Drilling for OIL in the Gulf of Mexico. NO PERMITS REQUIRED

[Jeffersons Ghost]

U.S. Said to Allow Drilling Without Needed Permits
By IAN URBINA
Published: May 13, 2010

WASHINGTON — 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.

Those approvals, federal records show, include one for the well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and resulting in thousands of barrels of oil spilling into the gulf each day.

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.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14agency.html?hp

[woodsprite]

1. People were down on Obama because of this, but aren't they

Cheney/Bush cronies who are still running that department? Obama should have cleaned house - done a DEEP cleaning - the moment he took office.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. yep and until he does, problems like this will keep coming

[HughMoran]

4. Yes, look at a couple of quotes from the article

The scientists, none of whom wanted to be quoted by name for fear of reprisals by the agency or by those in the industry, said they had repeatedly had their scientific findings changed to indicate no environmental impact or had their calculations of spill risks downgraded.

“You simply are not allowed to conclude that the drilling will have an impact,” said one scientist who has worked for the minerals agency for more than a decade.

“If you find the risks of a spill are high or you conclude that a certain species will be affected, your report gets disappeared in a desk drawer

and they find another scientist to redo it or they rewrite it for you.”

Another biologist who left the agency in 2005 after more than five years said that agency officials went out of their way to accommodate the oil and gas industry.

He said, for example, that seismic activity from drilling can have a devastating effect on mammals and fish, but that agency officials rarely enforced the regulations meant to limit those effects.

Responding to the accusations that agency scientists were being silenced, Ms. Barkoff added, “Under the previous administration, there was a pattern of suppressing science in decisions, and we are working very hard to change the culture and empower scientists in the Department of the Interior.”

[alarimer]

5. Yes, he has not appointed anyone to head MMS

Or anyone for the Office of Inspector General for the Interior Department. As far as I know those positions are open.

[BeFree]

2. They LOVE deep water drilling, BABY..!!

The drillers know that the oil is 3, 4 miles down.

This wellhead is under one mile of water. It is a whole lot easier to drill through water, eh? If the oil is 4 miles down and you only have to drill 3 of those 4 miles....

And if you have a spill underwater it just mixes in with the water. No one ever sees it!

A spill on land has to be cleaned up no matter how small.
They love drilling in the water. The deeper the water, the better.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Giant K&R

This needs to be shouted from the rooftops, and those scientists need to be heard. Their reports should never be deep-sixed.

Unbelievable.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Kick!

:kick: