Republican urges Obama to crack down on Cuban drilling plan

[Francesca9]

Source: The Hill

A Florida Republican congressman on Friday urged President Obama to take action against a proposed Cuban offshore oil drilling operation.

Rep. Vern Buchanan wrote the president, saying that he should stand in the way of the drilling plan.

Media reports this week said that Cuba is considering deep water oil drilling 50 miles from the Florida coastline as soon as next year. Buchanan said the plan could endanger the Gulf coast because a BP-like spill could occur.

"We want clean water and clean beaches," Buchanan told Tampa-based WTSP. "They're talking about drilling deeper than BP, which was 5,000 feet, and I have no confidence they will be able to drill safely at that level."

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/122221-republican-urges-obama-to-crack-down-on-cuban-drilling-plan

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If a Cuban well blows out, will Cuba pay billions in damages like BP is?

[thunder rising]

1. OMG! The hypocrisy! A winger singing the environmentalist blues. Only America (and Britain) can

contaminate the Gulf. It's in the Bible.

[Francesca9]

2. Everyone should try to prevent major oil spills

To me, this should not become a partisan issue.

[Billy Burnett]

4. Cuba does.

The Cuban government requires 2 emergency bottom kill wellbores to be completed prior to the primary. (Their parliament passed a bill requiring this after the BP chemical attack in the Gulf.)

Cuba is the only nation to qualify for the WWF sustainability model.

Cuba only country with sustainable development: World Wildlife Federation
http://www.zeenews.com/news331619.html

[Judi Lynn]

9. Thanks for this information. There's quite a difference in the requirements, for sure! n/t

[Billy Burnett]

11. Our media focused on former president Fidel Castro's comments on nuclear war.

Meanwhile, at the time our media was obsessing over Fidel's shirt color ... the Cuban parliament passed this environmental protection bill, that the elected Head of State signed into law (as per the constitution).

Of course, an example of Castro's iron fisted rule. :sarcasm:

:hi:

[Judi Lynn]

13. It's mysterious where they're getting their journalism standards these days for US American schools.

Can't even begin to remember the last time we could expect any news articles to cover any issues appropriately. It's been crap so long it makes you wonder if it was always that way and we just didn't know it, yet, in the past!

They have NEVER been honest in any of their coverage of Cuba yet. In fact, when Batista was still the bloodthirsty, thoroughly corrupt, brutal butcher US puppet, they never admitted THAT small detail, either, nor the horrendous conditions under which the Cuban majority had to live, and struggle, and DIE if they attempted to change things, like the young men and women who were tortured by Batista's death squads.

Nope, we never heard a thing about that, as US gamblers, tourists came and went there and indulged the US Mafia-controlled casinos/hotels, and Batista's brother-in-law made his nightly rounds picking up their "skims" from the casinos.

They WERE good, probably, at informing Americans what US entertainers were performing in Havana nightclubs, or who had bought part interest in a casino there. All the important stuff.

Just like they didn't mention in our corporate media that _{George H. W. Bush} went into a huddle with Cuban-Venezuelan media magnate, and coup planner, Gustavo Cisneros, immediately after the attempted coup (and forcible kidnapping) of Hugo Chavez failed, meeting at the resort and golf club of Cuban "exile" sugar barons, Alfie and Pepe Fanjul in the Dominican Republic.

As _{George H. W. Bush} told his wife Barbara, maybe we also shouldn't "worry" our "beautiful brains" about it.

[txlibdem]

43. I thought Canada has the same restrictions

Why hasn't Obama already made an executive order or arm twisted the regulators to make that the rule?

[Judi Lynn]

14. You should see this dirtbag's Wikipedia. Classic.

Vern's a member of the large Republican "undershot chins and chinless wonders" club, along with Mitch McConnell.

http://s-ak.buzzfed.com.nyud.net:8090/static/imagebuzz/web04/2009/8/24/16/senator-mitch-mcconnell-r-ky-loves-cupcakes-5287-1251145332-131.jpg

Vern's memorable Wiki.:

Ethics and Campaign Finance Law violations

In 2008 and 2009 Buchanan was named one of the "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a self-described non-partisan<33> ethics watchdog group<34>. CREW's 5-page report on Buchanan cited evidence of pressuring and paying employees to make donations to his congressional campaign<35>. On June 20, 2009, the St. Petersburg Times published an article alleging that Terry Keith Howell, a former business partner of Buchanan's, had been likewise pressured into donating the maximum allowable contribution of $8800 to Buchanan, despite being a registered Democrat, and in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings at the time.<36>.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vern_Buchanan

[arikara]

36. Cripes,that lack of a chin

fetal alcohol for sure.

[OHdem10]

3. China has lots of money. Are they not backing the Cuban drilling?

I remember a story about how China goes about the
world in search of sources of energy. There
was a connection made between Cuba and China and
drilling.

[ProudDad]

16. How ironic...U.S.Dollars supporting Cuban drilling operations...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[doc03]

5. So it's "drill baby drill" until Cuba does it , asshole. n/t

[Francesca9]

6. This is a major JOBS issue

The US has banned drilling at this site, so in effect these good jobs have been exported to Chinese drillers.

[Kelvin Mace]

7. Don't see it as a jobs issue

Folks need to wake up and realize that the "oil party" is almost over. If we had listened to Carter in '77 and started a serious move to alternate energy sources, we'd be sitting pretty today. But we didn't. Six years ago the Bush EPA commissioned a study on peak oil and when published in 2005 it talked about the best case scenario requiring immediate action by the U.S. Government and an expenditure in alternate energy research in the trillions. No such effort has been made, and it is now five years later, and more folk are beginning to understand the party is over.

http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/7001#more

We cannot drill our way out of this, whether we use American, Chinese or Cuban riggers. We need to STOP expending all our resources on oil drilling and START diverting resources to alternate energy, which WILL be a source of jobs.

I favor banning ALL drilling in sensitive areas, and I don't care how many jobs it costs. Ultimately, pursuing a policy of "drill baby drill" will cost a 1000 times more jobs when the world economy craters.

[Francesca9]

8. A LOT of Americans lost their drilling jobs recently

Our government ordered their jobs canceled - temporarily

[Devil_Fish]

10. well then, they should get jobs cleaning up the fucking mess that BP created. NT

[Kelvin Mace]

12. No

Our government made the decision that the environment was more important than oil company profits.

The number of riggers who are unemployed pails drastically compared to the number of commercial fishermen, crabbers, shrimpers, and folk in the tourism biz.

Also, only deep water drilling was stopped. Still plenty of oil riggers all over the gulf. And, if rules are tightened requiring oil companies to properly cap old well, there will plenty of work in the future for them. Meanwhile, the damage to the gulf will take decades to recover from, while the people who depend on the seafood industry for their jobs will STILL be unemployed.

Sorry, no sympathy for oil companies.

[Francesca9]

15. So you are good with American drilling jobs going to China

[ProudDad]

18. I'm good with ENDING all "drilling jobs"

and allowing the Earth to return to being a hospitable environment for large air-breathers and INHOSPITABLE TO CAPITALIST FUCKS!

[Kelvin Mace]

23. Amen brother

You know, the skill set required of oil riggers would not require that much re-training/re-tooling to building wind turbines. And think, now you have a job that doesn't pose the threat:

Death by fire
Death by drowning
Death by asphyxiation
Death by explosion
Death by petrochemical poisoning
Death from the myriad of cancers caused by the exposure to the dozens of carcinogenic compounds.

Did I miss any?

[Psephos]

29. It's binary. If Americans don't do those jobs, others will.

So the real-world question is, do you want drilling under American laws (and generating revenue to the American treasury)?

Or under lax laws and no US treasury revenue?

[ProudDad]

31. I want my grandson to live to be at least my age...

And that's fucking non-negotiable...

THAT'S A REAL WORLD answer...

And it WON'T HAPPEN if ANYBODY keeps drilling and burning that shit much longer...!

[Psephos]

33. What you want is worth wanting.

I want it too.

The way to get there is the problem. Ceding drilling to those with few laws and no regard for consequences is not going to solve it. This isn't a problem we can just walk away from.

[ProudDad]

35. You miss the point...

STOPPING drilling, stopping the pollution of the Earth for short term gain...

AND SOON...

Is the only hope...

It's WAY TOO LATE to just re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic -- it's time to fire the captain and get in the lifeboats...

It's time to stop the killing capitalists by any means necessary...

Ceding anything to the forces that are going to kill us is insane...

[Francesca9]

38. YOU are missing the point

Stopping American drilling just kills American jobs.

Stop people from purchasing oil or things like plastic made from oil - THAT will accomplish what you want.

How does shifting drilling jobs to China stop people from buying oil?

[ProudDad]

39. Since you can't seem to hear me,

I'll ask Garrett Morris to help answer your question:



(Garrett Morris - translation for the hearing impaired)


I SAID NOTHING ABOUT SHIFTING DRILLING JOBS TO CHINA!!!!!


I SAID STOP FUCKING DRILLING AND LET MOTHER EARTH HEAL!!!

[L.Torsalo]

46. What lax laws are you indicting?

It's the US has a problem with fouling it's own coastal waters. Cuba has more environmental ethic than a dozen USA's.

[bherrera]

30. I am sure Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia will listen to you

They drill many oil and gas wells in those countries. And they are not capitalists. Why use dirty language? You make the place look bad.

[ProudDad]

32. And they should stop too

What dirty language?

There's no such thing (if you're an adult, that is.)

And those who are doing the drilling in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia are sure as hell capitalists.

What's "dirty" is the fossil fuel industry that will destroy the Earth unless stopped -- EVERYWHERE!

[Kelvin Mace]

22. That's like asking me

if I am OK with Chinese people drowning on the deck of the Titanic instead of Americans. The jobs are in a dying industry, whether they go to the Chinese or the Americans. The sooner we start training people for new jobs in a growing industry, the better for us and the world.

[Francesca9]

40. THERE ARE NO GREEN JOBS TO TRAIN PEOPLE FOR

Where are these green jobs?

[thunder rising]

20. I feel the concern. Very concerned. Really, really concerned.

[activa8tr]

37. I would rather that they have SAFE drilling jobs later, jobs that don't

kill our oceans! Wouldn't you? By the way, they can get unemployment while the government makes their job safer and our gulf more healthy to more animals, fish, birds and humans.

If I were you, I wouldn't sweat the TEMPORARY loss of jobs, (given that so many Americans have lost their jobs PERMANENTLY, and they were not doing oil drilling).

[ProudDad]

17. You GET IT!

How refreshing here on DU... :hi:

Peak Oil, Catastrophic Climate Destabilization and Economic Collapse...

The trifecta of the Long Emergency...

And no one's really doing anything about it...

We watched Carter's speech from 1979 last week -- it's on the BlueRay of Michael Moore's "Capitalism, A Love Story"...

He could have made it yesterday -- and it would still be ignored, I'm afraid...

It appears that large-brained bipeds are just another evolutionary dead end...

[Kelvin Mace]

26. Jimmy Carter was the last honest president we had

I hold him in high esteem.

People are refusing to see the dire consequences of our energy policy, but it is damn sure coming home to roost at blinding speed.

The sad part is that a massive effort toward new power sources would address MANY of our economic problems. Trouble is, we need new approaches to encourage the market place to switch priorities.

Taxes are one way to handle things, but there ARE "market-based" solutions. If it were up to me, I would:

1) Offer a special tax break to the FIRST company to develop a LED-based light bulb replacement that cost the consumer less than 3 times the cost of a regular incandescent bulb while providing the same amount of illumination. The company bringing this bulb to market and demonstrating it viability over a period of two years, would be granted exemption from all federal income taxes for a period of five years (they get to pick the years they wish to exercise the exemption).

On the consumer side, I would exempt the bulbs from all sales tax.

2) I would mandate that starting in 2012, ALL new building construction, domestic, commercial, government or military, MUST generate 5% of their own power from a renewable source (wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, etc). The percentage would increase to 7% in 2015, 9% in 2018, 10% in 2020, then 5% per decade thereafter.

3) The first company to build a commercially/environmentally viable battery technology that would allow an electric car (two passenger and 500 lbs of cargo) to travel 400 on a single charge would get the same deal as the light bulb makers.

4) Tax rates for companies making renewable power generating equipment would be half that of carbon-based companies. Obviously we would have to be very careful to plug loopholes to prevent any kind of abuse of this provision. The simplest is to write the law so that the IRS in conjunction with EPA and Dept of Justice decide whether you are allowed the special rates on a year by year basis.

5) The first company to develop a commercially/environmentally viable fusion reactor get my tax exemption deal, but for ten years not five.

6) People retrofitting existing structures with renewable power generation would, after certification by an federal inspector, be granted tax credits equal to 100% of the improvement cost, not to exceed 20% the value of the structure.

7) Revocation of all "building covenants" which restrict renewable energy additions to houses (Some neighborhood associations don't allow solar panels, certain roof colors, wind turbines, etc).

8) Ban dark roofs. All roofs must have a certain heat absorption value or higher. Tax credits for retrofitting existing structures.

9) Ban on asphalt for new roads.

10) Ban on vampire products, i.e., products which consume power when not in use (some exemption for some devices would apply, i.e. safety/medical related devices). The ban would be gradually enacted over time, say ten years, giving manufacturers time to adjust their products.

Some people will look at this and see socialism. I see a HELL of a lot of jobs, and a better planet.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProudDad]

24. Darn, Kelvin, another deletion!

Another "Deleted message" in response to your reasonable post...

Did you see the original post?

More and more, I'm getting tired of being treated like some sort of thin-skinned child who must be "protected" from having my little feelings hurt by some stupid post on an internet board... :shrug:

[Kelvin Mace]

27. No, I didn't see it

which just piques my curiosity all the more.

[catzies]

21. Francesca, sweetie, this is the 21st century. Wake up, smell coffee.

Ending U.S. whaling was a major JOBS issue at the time
Ending U.S. slavery was a major JOBS issue at the time
Ending old growth logging in the PNW was a JOBS issue at the time

But in the end those that do the right thing by the entire planet (not just one species) will prevail, arc of justice & history, etc. etc.

[ProudDad]

25. Allowing the Earth to return to its previous equalibrium

as a hospitable environment for large air-breathing land mammals is MUCH more important that a few deep well drilling "jobs".

"Jobs" is a bullshit concept anyway...

It's WAY past time when we should be thinking about the WORK that MUST be done to relearn survival skills, power-down and restructure society to contribute to the SURVIVAL of Earth's ecosystems instead of the DESTRUCTION of Earth's ecosystems.

There's plenty of work. There are plenty of people. The new paradigm MUST BE to put them together in ways that increase the Earth's sustainability and to supply all people's needs without destroying the environment that supplies them.

[catzies]

28. I heard about this concept for the first time today and am reading up on it

The Great Turning, both the book and the movement it generated.

http://www.thegreatturning.net/

[ProudDad]

34. Now that's the ticket...

Sort of like www.transitionus.org

and the group we're working with locally: http://www.attractionretreat.org/

And our campaign for local reLOCALization: http://daveforarizona.org/index.html

[Francesca9]

41. Stop people from buying oil - and your theory makes sense

If the oil is produced by the Chinese, and we buy it - how did that help?

[ProudDad]

42. "Stop people from buying oil"

Now you're getting it!

It's absurd to believe that we could stop everyone immediately.

But we COULD put a HALT on building new pathways for cars and trucks. We could re-create our local economies to drastically cut down the need for oil.

We could re-create our local environments so that with light rail, modern streetcars, lower footprint buses, bicycles and walking we can supply our actual needs without ordering up another few thousand deep water drilling operations.

And we COULD do it singly, in local neighborhoods and in our local communities without asking permission from state or federal governments.

WE COULD STOP SHOPPING AT BIG BOX STORES!!! We could cut down shopping altogether -- buy used, buy local or think about it and DON'T BUY AT ALL!

The capitalist corporate beast would be easy to kill -- just deprive them of their food -- OUR MONEY -- and it'll collapse!

[Ginto]

45. So you are for our president doing everything in his power to try and stop this plan as well?

I do understand you. I would love to reduce our addiction to oil. I look around our world and see how everything we make is oil-based whether it be our plastic computer components or the polyurethane that coats my desk and I become despondent.

[txlibdem]

44. They don't want it because Cuba is not a CAPITALIST dictatorship

They have no problem with anyone else drilling, baby, drilling. Just so long as the Capitalistas are ultimately in charge.

[AlphaCentauri]

47. This is not about oil spills, is about wait until we get in power

and manage the cuban government

[Mika]

48. Supporting US paid fake "dissidents" is supporting the goal of ruling Cuba (again).

I'm always surprised at the support on DU that "dissidents" on the payroll of the US's "Cuban "ransition Project" run out of Miami by RW radicals - many of whom dream of the glory days of Batista.

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