Despite Obama’s Moratorium, Drilling Projects Move Ahead

[tekisui]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — In the days since President Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new drilling permits and five waivers have been granted, according to records.

The records also indicate that since the April 20 explosion on the rig, federal regulators have granted at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling projects and at least 17 drilling permits, most of which were for types of work like that on the Deepwater Horizon shortly before it exploded, pouring a ceaseless current of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Asked about the permits and waivers, officials at the Department of the Interior and the Minerals Management Service, which regulates drilling, pointed to public statements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, reiterating that the agency had no intention of stopping all new oil and gas production in the gulf.

Department of the Interior officials said in a statement that the moratorium was meant only to halt permits for the drilling of new wells. It was not meant to stop permits for new work on existing drilling projects like the Deepwater Horizon.

But critics say the moratorium has been violated or too narrowly defined to prevent another disaster.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24moratorium.html

_____________________________________________

17 Application to Drill Permits Issued by the Minerals Management Service 5/10/2010 -5/18/2010 (7 Approved): http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/us/20100524-moratorium-permits.pdf

19 Exploration and Production Drilling Plans Approved by the Minerals Management Service with Categorical Exclusions
4/21/2010-5/20/2010: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/us/20100524-moratorium-waivers.pdf

[Webster Green]

1. Cool.

Drill baby drill! :silly:

[amborin]

2. just inexcusable and so perplexing

[depakid]

3. Looks like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand's doing...

[tekisui]

And a 'moratorium' isn't a moratorium.

[depakid]

11. One thing for certain- no matter how one spins it this does not look good:

Even before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the use of environmental waivers was a source of concern. In September 2009, the Government Accountability Office released a report concluding that the waivers were being illegally granted to onshore drilling projects.

This month, the Interior Department announced plans to restrict the use of the waivers onshore, though not offshore. It also began a joint investigation of the offshore waiver process with the Council on Environmental Quality, an environmental arm of the White House.

The investigation, however, is likely to take months, and in the meantime the waivers are continuing to be issued. There is also a 60-day statute of limitations on contesting the waivers, which reduces the chances that they will be reversed if problems are found with the projects or the Obama administration’s review finds fault in the exemption process.

At least three lawsuits to strike down the waivers have been filed by environmental groups this month. The lawsuits argue that the waivers are overly broad and that they undermine the spirit of laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, which forbid drilling projects from moving forward unless they produce detailed environmental studies about minimizing potential risks.

The administration has nowhere to place the blame for this sequence of events -other than upon themselves.

Salazar will probably take the fall once all is said and done.

[tekisui]

27. I think Salazar should take the fall earlier rather than later.

[bobbolink]

4. Oh, they KNOW alright........

We've been had.... same/same.

:nuke:

[babylonsister]

5. Wow, the all-powerful Obama wants to kill the world! Color me convinced!

I'm sure he does, because the NYT told me so. He is evil! :mad: Thanks for setting me straight!

[tekisui]

6. I don't think we read the same article.

That isn't what I got.

[babylonsister]

7. Do you doubt that's where this is going? I was without DU for 2 days,

and now I know Obama is responsible for all of it, whether he is or isn't. Whether you intended it or not, it doesn't matter.

[tekisui]

9. His Administration is responsible for policy decisions moving forward.

I don't fault him for the immediate response. But, included in the word 'response' is what we learn from this disaster and policies we enact as a result.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tekisui]

15. You are wrong on many counts.

[inna]

19. K&R and thank you.

I'm just sickened by mentality of some posters. :(

[babylonsister]

22. Yea? Prove it. You can't, because I am a big fat reader of DU,

and I know from where you come. I would never diminish what you think, but I just don't agree.

inna can pack sand. :D

[neverforget]

20. how is he not telling the truth? Example?

[Smashcut]

25. You seem like you're a tad unhinged

Throwing the kitchen sink at this poster for linking to an NYT article. And yet you have no actual response to the content of the article. Why were these drilling projects approved, and what should we be doing about it?

[babylonsister]

26. You are right. I'm unhinged, and I accept that. The poster was

just posting. And this is the NYT, a font of great honest reporting. And the poster is a font of unbiased opinion.

I am chastised, and thank you.

I'll shut my mouth now.

[inna]

12. what an amazingly stupid comment

[tekisui]

8. 4 new "ultra-deep wells", including wells over 9,100 feet:

At least six of the drilling projects that have been given waivers in the past four weeks are for waters that are deeper — and therefore more difficult and dangerous — than where Deepwater Horizon was operating. While that rig, which was drilling at a depth just shy of 5,000 feet, was classified as a deep-water operation, many of the wells in the six projects are classified as “ultra” deep water, including four new wells at over 9,100 feet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24moratorium.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1274670036-CxFkjWV5deuotCGTjCHf7Q

[G_j]

17. unacceptable

of course 'unacceptable' has little meaning when all ethical questions disappear, and nothing that anyone says can be believed.

[Hempathy]

10. Anybody who thinks that this 'accident' means the end of undersea oil exploration/drilling is crazy.

It may be a minor road-bump for the industry as a whole, but that's about it.

That's the world we live in.

[ladjf]

13. If true, this is anarchy. nt

[blindpig]

28. No, it's Capitalism.

Government is the servant of Capital.

k&r

[TomCADem]

16. We Need To Change The Law And Eliminate The Arbitrary Short Review Periods

That is just asinine that you have such an artificially small period to review drilling permits. Absolutely crazy. The Obama administration should just take it on the chin, and start denying permits within the review period.

[Swamp Rat]

18. I feel like throwing up

[inna]

24. Me too. :(

And I also want to SCREAM. I posted this pic in another thread, and I just noticed for the first time that it looks like OIL in the background of the painting. How eerily appropriate...

[QC]

21. I thought a moratorium meant you had to quit doing something.

Is this some sort of Newspeak or something?

[earth mom]

23. Obviously, Obama has not listened to one word Al Gore has said!!!

We MUST break our dependence on oil!!!

:argh: