Red Tape Stalls Oil-Sucking Barges

Bobby Jindal is furious. Last week, he commissioned a fleet of 16 barges to comb the Gulf with vacuum equipment and suck up crude oil, and they had been working surprisingly well—until the Coast Guard stopped them on Wednesday, forcing them to sit at port for 24 hours. Authorities, to Jindal’s frustration, wanted to check things like whether there were enough fire extinguishers and life vests on board, ABC News reports.

Now, the barges are sailing again, but questions persist over who’s actually in charge in the Gulf. Jindal called the White House, and even that didn’t get the mess sorted out right away. “Every time you talk to someone different at the Coast Guard, you get a different answer,” Jindal complained. (More Bobby Jindal stories.)