By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

Seventy days after an explosion on an oil rig allowed millions of gallons of oil to pour into the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. government has finally decided to accept international help with the crisis.

Fox News is reporting that the U.S. State Department released a statement yesterday in which it said it will now accept offers of assistance from 12 countires and international bodies in cleaning up the oil spill. 

“We are currently working out the particular modalities of delivering the offered assistance. Further details will be forthcoming once these arrangements are complete,” the press release said.

Twenty-seven nations have offered clean-up assistance to the U.S., including Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

The international bodies offering their assistance are the European Maritime Safety Agency, the European Commission’s Monitoring and Information Centre, the International Maritime Organization, and the Environment Unit of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Environment Program.

Although many of the offers are still under consideration, the government has accepted an offer of two high-speed skimmers and fire containmetn boom from Japan.

An offer of chemical deispersants from France was turned down because the chemicals are not approved for us in the U.S.

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