The Spill, The Scandal and the President...

[Henry Hawk]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965

WOW....a very interesting read:


The Spill, The Scandal and the President

Rolling Stone Magazine....


...the "moratorium" on drilling announced by the president does little to prevent future disasters. The ban halts exploratory drilling at only 33 deepwater operations, shutting down less than one percent of the total wells in the Gulf. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the Cabinet-level official appointed by Obama to rein in the oil industry, boasts that "the moratorium is not a moratorium that will affect production" – which continues at 5,106 wells in the Gulf, including 591 in deep water.


Most troubling of all, the government has allowed BP to continue deep-sea production at its Atlantis rig – one of the world's largest oil platforms. Capable of drawing 200,000 barrels a day from the seafloor, Atlantis is located only 150 miles off the coast of Louisiana, in waters nearly 2,000 feet deeper than BP drilled at Deepwater Horizon. According to congressional documents, the platform lacks required engineering certification for as much as 90 percent of its subsea components – a flaw that internal BP documents reveal could lead to "catastrophic" errors. In a May 19th letter to Salazar, 26 congressmen called for the rig to be shut down immediately. "We are very concerned," they wrote, "that the tragedy at Deepwater Horizon could foreshadow an accident at BP Atlantis."

The administration's response to the looming threat? According to an e-mail to a congressional aide from a staff member at MMS, the agency has had "zero contact" with Atlantis about its safety risks since the Deepwater rig went down.

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...Salazar himself has worked hard to foster the impression that the "prior administration" is to blame for the catastrophe. In reality, though, the Obama administration was fully aware from the outset of the need to correct the lapses at MMS that led directly to the disaster in the Gulf. In fact, Obama specifically nominated Salazar – his "great" and "dear" friend – to force the department to "clean up its act." For too long, Obama declared, Interior has been "seen as an appendage of commercial interests" rather than serving the people. "That's going to change under Ken Salazar."

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On April 6th of last year, less than a month after BP submitted its application, MMS gave the oil giant the go-ahead to drill in the Gulf without a comprehensive environmental review. The one-page approval put no restrictions on BP, issuing only a mild suggestion that would prove prescient: "Exercise caution while drilling due to indications of shallow gas."

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Obama and Salazar appeared together at Andrews Air Force Base on March 31st to introduce the plan. The stagecraft was pure Rove in its technicolor militaristic patriotism. The president's podium was set up in front of the cockpit of an F-18, flanked by a massive American flag. "We are not here to do what is easy," Salazar declared. "We are here to do what is right." He insisted that his reforms at MMS were working: "We are making decisions based on sound information and sound science." The president, for his part, praised Salazar as "one of the finest secretaries of Interior we've ever had" and stressed that his administration had studied the drilling plan for more than a year. "This is not a decision that I've made lightly," he said. Two days later, he issued an even more sweeping assurance. "It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don't cause spills," the president said. "They are technologically very advanced."
Eighteen days later, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Deepwater Horizon rig went off like a bomb.

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....Instead of seizing the reins, the Obama administration cast itself in a supporting role, insisting that BP was responsible for cleaning up the mess. "When you say the company is responsible and the government has oversight," a reporter asked Gibbs on May 3rd, "does that mean that the government is ultimately in charge of the cleanup?" Gibbs was blunt: "No," he insisted, "the responsible party is BP." In fact, the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan – the federal regulations that lay out the command-and-control responsibilities for cleaning up an oil spill – makes clear that an oil company like BP cannot be left in charge of such a serious disaster. The plan plainly states that the government must "direct all federal, state or private actions" to clean up a spill "where a discharge or threat of discharge poses a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States."

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The failure of the obama administration to crack down on BP – and to tackle the crisis with the full force of the federal government – is likely to haunt the Gulf Coast for decades to come. Oil continues to lap up onshore in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Pelican rookeries are fouled, their eggs and nests soaked in oil. The region's fisheries – some of the richest in the world – are imperiled; anglers and shrimpers have been barred from more than a third of the Gulf's waters, which may never fully recover from the toxic stew of crude and chemical dispersant now twisting in its depths. The region's beaches are empty, and tourist towns are dying. Administration officials now admit that the oil may continue to gush into the Gulf until August, when relief wells are finally in place.
Both the government and BP have reasons to downplay the extent of the spill. For BP, the motive is financial: Under the Clean Water Act, the company could owe fines of as much as $4,300 for every barrel spilled, in addition to royalties for the oil it is squandering. For the Obama administration, the disaster threatens to derail the president's plan to expand offshore drilling. "It's crystal clear what the federal response to the tragedy ought to be," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on environmental health. "Bring a dangerous offshore drilling pursuit to an end."
The administration, however, has made clear that it has no intention of reversing its plan to expand offshore drilling. Four weeks into the BP disaster, when Salazar was questioned in a Senate hearing about the future of the president's plan, he was happy to stand up for the industry's desire to drill at any cost. "Isn't it true," asked Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, "that as terrible as the tragedy is, that unless we want $14, $16, $18, $20-a-gallon gasoline, that it's not realistic to think that we would actually stop drilling for oil in the Gulf?" Unbowed by the catastrophe that was still unfolding on his watch, Salazar heartily agreed, testifying that the president had directed him to "move forward" on offshore drilling.

[Palehorse]

The only part of this "article" you find "interesting" are the points critical of the president.

We'll see how you like their followup in 6 months, where they scald the Shrub and his Shotgun!

[followsthewolf]

Years and years of greed and bureaucratic boondoggling has led to a crisis that we are now going to lay at the feet of a person who has been the POTUS for how long?

But, hell yeah, we have to blame someone, don't we?

Kinda like blaming the Great Depression on Hoobert Heever...er, ah Herbert Hoover, isn't it?

(Another post for contemplation. No asscutting intended.)

[The Troll]

Years and years of greed and bureaucratic boondoggling has led to a crisis that we are now going to lay at the feet of a person who has been the POTUS for how long?

But, hell yeah, we have to blame someone, don't we?

Kinda like blaming the Great Depression on Hoobert Heever...er, ah Herbert Hoover, isn't it?

(Another post for contemplation. No asscutting intended.)

  Hoover didn't cause it.  It was greed.  A lot of it was like now, with the failure of the stock market and speculation.

  But he sure didn't do anyting to get us out of it.  Just sat on his ass and let the market take care of it's self.  Bad, Hoover.

[Palehorse]

 

  Hoover didn't cause it.  It was greed.  A lot of it was like now, with the failure of the stock market and speculation.

  But he sure didn't do anyting to get us out of it.  Just sat on his ass and let the market take care of it's self.  Bad, Hoover.

Watch it, or the Texas Tea Party will dig his ass up and run him! 

[The Troll]

Watch it, or the Texas Tea Party will dig his ass up and run him! 

    You know a lot of the people in the TeaBagger Party look the cast from the movie, the "Living Dead." 

[Palehorse]

    You know a lot of the people in the TeaBagger Party look the cast from the movie, the "Living Dead." 

[Henry Hawk]

that's right fella's, change the subject and make your jokes.......turn it all on the tea party and simply ignor the fact YOU gusy f't up and elected a inexperienced punk in office and the best  you can do is find someone else to blame it on!!??




all I can do anymore is laugh, until november....

[Exterminator]

...elected a inexperienced punk...

You are very disrespectful and it's more a reflection on yourself than anyone else.

[The Troll]

that's right fella's, change the subject and make your jokes.......turn it all on the tea party and simply ignor the fact YOU gusy f't up and elected a inexperienced punk in office and the best  you can do is find someone else to blame it on!!??




all I can do anymore is laugh, until november....

  Elected an inexperienced punk.  You are really a joke.  You elected, I mean the Supreme Court elected the inexperienced punk. and you voted for him twice.  George W. Bush,  the Governor of Texas. 

  Henry you can't say anything about Obama, that your George W. hasn't trumped any president America has ever had.

   You are a joke when it come to bashing the Democrats. 

  November, you're going to win a few, that the way thing have happened for years.  But you're not going to win the way you think you're going to win.  I bet Reid wins in Nevada.  Want to bet he doesn't.   

[Henry Hawk]

You are very disrespectful and it's more a reflection on yourself than anyone else.

pot calling kettle black!!..

[Exterminator]

Why not just go ahead and use the 'n' word; it's clear that's your issue.

[Henry Hawk]

Why not just go ahead and use the 'n' word; it's clear that's your issue.

for a guy who is bright as I know that you are, and I know that you are well educated.....you could not be more wrong about this.  I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, it has NOTHING what-so-ever to do with his skin color.  It has EVERYTHIHG to do with his arrogant personality, and his overall demeanor, that I do not like about him.....
Honestly, I don't really care IF you believe me...but that is a fact....and I know that is the way MOST folks who don't like him feel.

[Palehorse]

http://www.youtube.com/v/2AAa0gd7ClM

[Sandy Eggo]

His "arrogance" and "overall demeanor"?

Very subjective, but based on your excuse for logic and the fact that you were (and continue to be) supportive of Bush...you do not consider Bush arrogant and you like his overall demeanor.

Bush is a good ol' boy, you can relate to that. Ex is right.