Cheney blasted for blocking oil well safety valve

[proud2BlibKansan]

Women who have spent their lives fighting oil company pollution and profiteering angrily denounced former Vice President Dick Cheney and the company he once headed, Halliburton, for their role in the oil spill now spreading across the Gulf of Mexico.

They reacted to reports that Cheney's secretive White House Energy Task Force during George W. Bush's tenure blocked a requirement that offshore oil wells be equipped with a sound-activated shutoff valve that would close in the event of an explosion.

Environmental attorney Mike Papantonio told Ed Shultz on MSNBC's "Ed Show" that it was Cheney's Energy Task Force that rejected the proposal on grounds "that the switches, which cost $500,000 were too much of a burden on the industry."

Halliburton is directly implicated in the disaster since the Houston-based oilfield services corporation was under contract to pump cement around the wellhead to seal any leaks. Workers had just completed the cementing process when the well exploded. Ironically it was Earth Day, April 20.

Diane Wilson, a former Gulf fisherwoman and a veteran environmental activist, spoke to the People's World from her home in Seadrift, Texas, a fishing village on the Gulf Coast. "It was only $500,000 to pay for those acoustical-triggered valves and here are these billionaires saying it is too expensive," she said. "I'm familiar with Dick Cheney. I once crashed a fundraiser with Cheney when he came down to Texas to endorse Tom DeLay." She was referring to the corrupt Texas oil Republican forced to resign from Congress. "Inside, they were chanting 'Halliburton, rah-rah-rah."

more . . . http://www.peoplesworld.org/cheney-blasted-for-blocking-oil-well-safety-valve/

[NJmaverick]

1. Dick Cheney- the curse that never ends

[Bitwit1234]

2. You won't hear tea bags say any thing about this betcha

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. won't hear the teabag loving media say a word, either. n/t

[madokie]

3. Why are we not hearing from dead eye dick

and his evil spawn about any of this? Oh I remember, he's in SA kissing some king ass hoping that the non-extradition treaty with them is still intact.

Rec and a :hi:

[malaise]

11. I read here yesterday that he's in Saudi Arabia

the kingdom of plutocratic criminals.

[madokie]

12. Yes

"the kingdom of plutocratic criminals." Perfect. :hi:

[Richardo]

4. Delay was not a corrupt Texas oil Republican

Delay was a corrupt Texas pesticide Republican.

And while I think that this IS an important story, I've got some issues with the sloppy quality of the reporting/editing:

The oil gusher currently pumping 25,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf each day "is a huge catastrophe," she <Diane Wilson> continued. "But the people who live in the villages along the Gulf from Florida to Texas see this on a daily basis. Over half the nation's oil refineries and chemical plants are located on the Gulf coast. These plants release 5 million gallons per day into the Gulf."

Luci Beach, executive director of the Gwich'in Steering Committee, on Alaska's North Slope, who remembers well the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska's coast, was in Washington, D.C., when BP's rig exploded. "I decided I had to go down to the Gulf to see for myself, to talk to the people," she said, "I went to Venice, La., and Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss. The Exxon Valdez was a tanker with a finite amount of oil. This is a well gushing at the rate of 210,000 gallons every day.

The release figure I've seen is 5,000 barrels/day, which at 42 gallons/barrel is equal to the 210,000-gallon figure given by Luci Beach at the end of the second paragraph. Twenty-five thousand barrels/day, the number given by Ms. Wilson, is over a million gallons, 5x what's been reported. The spill is a big enough disaster in its own right, there's no need for exaggeration.

Also, Ms. Wilson refers to Gulf Coast petrochemical plants releasing "...5 million gallons per day into the Gulf". Five million gallons of what? There's no doubt that these companies pollute, but the implication is that it's 5 million gallons of crude oil, and you'd think we'd have heard about that before this. Sloppy editing.

When you're an admittedly partisan publication like the People's World, it really harms your cause to be so cavalier with facts. Unless your only intended audience is your sympathetic and uncritical choir.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. I've seen many different figures

I'm not sure anyone knows the exact amount.

[Richardo]

21. Still, you'd think the reporter would at least say THAT as an explanation...

"Estimates are said to vary from 5,000 to as much as 25,000 barrels per day."

Although I have not seen any estimates that high.

In any event, leaving the contradiction unexplained is poor journalism IMO.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Good point

I agree.

[SpiralHawk]

5. "Sneer." -xVP Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney (R)

"I'm a republicon, so I deserve YET ANOTHER deferment - this time on responsibility for my malfeasance. Smirk."

-xVP Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney (R)

[Zen_fighter]

6. Cheney involved... no.. say it isn't so!

[corpseratemedia]

7. oh but there are some closet republicans on this site who say that it's the

"socialized" (!) parts of the oil rig that caused the disaster and Norway is no different in it's requirements than the US...ergo, Halliburton operates no differently under "crony" capitalism than "crony" socialism..of course crony socialism would actually be crony capitalism if it benefits the same ceos..

[Bodhi BloodWave]

14. Who said that part in regards to Norway?

Being a Norwegian i take offense at that considering Norway is often lauded as being the most 'green' or environmentally friendly of the countries who drill for oil.(link is acceptable)

[corpseratemedia]

22. be my guest as so many erroneous dissections (without backup) add up to a faulty claim

and you'd certainly know a lot more on the subject

thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8268521

argument begins:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8268521&mesg_id=8268649

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

8. I wish this never happened.... but why didn't it happen three years ago?

I'll bet Cheney knew this would happen some day, and he probably was re leaved it didn't happen on his/bush's watch.

[annabanana]

9. America will never be "right" until this man is behind bars. . .n/t

[madokie]

13. Correct

Nothing need be added to that statement either.

[paparush]

10. What? Mr. Disaster Capitalism has a slimy finger in all this? Noooo!

:sarcasm:

[slay]

16. I sure am glad the Obama administration decided not to even look into all his criminal activity!!!

Aren't you? :sarcasm: :puke:

[mimitabby]

17. thanks for posting!

[City Lights]

18. Dick Cheney is the root of all evil. nt

[G_j]

19. By who?? NOT the media.... nt

[upi402]

24. it's the CHENEY OIL SPILL!

We should not let the media sidestep around this Haliburton no-bid evil doer.

Dick's oil; extra gooey!

[Barackbaby]

30. What I don't understand is...

Why did this plan get the go ahead in April 2009, without the environmental impact studies being done. Another let-down for me, that's for sure.

[Ganja Ninja]

25. The world would be a much better place without Dick Cheney. n/t

[texastoast]

26. K&R n/t

[garybeck]

27. link is dead n/t

[Kablooie]

28. The acoustic remote switch would not have helped in this instance. ...

It is designed to be an emergency control that can be triggered from a life boat.

In this case the regular wired system was triggered so the acoustic remote was not needed.

The problem was that once triggered, the emergency BOP did not close off the well like it was supposed to.

(At least that is the story I've heard up to this point.)

[Barackbaby]

29. It was a company called Cameron that made the defective part..

the BOP, or Blow out preventer. I think it's GE that does the electrical or instrumentation work on most of these rigs. BP will probably just end up suing those 2 companies.