Obama Administration Approves Fourth Gulf Deepwater Drilling Permit

[Catherina]

Obama Administration Approves Fourth Gulf Deepwater Drilling Permit
by Andrew Restuccia

Published on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 by The Hill



BOEMRE Director Michael Bromwich said Tuesday the administration has “growing confidence” in the industry, noting that more approvals are pending. (AFP/US Coast Guard/File)

...

The approval comes a day after Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) approved the first deepwater exploration plan in the Gulf since the spill, a key step in moving forward with new drilling in the region.

...

BOEMRE Director Michael Bromwich said Tuesday the administration has “growing confidence” in the industry, noting that more approvals are pending.

"As we have seen, the rate of deepwater permit applications is increasing, which reflects growing confidence in the industry that it understands and can comply with the applicable requirements, including the containment requirement,” he said in a statement. “We expect additional permit approvals in the near future.”

The permit BOEMRE approved will allow Exxon Mobil to drill a new well in 6,941 feet of water about 240 miles off the coast of Louisiana. It's the first of the four deepwater drilling permits approved by BOEMRE since the spill that would allow new drilling.

...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/03/22-6

[DonCoquixote]

1. and I bet Mary landrieu

says it is still not enough.

[polichick]

2. This administration is disgusting.

[FiveGoodMen]

4. !

[sasha031]

6. amen

feels like we are living the last decade all over again.

groundhog day...

[bluestate10]

17. This administration is a realist.

President Obama is funding multiple the amounts of green energy developments. At NO time in the nation's history has green energy got more focus and money. Large companies are buying more green energy to push it's development, because they see the danger of ever increasing oil prices to their bottom lines. There is nothing wrong with regulated, inspected oil drilling as a tool to bridge the nation over to a 100%, cost competitive green energy future.

[polichick]

21. There's no such thing as "regulated, inspected oil drilling" in this country...

And there is no American oil market - oil from the Gulf is sold on the world market and not used here.

[bluestate10]

23. Prove it. It is easy enough to claim. The fact is President Obama

can't afford to not regulate and not inspect oil drillers, land or sea. Another Deep Water Horizon would be politically damaging. Prove where oil from the Gulf go. Prove.

[polichick]

29. Rachel explains how it works in this clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0--Q9_KmAY

[Maven]

33. Drilling more oil is not a bridge to anything but more oil.

Your post is dripping with jingoistic nonsense.

And as another poster already pointed out, the oil drilled in the Gulf is sold on the world market. FYI, America can't produce enough oil to sustain our daily demand and hasn't been able to for decades.

[emilyg]

27. +1 and another +1

[BzaDem]

3. Republicans are so outraged at the "slow" pace of permit signing that they have sued, and got a

federal judge to order Obama to move faster.

"Federal District Judge Martin Feldman today gave President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar 30 days to act on five applications seeking permits to drill in the Gulf of Mexico submitted months ago by a Louisiana firm.

In issuing the directive to the government, Feldman, who sits on the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisian, noted that "it is undisputed that before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, permits were processed, on average, in two weeks’ time. In stark contrast, the five permits at issue have been pending from four to some nine months."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/federal-judge-orders-salazar-act-drilling-permits-within-month

But here, going slow enough to get a court order to move faster (extremely rare) isn't good enough. Here, any permit signed is one permit too many, even though Obama doesn't even have the legal authority to deny all permits.

It just shows how there is really nothing Obama can do to please certain people.

[polichick]

7. Oh good grief - there is a new spill happening in the Gulf right now.

[BzaDem]

9. Oh yeah -- Obama should just ignore the law because you don't like it.

Are you talking about this non-oil spill?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/21/us-oil-sheen-idUSTRE72J31V20110321?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

[polichick]

12. Thanks for that piece - having grown up on the Gulf, I was sick to hear of a new spill...

That said, I'm with the people of the Gulf who are suffering with illnesses from last year's spill and getting no help from our gov't. Also, the prez could replace Salazar, who is too close to the oil industry, with an environmentalist. It's a revolving door there - regulators and oil men/women.

[polichick]

36. Well, now there's this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x724839

[Runework]

5. Dont forget loan guarantees for More Nukes

Much to the dismay of green energy supporters, President Barack Obama’s new budget plan includes $36 billion in spending to provide loan guarantees for the nuclear power industry to establish new reactors.

The $36 billion follows on $18.5 billion set aside by the Bush administration to bolster nuclear power opportunities. Some of the Bush funding ($8.3 billion) was allocated last year by Obama officials to help construct two reactors in Georgia.

http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/Obama_Budget_Boosts_Loan_Guarantees_for_Nuclear_Power_Industry_110217

[Catherina]

10. Jeezus. There are some things I'm better off not knowing. #WTF n/t

[Earth_First]

8. Not just ONE permit, but FOUR new permits... n/t

[hiley]

11. Ridiculous

the stupidity never stops

[DeSwiss]

13. Of course they do....

...how could it be any other way?

- There's still a few patches of life in the ocean. Don't want to miss killing those......

