WH: Idea that BP Given Special Exemption Because of Campaign Cash to Obama “Silly and Ridiculous” [View All]

[ProSense]

White House: Idea that BP Given Special Exemption Because of Campaign Cash to Obama “Silly and Ridiculous”

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UPDATE: Some adminsitration officials got in touch with me about this blog post, to note that the process of BP having received an exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act "is more complicated than the Post story" made it seem.

"There are a lot of layers in the NEPA review process," one administration official said, pointing out that it's a five year process that began for BP in 2004.

In 2004 and 2007 most of the decisions were made regarding the federal government granting the "categorical exclusion."

Then, the official said, "somebody buried deep in MMS made a determination in 2009 that this particular well could qualify for what was already an established routine action."

Officials from the president's Council on Environmental Quality believe that these categorical exclusions may be granted too readily, so in February 2010 they informed agencies "that they need to review how we're issuing categorical exclusions. That guidance is currently out for comment."

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When will Obama be accused of doing something for his biggest donors: the American people?

The misleading reports about which organization gave how much to the Obama campaign are ridiculous. In 2008, candidate Obama received the most donations from the University of California ($1,591,395), with Harvard ($854,747) and U.S. Government ($494,820) occupying the third and 19th slot, respectively.

The employees of those organizations contributed significantly more than BP employees' $71,000, which is less than the $74,000 in donations from SEIU and the $86,862 from the NEA.