Five questions for Obama on the oil spill

[charlesg]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052603800.html

1. In explaining and defending your decision in March to open up additional offshore areas to drilling, you argued that improvements in technology have made drilling significantly less risky. Just 18 days before the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, you said: "It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don't cause spills. They are technologically very advanced." What kind of assurances were you given that this was the case and by whom? What do you think of those assumptions now?

2. BP is now in the position of making many of the key decisions on how to deal with it -- a situation that is drawing growing criticism. White House officials note the administration is following a process established under the 1990 Oil Spill Act, which was passed in response to the Exxon Valdez incident; they also concede that the government, effectively, has no choice but to let BP take the lead because it lacks the equipment and expertise to do the job. In at least one instance in which the federal government has attempted to overrule BP, which was over its use of dispersant chemicals that the Environmental Protection Agency says are too toxic, the company has not complied. What do you say to those who say too much control has been ceded to BP? And what kind of changes, if any, should be made in the process for dealing with future oil spills?

3. Salazar has pledged reform of the Minerals Management Service, the agency responsible for offshore drilling, which is now recognized as having been too compliant with the wishes of the oil industry. But his proposals -- for instance, splitting the agency into separate leasing, revenue collection and oversight -- have dealt largely with the organizaton of the MMS. If the problem is, as you have said, a cozy culture in the agency, is it enough simply to redraw the organization chart? How can you quickly change a culture that has taken decades to develop?

4. On May 6, Salazar announced a moratorium on the issuance of final permits for "new offshore drilling activity." Critics such as the Center for Biological Diversity note, however, that this policy has never been put into writing, and that its definition "has become steadily narrower as the Interior Department changes it to exclude whatever drilling permits MMS issues on any given day." And the New York Times has reported that since the April 20 explosion on the rig, waivers have continued to be granted for drilling projects. What, exactly, does this moratorium cover?

5. Should anyone in the government be fired as the result of this disaster?

[tranche]

1. There's 15,000 wells drilled in the gulf.

[kirby]

4. So what?

Part of emergency preparation is being able to handle the 'big one'. When operating in an environment with such value to both the marine life, nearby states, ecosystem, the nations seafood supply, there has to be plans to handle the worst.

It is obvious that not only were there no plans, but they are 'making' it up after the fact. No one should ever be allowed to drill a well if they are unable to contain the result of a well failure. Not only did BP (and the rest of the industry) lie, by saying they could handle this, the MMS gave waivers based on those declarations.

[tranche]

5. I agree with everything you said.

[nashville_brook]

6. that's a bit low -- 25,744 as of 2005, down from 91,553 in 1981

Historically, U.S. drilling activity peaked in 1981, with a total of 91,553 wells (43,598 oil, 20,166 natural gas, 27,789 dry wells) drilled in that year. For 2004, a total of 33,813 wells (22,673 natural gas wells, 7,167 oil wells, and 3,973 dry wells) were drilled in the United States, up from the low point of 18,465 total wells drilled in 1999, and also up sharply from the 25,744 wells drilled in 2002. During January-September 2005, total U.S. oil and natural gas wells drilled were up 21 percent from the same period in 2004.

[truedelphi]

2. here is another question - what was the market activity of the Goldman Sachs

Firm -- did they engage in "shorting" the Oil in the Gulf of Mexico?

And if they did, at what point?

Before or after the leak?

[Catherina]

3. No amount of pretending is going to make this die down or go away

Obama better start dealing with it unless he wants this to be the number one item in his legacy. Fire the people in his administration who messed up. Stop future drilling. Seize BP's assets.

And then, let's have an old-fashioned talk on the link between the profit system and the BP oil catastrophe.

[truedelphi]

7. K & R! n/t