President Obama: Commission's goal is to get to 'root causes' of Gulf spill

[cal04]

Source: The Hill

President Barack Obama named the two co-chairmen of the executive commission to investigate the Gulf oil spill in his weekly address Saturday.

The president appointed former Florida Sen. Bob Graham (D) and former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William Reilly to the posts. Reilly served during the George H.W. Bush administration.

“While there are a number of ongoing investigations, including an independent review by the National Academy of Engineering, the purpose of this Commission is to consider both the root causes of the disaster and offer options on what safety and environmental precautions we need to take to prevent a similar disaster from happening again,” Obama said.

(snip)
“I can’t think of two people who will bring greater experience or better judgment to the task at hand. In the days to come, I’ll appoint 5 other distinguished Americans – including scientists, engineers, and environmental advocates – to join them on the Commission,” Obama said. “And I’m directing them to report back in 6 months with recommendations on how we can prevent – and mitigate the impact of – any future spills that result from offshore drilling.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/99267-obama-commissions-goal-is-to-get-to-root-causes-of-gulf-spill

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/05/22/weekly-address-bp-spill-independent-commission

Weekly Address: President Obama Establishes Bipartisan National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/weekly-address-president-obama-establishes-bipartisan-national-commission-bp-deepwa

[Lerkfish]

1. this just in: barn locked after horses run away.

[swilton]

2. UH..Uh..uh..

Excuse me? Maybe I'm missing something but...but...

What about stopping the leak and repairing the damage so that roughly 41% of our seafood supply isn't wiped off the face of the planet.

[joanmj]

5. My first thoughts too...

let's focus on the clean up!

[Yeahyeah]

14. Right to the coverup.I can't really believe this.

[dipsydoodle]

3. The true root cause

is the thirst for oil given that nothing preceeds that.

[charlesg]

4. We already know the root cause: Money

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Like Finding The Root Cause of Why Abstinence Education Doesn't Work

Some things are just bound to happen, no matter what you do to try to stop them. Clearly, Obama has never been involved in engineering or he'd know that "shit happens" can never be eliminated from the equation. Or he knows but doesn't give a crap.

So Obama is appointing two political creatures to this committee, and he'll add some folks whose livelihood depends on the oil companies, and they'll produce a large document that says that the pregnancy occurred because the couple failed to heed their abstinence education teacher's instructions. Obama's "Drill, baby drill!" will change to "Drill baby!" and everyone will smile and shake hands.

[izquierdista]

33. But he is a politician and a lawyer

And they, along with managers, know how to make technology work much better than the engineers who study to develop it. :sarcasm: if it's really necessary

[Solly Mack]

7. Yeah?

[Chef Eric]

8. Yes, Mr. President. More executive commissions. Exactly what we need.

This is our federal tax dollars at work.

[ShortnFiery]

9. Given this horrible disaster, stating that "This commission is a white-wash" seems ...

like a cheap but apt pun. :(

[w4rma]

10. I have a better idea: Find out in court through discovery and criminal procedings. (nt)

[madrchsod]

11. earth to obama....we already know the 'root causes'....

we do`t need your corporate whitehouse white wash

[Yeahyeah]

12. Just had to put a BFEE guy in there,right?

And a "moderate Democrat".

Oh,yeah,sure,right,sure.

[FLPanhandle]

13. Mr. Obama, let me save you some time and money on that.

Root cause: The government allowed without regulation a private company to drill a hole into an oil reserve so deep underwater than ANY problem would be beyond said company's ability to fix.


Now, get the fuck on with stopping it and cleaning it up!

[DFW]

17. You took the words right out my mouth

No need to spend a dime on the causes.

BP used inadequate safeguards on a drilling rig, and an unsafely speeded-up drilling timetable to satisfy a
head office agenda set by people who did not have the knowledge or responsibility to deal with anything going
wrong.

There. The root causes on a silver platter. The government just saved $25 million, or whatever this study panel was going to cost.

You're welcome.

[scarletwoman]

26. Right on.

:thumbsup:

[Vinnie From Indy]

18. Bingo!

It kind of boggles the mind that these guys have already started the whitewash while the disaster is still unfolding.

