Obama pledges end to 'cozy' oil relationships

[NJmaverick]

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama angrily decried the "ridiculous spectacle" of oil industry officials pointing fingers of blame for the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico and pledged on Friday to end a "cozy relationship" between the oil industry and federal regulators that he said had extended into his own administration.
Obama said he shared the "anger and frustration" felt by many Americans, and he acknowledged differing estimates about just how disastrous the damage from the leak could become. He said the administration's response has "always been geared toward the possibility of a catastrophic event."
As Obama spoke in the White House Rose Garden, undersea robots in the Gulf tried to thread a small tube into the jagged pipe that is spewing oil into the water. The blown-out well has pumped out more than 4 million gallons of crude.
BP engineers were trying to move the 6-inch tube into the leaking 21-inch pipe, known as a riser. The smaller tube was to be surrounded by a stopper to keep oil from leaking into the sea. BP said it hoped to know by Friday evening if the tube succeeded in taking the oil to a tanker at the surface.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100514/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

[tekisui]

1. ...by granting waivers on environmental impact studies?

[havocmom]

3. Ah, but it was done at a distance, through channels of agency managers...

nothing cozy about that; just fucking complicit. Not cozy ;)

[polichick]

5. Shhhhh - you're just supposed to believe! nt

[NJmaverick]

6. I thought you guys were pushing the meme that we should never believe

that the President is an unscrupulous liar and all that. :shrug:

[polichick]

8. That makes no sense. nt

[NJmaverick]

10. I have always thought so, but it seems to be a popular meme here at DU

[polichick]

15. Actually, I meant YOU don't make any sense. nt

[NJmaverick]

16. Oh well that is just plain silly

[polichick]

17. You're just plain silly alright - but keep spinning away; it's amusing. nt

[NJmaverick]

21. It's like a bad acid trip

:crazy: :crazy:

[tekisui]

12. Always going to the personal to avoid the issue. Typical.

The hyperbole is just an added flaming touch.

[NJmaverick]

14. Personal? you told me the President is a liar and shouldn't be believed

and you are pushing debunked claims. So who is making things personal? It seems like you are on some sort of self appointed mission to take the President down, at least that seems to be the conclusion one can draw by the sheer volume of anti-Obama propaganda you post.

[tekisui]

20. Link to me calling Obama a liar.

Or STFU.

ETA: :Like I said, you go personal when you are at a loss.

[NJmaverick]

9. The President has been granting waivers? Exactly who did he give them to?

I wouldn't think the President would have the time to get involved in those sort of lower level issues.

[tekisui]

11. His Administration.

WASHINGTON — Since the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded on April 20, the Obama administration has granted oil and gas companies at least 27 exemptions from doing in-depth environmental studies of oil exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico.

The waivers were granted despite President Barack Obama’s vow that his administration would launch a “relentless response effort” to stop the leak and prevent more damage to the gulf. One of them was dated Friday — the day after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he was temporarily halting offshore drilling

The exemptions, known as “categorical exclusions,” were granted by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) and included waiving detailed environmental studies for a BP exploration plan to be conducted at a depth of more than 4,000 feet and an Anadarko Petroleum Corp. exploration plan at more 9,000 feet.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/07/93761/despite-spill-feds-still-giving.html#ixzz0nw8i884N

[NJmaverick]

13. You seem to be pushing a debunked claim

http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/offshore/Plans_Permits/plans/master.asp

[tekisui]

18. The article isn't about drilling permits.

The article never claimed that new drilling permits have been issued. It does report that waivers have been granted for environmental impact studies for 27 corporations in the Gulf.

[JuniperLea]

19. Beat me to it!

It's bad enough that we have a full blown environmental disaster going on without obvious misinformation being spewed about.

I thought DUers were better at discerning spirits than that.

[tekisui]

22. It is not mis-information.

The debunked claim was that new permits have been given. They have not been. There have, however, been waivers granted so the companies will not have to conduct environmental impact studies.

[boppers]

37. EIS's are kind of moot, no?

It's not like we lack knowledge on the topic, there are two standard outcomes:
1) Functioning drilling and well, occasional seepage and minor spill, no major long-term impact
2) HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WE JUST BLEW UP THE REGIONAL ECOSYSTEM

Additional studies, on a case by case basis, aren't going to shed a whole lot more light on the two standard outcomes.

[tekisui]

38. Case by case studies should be site specific.

Not only that, but why give the oil companies any breaks? We should be slowing them down as much as possible, including requiring that they themselves document exactly what the environmental risks are for their operation.

It would be good to have a paper trail that proved they recognized and understood the risk.

[boppers]

41. If the current site was three, or thirty, miles away, there would be no difference in outcomes.

If an EIS is for scientific reasons, that's one thing, but if it's just a stalling tactic ("slowing them down as much as possible"), it's not accomplishing anything other than delaying the inevitable.

I'm not sure I follow your point about having a paper trail... what are we going to do, wave mountains of paper at them when something gets screwed up?

[tekisui]

42. Any potential damage assessed in the study

could be made accountable to them is and when they caused a disaster through negligence.

[Oceansaway]

2. it's a pledge folks, not a promise

he'll wiggle out of this in due time....

[Autumn]

26. Sadly enough,

I don't doubt that one bit.

[Cha]

28. Says the anonymous internet poster who

knows it all.

[LeftyAndProud60]

4. Do you notice how Republicans aren't really bashing Obama on this spill? I wonder why.

The katrina thing started but ended very quickly. THey realize that their policies are the reason for this spill.

I actually want Obama to really take over and dump BP. It has to be a company in some part of the world that knows how to stop this spill and clean it up. BP seem like amateurs.

[NJmaverick]

7. There is also the fact that the President and his people have been more than competent in their

response to this crisis.

[Cha]

29. You mean after they spend days whining/lying/whining/lying. he

did respond fast enough?

[freddie mertz]

23. This has been very inconvenient for the administration.

I am sure they will have more things to "say" about it.

The proof will be in the ACTIONS they take.

Or do NOT take.

Till then... skeptical.

[tekisui]

24. The safety report on the rig is due in about a week.

The administration said no new offshore oil rigs until then. What they do after the report comes will tell us a lot.

[freddie mertz]

25. Agreed. nt.

[amborin]

27. such as in his own Interior Dept? talk is cheap; let's see him ask Salazar to step down

[besdayz]

30. purging the entire dept of the interior would be a start.

[joe black]

31. Horse meet barn door.

[Tarheel_Dem]

32. The unrec crew hard at work again. I'm not sure how this Prez was expected

to reverse the ravages of the last 30 years, in one term, yet alone 16 months. It is to laugh. :rofl:

[tekisui]

40. Good to finally admit the goalposts will be at least one term.

It was so silly when critics were called three monthers and six monthers. I predicted it would eventually swell to include ridicule of posters at the one-term mark.

A bunch of whiny first-termers!!!11!!11!:eyes:

[HughMoran]

33. Good

He knows he's got a bunch of work to do now that this disaster has highlighted the corruption in this process, and more importantly that drilling can't be done safely. Picking on the permit process is fun for those who like to pick fights, but the real problem is that nobody can guarantee that this will not happen again. No new deep water drilling for the foreseeable future.

[branders seine]

34. didn't he also pledge to get us the fuck out of Iraq?

and to end DADT?

and to work toward repeal of NAFTA?

and to create a new green economy?

etc.

[amborin]

35. 5 new drilling permits for Gulf issued this week alone!

[Catherina]

36. Lol n/t

[Sebastian Doyle]

39. So when is he demanding Salazar's resignation?

That would be a good start.