K&R

[bluestate10]

14. So what? This challenge from a green energy adherent.

Drillers won't be allowed to pull the BS that was pulled under Bush/Cheney. Let them drill, but be all over their asses with supervision and inspections. Until the nation has a critical mass of green energy, I for one am not in favor of sticking my head in the sand, saying that any drilling, even regulated, inspected drilling is bad.

[polichick]

20. "supervision and inspections" - good luck with that. The dept. is a revolving door...

...for oil people and regulators. It would help to have an environmentalist in charge, rather than industry-friendly Salazar.

[bluestate10]

24. Slazar is on a tight leash. BTW, the same Salazar is pushing green

energy and diverting funding to those efforts. See my post on the enviro professor, I would rather have had one of the wingnut professors in charge of the environment, at least they walked the talk.

[blindpig]

15. As though nothing ever happened...

Capitalism rules.

We have only one option, it is a matter of survival.

[Catherina]

16. As an aside, BP's drilling plans off Libya are for even deeper than here.

Disgusting ain't it?

[bluestate10]

18. Oh please. Tell me your solution. One that is realistic, that is.

Regulated, inspected oil drilling is one of the legs that will get the nation to a 100% green energy future. Much has changed and will continue to change.

[blindpig]

34. I suspect that my concept of realistic is broader than yours.

The only thing that has changed is that Capital has thrown off all constraint with the collaboration of both parties. That constraint was a historical contingency the motivation for which no longer exists.

The only way to deal with this is to change the way of economic organization, remove the profit motive and adopt a rational economy suited to human need.

Ain't gonna happen yesterday but such is the necessity for survival, better get crackin'.

[Thunderstruck]

19. If you don't like it, stop using oil!

It's simple! If you don't like drilling, STOP USING OIL!

The fact is, all the easy oil is GONE! They MUST drill in these sensitive areas in order to continue to feed our thirst for oil. That thirst is driven by demand. If we don't use it, they won't have any profit motive to place environmentally sensitive areas in danger because there's nowhere else to drill.

Disclaimer: I'm an environmentalist and a green energy advocate. The key to getting rid of fossil fuels is DEMAND DESTRUCTION.

If you're not part of solving the problem, you are part of the problem. Stop using oil and they'll stop drilling for it in the Gulf.

[bluestate10]

22. Your post reminds me of the college professor that was the head of

the local chapter of the Sierra Club and always weighed forward to inveigh on the environment. All of my wingnut professors rodes bicycles to and from work. But the enviro professor? He drove everywhere the damned smokiest car that I have ever seen. Riding a bike behind that thing was difficult.

[Thunderstruck]

25. I mean, I realize people have to get around, but if those same people

are complaining about drilling in sensitive locations like the Gulf of Mexico, they should be eliminating that substance from there lives AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

I say this from experience. I found myself opposed to the use of fossil fuels based on the damage they do to people, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Saro-Wiwa">Ken Saro Wiwa and others, in various ways, and to the environment, as with the BP oil gusher in the GoM a year ago. However, there is really no way short of retreating to the wilderness, to remove oneself completely from the influence of oil. The next best thing I could do was change my life in a way that allows me to consume less oil. I went from driving 500-750 mile per week making a living to driving ZERO miles per week for work. I literally changed trades. But even then I had to trade the use of oil as gasoline for the use of oil in the form of three computers, which are made of plastic which comes from oil.

Anyways, I try to do everything I can to reduce my consumption of oil. And if everyone would do all they could possibly do to reduce their consumption of oil, there will be less demand and less drilling and with less demand there will also come lower prices not only on gas but on many things that are made from oil. If everyone reduced their consumption in some small or major way, it would go along way toward reducing the negative effects of our consumption.

[Catherina]

26. You're telling at the wrong person but knock yourself out. n/t

[Thunderstruck]

30. Hi Catherina =) My comment was meant more towards the general audience than

directed at you personally. There are many who are already doing what they can, as you and I are doing. But many who would complain about the oil industry do little to reduce their consumption. I apologize if it sounded as if I was admonishing you personally.

And let me take this opportunity to thank you for your recent work in keeping us informed about the Egyptian revolution.

[Catherina]

31. I'm sorry for taking it wrong.

I just get so frustrated. I moved out of the US because my conscience couldn't take the resource-intensive lifestyle and how we were practically enslaved to support it. There are days I get so angry realizing that as I'm peddling around on my bike, washing/drying my clothes by hand and growing my own food, the world is headed to chaos because too many of us act entitled even if we don't realize that's what we're doing.

I'm really sorry. My nerves are on edge right now. Than you for clarifying and doing what you can. If all of us did, we wouldn't be here.

[Thunderstruck]

32. Indeed. And you're very welcome, Catherina.

[robcon]

28. I'm glad they've finally picked up the pace.

The delay was unnecessary and troubling.

[JoeyT]

35. I'm sure this move will be applauded by people that don't live near the Gulf.

I wonder how it would look if people that lived on the Gulf started supporting something like fracking because it isn't in our back yard so why should we care? Why, it might look like our only environmental concerns were a clean back yard and screw everyone else.

I'm sure they'll be all sympathetic once the next disaster occurs. Well, the ones that don't insist that we deserve what we get for living in red states, that is.