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Oil Spill Worsens as Facts Add Insult to Injury
Posted: 14 May 2010 08:40 AM PDT
The mess in the Gulf of Mexico is still getting worse. With an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil pouring into the Gulf daily it seems as if things could not get worse for the people of that area and the distinct ecosystems. However, now it appears as if things have gotten worse. Oceanographers and independent analysts now believe that much more oil than that may be leaking daily after seeing the well for themselves. Adding insult to injury, reports are also surfacing about how the Mineral Management Agency seemed to just be a front group to allow the oil companies to circumvent federal law.
In the here and now it appears as if although over 200,000 gallons a day is not bad enough, there may actually be much more oil than that polluting the Gulf daily:
President Obama is scheduled to meet with cabinet members and other advisers on Friday concerning the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, with questions now circulating over just how much oil is gushing from the stricken undersea well.
Justin Gillis reports in The Times that the government estimate of the leak rate - 5,000 barrels or 210,000 gallons a day - is being doubted now that independent analysts can see the leak for themselves in video images that have been released. According to Mr. Gillis, at least one oceanographer believes the oil could be escaping at four or five times that rate, or more.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes... As if this were not bad enough for the people who live and make their livings on the Gulf coast, now insult is being added to injury. You see, the Mineral Management Agency responsible for regulating offshore drilling seems to have just been a front group to help the oil industry evade the laws that could have helped prevent this disaster:
The federal Minerals Management Service gave permission to BP and dozens of other oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico without first getting required permits from another agency that assesses threats to endangered species - and despite strong warnings from that agency about the impact the drilling was likely to have on the gulf.
The Minerals Management Service, or M.M.S., also routinely overruled its staff biologists and engineers who raised concerns about the safety and the environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the gulf and in Alaska, according to a half-dozen current and former agency scientists.
"M.M.S. has given up any pretense of regulating the offshore oil industry," said Kier?n Suckling, director of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group in Tucson, which filed notice of intent to sue the agency over its noncompliance with federal law concerning endangered species. "The agency seems to think its mission is to help the oil industry evade environmental laws."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05... How disgraceful is that?? Should someone not be held accountable for this criminal lapse in judgement?? Are any of the folks who issued permission without the required permits still employed at M.M.S.?? If so it seems to me they should be immediately dismissed. This mixing of Corporations and the agencies that "regulate" them must be stopped and made into what it is, criminal activity.
In other spill news, Democrats are trying to raise the liability limit on oil companies from $75 million to $10 billion as the true costs of this disaster are becoming known. But of course, it has been blocked by a Republican Senator who obviously just wants to "Drill Baby Drill", no matter the cost:
The liability measure was pushed by Senators Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, Democrats of New Jersey, and Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, who said the current limit represents a small fraction of the likely damage from the BP spill in the gulf.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, a strong proponent of offshore drilling, blocked their bill, saying it would discourage all oil exploration. Ms. Murkowski is sponsoring a separate bill to raise oil taxes by a penny a barrel to increase the federal spill response fund.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05... I guess next we will see Ms. Murkowski shooting wolves from a helicopter with fellow Alaskan Sarah Palin. That is about how much these folks care about endangered species and precious ecosystems. I think it speaks volumes for the modern Republican Party when after a disaster like this all they can do is STILL defend the oil companies.
We owe it to the people and ecosystems of the Gulf to get to the bottom of this huge, corrupt failure. We need to insure that regulations on activities such as this are not written by the Corporation for the oil industry. Whomever issued the permission for BP to drill in the Gulf should be just as accountable for this mess as BP themselves.
Hopefully this will teach Americans a valuable lesson. Sometimes the government is not the enemy and sometimes regulations are good and much needed. I do not believe we need to tell that to anyone who made their living in the Gulf and now see that destroyed. How many hard lessons will it take before we realize the quest for Corporate profit at all costs is slashing the throats of the rest of us??
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