Report: Feds OK'd Oil Drilling without Permits

[cornermouse]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/14/national/main6482889.shtml

A U.S. agency frequently allowed oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico without requiring oil companies to provide necessary permits from a separate agency, The New York Times reports.

Federal records show the Minerals Management Service (MMS) allowed a well dug by the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded last month, killing 11 workers and causing thousands of barrels of oil a day since to spew into the ocean, the Times reports.

Under the Endangered Species Act, companies are required to show the MMS permits to drill, obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

According to the Times, the MMS also frequently overruled its staff of scientists and engineers who expressed concerns about drilling. The scientists tell the Times they were pressured to change reports that drilling could harm wildlife.

[AllentownJake]

1. It is so wonderful we have federal agencies

That can bypass the rule of law on behalf of campaign contributors when convenient for the politicians and the corporations.

Disgusting state our country is in, and I don't see the administration other than waving shiny objects for idiots doing much to change that.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Who gave these oil-sockpuppet clowns their jobs?

I'd like to know...

[Donnachaidh]

12. I thought I'd read somewhere that Cheney had something to do with

embedding corporate ass-clowns into the agency in order to facilitate this sort of nonsense. IIRC that info may be found at DKos.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. They were porn surfing with SEC members.

[AndyA]

4. Time to fire some people. And prosecute those who broke the law.

Really, enough is enough.

And we wonder why government is so wasteful and expensive. Everyone is in it to get what they personally can take out of it.

[cornermouse]

5. kickin' it back to the top.

[Tashca]

6. Corruption is becoming the norm.

Let the free markets reign.......you betcha'

Government corruption and the belief that free markets know best is going to be the end of us all.....

[Angry Dragon]

7. K&R

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. When did this occur?

Was it during the deregulation years?

[blindpig]

9. That's how it works...

regulations are made to be circumvented, it's more profitable than compliance.

Expropriate without compensation.

[Echo In Light]

10. K/R

[elehhhhna]

11. Isn't Minerals Mgmt the hot Bush team transition gig they gave to ABRAMHOFF & friends?

& ya wondered why the Dept of Interior was such a plum assignment ...

[SpiralHawk]

14. It would be good to find out...

This has the stank of republiconism all over it.

[elehhhhna]

15. I'm certain that D of Interior was hot-hot-hot,

probably b/c mining & oil extractors are known to volunteer big bakkshish. Deposited offshore, of course. So much easier, don'tchaknow?

[ipaint]

13. Obama didn't know about the corruption? Or did he open up drilling

knowing the agency that regulates it is corrupt?

from 2008-

Report Says Oil Agency Ran Amok
Interior Dept. Inquiry Finds Sex, Corruption

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/10/AR2008091001829.html

[elehhhhna]

16. he can't know everything, but what about his staff? W'uck? Buck stops on his desk, right?

Or maybe that's the problem.

He's a young Prez, and if her plays all this right (literally), he'll be a trazillionaire within a few years of completing his term/s. Could be a trazillionaire now! The bucks really stop in Cayman or Guernsey these days, from what I hear.

[amborin]

17. unconscionable that Obama is still allowing this