Obama must get control of rogue oil regulators

[Forkboy]

PRESIDENT OBAMA vastly understated the case last week when he said the Minerals Management Service has a “cozy relationship’’ with oil companies. The agency within the Interior Department, which approves offshore drilling requests, has routinely flouted federal requirements to seek impact assessments from environmental agencies before issuing permits. This flouting of the law began under the Bush administration, and Obama has failed to correct it.

On Obama’s watch, according to The New York Times, the minerals service approved nearly 450 drilling plans and seismic blasting projects without seeking reviews from agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Several final approval permits were granted this month, even though Interior Secretary Ken Salazar claimed that he’d stopped granting permits after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Obama has criticized the “ridiculous spectacle’’ of major drilling firms like BP, Transocean, and Halliburton blaming each other. But just as ridiculous is how his Interior Department kept rubber-stamping permits. The department was in such bad shape that its acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, wrote Salazar just three weeks ago to say that Interior “has never had, and currently operates without, a scientific integrity policy.’’
--
Meanwhile, Obama himself is sticking to his plan to expand offshore drilling. That plan should not be implemented until Salazar can convince Congress — and the nation — that the Minerals Management Service will conduct extensive safety assessments and allow outside environment reviews before approving any permits. The problem at the minerals service isn’t a few bad apples. It’s rotten to the core.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/05/20/obama_must_get_control_of_rogue_oil_regulators/

[BeFree]

1. Rotten?

Yep. It is so rotten it's leaking all over the gulf.

[Catherina]

2. We need to start boycotting now. Walk, bike, whatever but boycott

because it's not going to get better any time soon.

Shell seeks to drill in Arctic seas this summer

• Shell ignores calls for moratorium on drilling
• Company says world needs 27bn barrel resource

Tim Webb guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 May 2010 19.13 BST


Shell yesterday pushed ahead with plans to drill in the Arctic Sea this summer, defying calls for a moratorium on offshore exploration in the pristine wilderness following the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, this month scrapped plans to allow offshore drilling in the state for the first time in more than 40 years and environmentalists have called for a halt in the Arctic after President Obama opened up the area to drilling for the first time last month.

However, Shell today refiled its drilling programme with the US authorities after being required to review its safety procedures following the Gulf spill and awaits final permits.

The industry will drill the first-ever large wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in the Arctic, which are estimated to hold 27bn barrels of oil and gas.

Shell chief executive Peter Voser told shareholders at the company's annual meeting that it would only drill there if it thought it could be done "safely and responsibly".

"The characteristics of the offshore fields are different to those in the Gulf of Mexico – we go less deep so there is less pressure," he said. "The world needs these fossil resources in the longer term." Voser said Shell had spent $2bn (£1.38bn) to secure the permits.

Shell also managed to beat off a sizeable rebellion over its controversial oil sands operations in Canada. Nevertheless, one in 10 shareholders either voted for or abstained on a resolution calling for Shell to carry out a full public audit of the environmental and financial impact of the operations.

The Shell board, which was criticised for placing the resolution at the end of the six-hour meeting's agenda, had urged shareholders to vote against it.

Oil sands projects result in three times as many carbon emissions as conventional oil production and also require vast amounts of water to process. They are also very expensive, requiring oil prices of at least $70 a barrel to be economic.


...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/18/shell-arctic-drilling-opposition

[gimama]

4. I posted in an earlier thread

That I can't boycott, cuz I quit driving/buying gas before * was guvnor of texas..
Yes, I walk, bike, mass transit..

I feel WE need to slam congress & WH with calls & emails..
AND a massive march all along the GulfCoast, AND DC, like the Vets & Survivors' March,
"Walkin' to New Orleans", 6 mos. after Katrina.
http://peacejournal.org/veterans-and-survivors-march-mobile-to-new-orleans

As angry & horrified as I am at bp actions, I am more upset with Pres.Obama,
for inaction & lack of leadership

[Catherina]

6. Are you VFP?

I still drive because of work but if I could, I'd be a luddite.

It's no good the way we live now.

Count me in brother or sister.

[gimama]

10. Supporter & Friend :)

of VfP

I am MFSO >>Military Families Speak Out,
and
Supporter & Friend of IAVA >>Iraq/Afghanistan Vets Against war

Goood to see You here:hi:

[Catherina]

11. You too

I'm plain vanilla VfP and a supporter and friend of MFSO and IVAW. I'll be seeing you around then.

[gimama]

12. that makes us Kin-Folk, I B'lieve :)

Likely have some mutual Friends, too!
:woohoo:

[HowHasItComeToThis]

3. GO GET 'EM

[Forkboy]

5. This post pleases me.

:D

[Catherina]

7. Your posts please me n/t

[Forkboy]

8. Awwwww, thanks.

:hug:

[Catherina]

9. Awwww

:hug: Thank you for the hug. I needed that with all this bad news.

[rabs]

13. View from Brazil

(From OP) "Meanwhile, Obama himself is sticking to his plan to expand offshore drilling."



------------------------

Cartoon is from the Jornal do Brasil of Rio de Janeiro. Sad to see but people outside the United States sometimes mince no words, in this case, mince no caricature.

[ima_sinnic]

14. "Obama himself is sticking to his plan to expand offshore drilling"

fuck it--just put a gun to the head of earth and be done with it.

Palin was right: the hopey-changey thing isn't working out for me.

[dgibby]

15. I'm beginning to wonder if the Mayans were right after all.

Seems like we're hell bent on destroying ourselves.:nuke: