McCain spokesperson lies: Katrina and Rita ‘didn’t spill a drop’ of oil

[DogPoundPup]

This afternoon, Nancy Pfotenhauer, senior energy adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and a lobbyist for Koch Industries, lied to MSNBC’s David Schuster, claiming, “We withstood Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and didn’t spill a drop.” She said:

When Senator McCain opposed lifting the ban in the past, it was because there were concerns about environmental capability. Like, could we do this and still maintain a pristine environmental um uh climate and and area around the drilling? And basically, what we’ve seen is the technology has progressed to the point where we could do that. We withstood Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and didn’t spill a drop.

Pfotenhauer — who spent her career in Washington defending the right-wing polluter Koch Industries before joining the McCain campaign — is repeating a popular right-wing lie. The hurricanes, unsurprisingly, caused 124 offshore spills and hundreds more onshore. Like Sen. McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-CA), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Mike Huckabee, George Will, and Bill O’Reilly, Nancy Pfotenhauer is lying.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/14/mccain-spokesperson-lies-katrina-and-rita-didnt-spill-a-drop-of-oil/

[NC_Nurse]

1. WTF? How can they lie so brazenly?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. When drilling platforms are 20 miles from where they were....

well, something had to get spilled, at least a quart or two.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. They need to read the paper now and again....

Something had to get spilled, at least a quart or two.


An oil platform ripped from its mooring in the Gulf of Mexico rests by the shore in Dauphin Island, Ala. Tuesday Aug. 30, 2005 after hurricane Katrina passed through the area. The potential damage to oil platforms, refineries and pipelines that remain closed along the Gulf Coast drove energy prices to new highs Tuesday, with crude futures briefly topping $70 a barrel and wholesale gasoline costs surging to levels that could lead to $3 a gallon at the pump in some markets. (AP photo by Peter Cosgrove / August 30, 2005)

[pscot]

4. I'm sure some oil was spilled

But you seem to be saying there was lots of it and it did lots of damage. If that's the case, could you provide links citing when, where and how much? Without concrete data, we have to take your assertions on faith. A picture of a lop-sided drilling rig isn't proof that oil was spilled.

[HawkerHurricane]

5. Here you go.

http://www.katrinadestruction.com/images/v/damaged+energy+facilities/

http://blog.skytruth.org/2007/12/hurricane-katrina-gulf-of-mexico-oil.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_Oil_Spill_(Chalmette,_La)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2005/sep/16/usnews.hurricanekatrina

Is this enough, or would you like more? See
http://www.google.com/search?q=oil+spill+hurricane+katrina&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8

[pscot]

6. I guess I would like to see more

The Guardian article refers to the possibility of 6 mm gal spilled, but that seems to refer to onshore spillage. Not really what's at issue here. Det Norske Veritas' report seems to be the only attempt to verify actual offshore damage. Their best estimate is that about 17,700 bbls of oil spilled as a result of pipeline and platform damage. Within 10 days, most of the floating oil slicks had dispersed. Total spilled was about 6% of that spilled when the Exxon Valdez ran aground. I'm not arguing that it was a trivial event, but given the scope of the disaster wrought by Katrina and Rita. I guess it's a question of risk vs reward. The system can probably be tightened up with additional regulations. The reality is, we're going to keep drilling off shore, and probably expand our efforts.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Many drilling platforms were moved 20 miles or more from their

original sites of operation. Now, what do you think happens to the pipes that run under the gulf like a spiderweb during this destruction? See, the number state, 113 platforms TOTALLY destroyed. Who to believe??


Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Hurricane Katrina - Gulf of Mexico Oil Spills
Speaking of oil spills, SkyTruth images revealed significant spills covering a large area of the northern Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. At the time, nobody was talking about what had happened to the 4,000 offshore oil platforms - and 34,000 miles of pipeline on the seafloor - when Katrina ripped through the Gulf as a Cat 5 storm, followed a few weeks later by Hurricane Rita. Attention was rightly focused on the unfolding human tragedy, as well as the 7-9 million gallons of oil spilled from damaged pipelines, refineries and storage tanks onshore.



But for months after the storms, officials from government and industry repeatedly claimed that there were no "significant" spills in the Gulf. That line is still heard even now. Yet in May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service published their offshore damage assessment: 113 platforms totally destroyed, and - more importantly - 457 pipelines damaged, 101 of those major lines with 10" or larger diameter. At least 741,000 gallons were spilled from 124 reported sources (the Coast Guard calls anything over 100,000 gallons a "major" spill).

[kristopher]

7. Dan Abrams played a clip that shocked me.

Pete Dominici was on Fox news and started spouting that line and the FOX HOST NAILED HIM for it. He tried to slither away with more weaseling words and she dragged him back and stomped on him a little more. Then She said something like "Here at Fox we do the truth".

I almost choked on my own tongue.