The root cause is exactly what you write. BP was allowed to drill without regulation. That is the reason for this catastrophe. Their ability to buy off Washington trumped the future economic viability of millions of people and the lives of untold millions of sea/marsh creatures. The damage will foul beaches from LA to the Outer Banks of NC for decades.

Seal the volcano of oil first and whitewash later Mr. President. At least give the world that.

[donco6]

19. +1

[salguine]

15. Corporations own our government lock, stock and Senator, that's the root cause, Barry.

[disndat]

16. William Reilly is definitely a corporatist,

a "environmentalist" front for Bush's anti-environmental policies. This is bad news coming from Obama. It must mean that the oil gush cannot be stopped anytime soon. Lipstick on a pig solution.

[donco6]

20. GASP! YOu said "corporatist"

Don't you know we're not supposed to use that word anymore?

That and "racist."

:sarcasm:

[robinblue]

31. I tire of language police from all stripes.

[glitch]

21. More like lipstick on a can of SPAM. nt

[suzie]

24. Fromer Senator Bob Graham has a sterling reputation and

is from Florida, which has a little at stake in this disaster and who was appointed to chair the Commission.

You might remember Senator Bob Graham, who pushed the CIA to declassify the NIE about the Iraq War and then broke with his usual demeanor and screamed at his comrades in the Senate about reading it?

Bob Graham, who voted against the Iraq War resolution when all kinds of other "progressives" didn't.

Yeah, Bob Graham, that just says coverup to me.

But, it's important to avoid mentioning him--that wouldn't make Obama sound bad enough.

[fascisthunter]

22. I'm really tired of this bullshit

we know why this happened... now comes the beginning of a massive whitewash....

[AlbertCat]

23. ANOTHER commission???

Can't the guys working on figuring out what's wrong with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" do this too? It's about as difficult. IOW.... not very....

[Altoid_Cyclist]

25. It's pretty sad when this reads like an episode of the Simpsons.

Change a few names and change power blackout to oil spill and see how comparable the two situations are. Maybe BP (and politicians) use Mr. Burns and Mayor Quimby as their role models. How can anyone not see why and how this happened? Fix the damn well and prosecute BP to the hilt.



Papa's Got a Brand New Badge is the 22nd episode and the season finale of The Simpsons’ thirteenth season<1>, which was originally broadcast on May 22, 2002.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa's_Got_a_Brand_New_Badge


Springfield is in the midst of a massive heat wave. Every building in the town has installed a large air conditioning device. However, this draws a lot of power from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Despite the safety measures Mr. Burns has taken (cutting power to the orphanage), the plant is at full power. At home, without an air conditioning device, the Simpsons have to follow an old-fashioned fan. Homer decides to give them a taste of winter by plugging in his dancing Santa Claus. This overloads the plant and causes a town-wide blackout. Eventually, a huge riot and looting occur. The police try to intervene, but are powerless to stop the massive crime wave.

The next day, Springfield has been devastated by the crime. Mayor Quimby decides to take action by forming a Blue Ribbon Committee.

[Hawkowl]

27. Obama is a weak fool

I used to think (right after he was elected) that he was a political genius. Not a real genius in other fields but a true political genius who had his finger on the pulse of the American people and could harness the nearly unimaginable power of the American people to usher in a golden age of reason, tolerance and prosperity.

Now, it is quite apparent that Obama is either simply a weak willed fool, or he has been bought and paid for like virtually all of our politicians.

I believe we simply have an American version of Tony Blair.

[ThomThom]

28. We need to halt all deep water drilling now.

[ThomThom]

29. the justice department needs to be investigating and prosecuting

11 people are dead and millions of dollars of property damage is occurring. Who will be held accountable?

[pipoman]

30. Right this minute

I am not nearly as concerned with the 'root causes' as with the solution, how about we use ALL of our resources and time to solve that far more immediate problem?

[maglatinavi]

32. pipoman

I agree, unless the "root causes" seeked are the illegal actions by regulators and corporations with the purpose of prosecuting all of them...Hillary was my choice but I thought that Obama would be ok and more in line with my philosophy and beliefs ...
Every day I am more and more disappointed with the POTUS... but I cannot sleep peacefully thinking of a Repug administration in 2013 ... WE ARE DOOMED... I hope the anti Hillary pundits done repentance clothes and smear ashes over their heads ...Chris ???
If only Dean could run in 2012 ... profound sigh!!!