BP Disaster Is Cheney’s Katrina... Bush Administration Actions Created Unsafe Circumstances

[RedEarth]

BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is without a doubt former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Katrina. President George W. Bush and Cheney consistently catered to Big Oil and other special interests to undercut renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives that would set the United States on a more secure clean energy path.

Oil companies raked in record profits while benefitting from policies they wrote for themselves. These energy policies did nothing for our national security and left consumers to pay the price at the pump and on their energy bills, which rose more than $1,100 during the Bush administration



The following timeline outlines the administration’s direction, consequent legislative steps and missteps, and the resulting circumstances that provided advantages to Big Oil companies and led to the establishment of a regulatory system that created the BP oil disaster.

more....

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/06/oil_timeline.html

[ixion]

1. They certainly created the atmosphere there, however

the Obama Administration has largely maintained that atmosphere, so BushCo is not entirely to blame.

[The Wielding Truth]

2. You need congress to change laws and we know who has obstructed change.

[indepat]

4. Republicans didn't appoint a not-so-environmentally friendly Salazar.

Republicans also did not fail clean out implanted RW ideologues left over from the previous administration. What is relevant is whether or not this administration did what it could reasonably do to clean out Federal agencies of known ideologues who obstruct rather than carry out that agency's mission and change/reverse all the known obviously bad policies, considering the risks of continuing those policies/not ridding the agency of those ideologues.

Remember, you heard it first here: every one of junior's actions/policies/initiative were wholly/holistically corrupt from the git-go and therefore every action/policy/initiative continued/not reversed will likely come back to bite this administration in the ass, some big-time as we are now witnessing in the Gulf. :P

[JohnWxy]

8. anytime Dems talked about limiting off-shore drilling, Repubs accused them of being 'un-American'

Bush’s Energy Budget: Proposals Not Consistent with Claims

Teh Bush FY 2009 Budget proposal:

The Basics

$1.26 billion: Total fiscal year 2009 budget request for Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs.

27 percent: Decrease in funding from the fiscal year 2008 appropriations level.

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$222.7 million: Increase in fossil energy funding, which amounts to a 25 percent increase over FY 08 appropriations.

(more)

[ixion]

9. The Dems really needed to tell BushCo to bite me

because when they respond like they do, they make rethug accusations like that a piece of cake.

[rudy23]

3. When Obama fires Ken Salazar and replaces him with a Progressive, he can disown Cheney's policies

Until then, he willfully owns them.

[SusanaMontana41]

5. I agree.

Makes me angry. And sad.

[JohnWxy]

6. Great post. recommended, bookmarked. Everybody should read this and email to others.

Great report On Cheney administrations Oil and Natural Gas energy policy:
at link..
(excerpt)


2001

Cheney’s secret dirty energy task force crafts national energy policy. The Bush administration released the National Energy Policy Report on May 16. President Bush appointed Vice President Cheney—who gave up his title as CEO of oil and gas company Halliburton to take on his new role—with developing a new energy policy swiftly after taking office. But Cheney’s relationship with Halliburton did not end. Cheney was kept on the company's payroll after retirement and retained around 430,000 shares of Halliburton stock.

The task force report was based on recommendations provided to Cheney from coal, oil, and nuclear companies and related trade groups—many of which were major contributors to Bush’s presidential campaign and to the Republican Party. Oil companies—including BP, the National Mining Association, and the American Petroleum Institute—secretly met with the Cheney and his staff as part of a task force to develop the country’s energy policy.

The proposal clearly represented the interests of dirty industry, including opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and encouraging oil and gas production, coal output, and the development of biofuels and nuclear power.

Only 7 of the 105 recommendations in the plan involved renewable energy. Cheney’s task force report proposed funding the development of clean energy technologies by opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling and earmarking $1.2 billion of bid bonuses from leases in ANWR. The administration was clearly not serious about ending our addiction to oil. Less than two months earlier the president proposed cutting millions from renewable energy programs. The New York Times reported at the time that, “The plan does little for efficiency or renewable energy.”
(more)

[Mojorabbit]

7. The response to the leak,

the leadership since the leak, all this is Obama and it has been abysmal. Reactive and not proactive.

[amborin]

10. Obama had 18 months to clean up mess in MMS, which he was well aware of; and he appointed Salazar, k

known for his Big Oil corporate ties and pro-corporate record