in charge? It's like being mugged and allowing the mugger to decide your level of compensation.

Again, we must fight this BP oil spill like WW III. We can start by declaring this a national disaster. The governors need to request this, and the president must approve it. The Stafford Act pays for compensation to people, and the Small Business Administration provides grants.

FEMA provides the governors the things they need to protect the shorelines. The U.S. Coast Guard, the National Guard, along with Department of Defense troops, should be used to help command and control the shoreline and work with each parish, county and major city along the Gulf Coast. All of this needs to be done before the first hurricane.

Remember, Katrina put a 30-foot wall of water on Biloxi, Miss., and created a 17-foot surge in New Orleans. Note the elevation in Tampa is 8 feet, and Miami is 9 feet at its highest point. Any land mass hit with this black tide will be a nightmare scenario.

The USCG and BP have maximum boots on the ground and have a hard time dealing with the Louisiana coast. It will be the same in Mississippi, Alabama and the two sides of Florida. How can we build defenses for hurricane surge along the coast?

We must explore new science to deal with oil in water. Now, BP has the final say on what is used to disperse the oil and mitigate the effects of it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency needs to start testing good ideas based on good science and allow the new products to be tested. I get several e-mails a day from folks with possible solutions; some are EPA-approved. The concepts are sent to the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute at Louisiana State University, then sent to BP. EPA could use the Gulf Coast land grant colleges to do this testing and pick the best of the lot for use.

We must make sure Congress passes laws that say, "If you have a drilling spill, you can be punished in criminal court if you fail to follow the rules." We must make sure oil drilling off our coasts is safe. Our regulatory agency should consist of commissioned officers with direct authority to give fines and close a well on the spot - without BP or any other oil company having the right to appeal.

That said, we must still use every available source for oil until some young genius develops new technology that replaces our dependency on oil for transportation and power, etc. In Louisiana alone, we would lose nearly 20 percent of the state's income if we stop oil exploration.

States that allow offshore drilling need a share of federal oil revenue right now. The federal government gets the majority of the funds. I heard from a friend that Exxon was preparing to add 200,000 jobs in Texas and Louisiana over the next two years until the moratorium took place. So, we need to reduce the risk and have good regulations.

We must treat this like a war, not to scare our people but to ensure them that this government can protect them from potential manmade hazards, combined with the ever-present natural disasters that can make matters worse. Governors must mobilize their states to get ready. The BP oil spill has the potential not only to change our lives in Louisiana but to change our culture. Needless to say, thousands of nature's creatures are dying as a result of neglect, arrogance and loose government regulators.

God Bless, America. If we lost the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it will not measure up to losing this war to protect our people and environment.