NY Times: Despite Obama’s Moratorium, Drilling Projects Move Ahead

[Swamp Rat]

WASHINGTON — In the days since President Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new permits for various types of drilling and five environmental waivers have been granted, according to records.

The records also indicate that since the April 20 explosion on the rig, federal regulators have granted at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling projects and at least 17 drilling permits, most of which were for types of work like that on the Deepwater Horizon shortly before it exploded, pouring a ceaseless current of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Asked about the permits and waivers, officials at the Department of the Interior and the Minerals Management Service, which regulates drilling, pointed to public statements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, reiterating that the agency had no intention of stopping all new oil and gas production in the gulf.

Department of the Interior officials said in a statement that the moratorium was meant only to halt permits for the drilling of new wells. It was not meant to stop permits for new work on existing drilling projects like the Deepwater Horizon.

(snip)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24moratorium.html?hp

[readmoreoften]

1. K&R.

[amborin]

2. knr

[ima_sinnic]

3. as long as Obama doesn't fire Salazar, I consider him complicit in this

he doesn't need to "fix the leak," as the defenders so snarkily, mockingly bring up--but he needs to put his money where his mouth is and make some heads roll.
"heckuva job Ken" just doesn't cut it.
But maybe that's the way he wants it :shrug:

[ima_sinnic]

4. kick

[WillyT]

5. Yep... K & R !!!

So... we were led to believe there was an ACTUAL moratorium, but I guess we didn't bother to bread the fine-print.

I didn't think, that with this Administration, we were required to read the fine-print.

What's that line from 'Animal House'... "You fucked up... you trusted us!"

Silly me...

:wtf:

:mad:

[G_j]

6. & we can't believe anything.

truth was an endangered species, but it may have gone extinct.

where do we go from here?

[Dystopian]

7. KandR

peace~

[WillyT]

8. Kick !!!

:kick:

[amborin]

9. kick

[Swamp Rat]

10. Why so many unrecs, DUers? Is there something wrong with the information in the OP?

Pelican got your tongue?

[Bluebear]

15. Message control. Must continue the appearance game, despite ecological concerns.

[Swamp Rat]

18. Many of them don't know jack shit either.

I am numb with disappointment. :(

Meanwhile we are being slowly killed by BP... shades of Katrina, but now it's a lot worse, and we've been largely abandoned due to political posturing.

[MoonRiver]

22. God, I am so depressed.

The beautiful animals, the people depending on the sea, the wonderful Gulf environment that I visited every year as a kid. The list goes on and on. This sorrow will be so long.

[WillyT]

19. Yep... Don't Want Anything To Interrupt Our Glorious Mid-Terms...

:puke:

:banghead:

:beer:

:smoke:

[QC]

28. Increasingly, defending Obama looks and sounds like defending BP.

That should concern the president's most ardent admirers more than anyone, because it's not a good thing for him to seem tied to BP, but few seem to be making that connection.

He is losing control of the message here.

[WillyT]

32. Ya Know... I Was Thinking The Same Thing...

"Our President and BP know exactly what they're doing."

Fucking Toxic...

:yoiks:

:hi:

[QC]

34. If I called this what it is, the post would be deleted immediately.

It's a very dangerous thing when people become so invested in the personalities of their political leaders.

[WillyT]

40. Precisely... And They Are The Last People To Remember/Recognize...

that those in office, even a President you admire, work for us.

:shrug:

:hi:

[QC]

42. Sometimes I wonder if I have been teleported into the court of Louix XIV. n/t

[suffragette]

21. K&R

to counter that crap.

Thanks for posting this.

[ShortnFiery]

11. Disgusting. Mega- K & R. eom

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Swampy.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Thanks Uncle Joe... I am looking at your avatar and wondering where is Al Gore?

We need him.

[Uncle Joe]

14. I believe he's

made his position known to the powers that be.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/08/al-gore-expresses-disappro_n_530632.html

I also imagine he is giving or would be happy to give any advice or suggestions to the Obama Administration if they seek him out.

My own gut feeling is that Al knows both; that for all things there is a season and that time is of the essence.

Peace to you, Swampy.

[Swamp Rat]

16. Again, thanks

I posted it in GD.

[Bluebear]

17. Moratorium to this administration must have a different translation.

[blindpig]

20. There is only one way to stop this

Kill Capitalism. k&r

[amborin]

24. +1

[WillyT]

23. Kick !!!

:kick:

[Bluebear]

25. again

[Catherina]

26. History will not be kind to this administration

So Atlantis is going ahead full steam ahead?

Shut BP Atlantis Oil Rig, Consumer Group Asks Court

By Frank James

A consumer advocacy group asked a federal court to order the shutdown of a BP offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico because of reported irregularities in the engineering documents the company is required to maintain for the rig.

The rig, the BP Atlantis, is about 150 miles south of New Orleans and it is operating in even deeper water -- 7,070 feet --- than the Deepwater Horizon, which was working in about 5,000 feet of water.

Food and Water Watch is suing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Mineral Management Service's regional director Michael Saucier.

Incidentally, FWW has a useful interactive BP Atlantis timeline.

One alarming excerpt from the embedded timeline which I can't repost here:

Aug 15, 2008 Internal BP email reveals: “…urrently there are hundreds if not thousands of Subsea documents that have never been finalized…” for Atlantis and this could “cause a catastrophic Operator error.”

The group that filed the lawsuit, Food and Water Watch, said a blowout like that which occurred on the destroyed Deepwater Horizon, could cause an even greater oil spill than the current one.

An excerpt from the Food and Water Watch press release:

The agency, along with a former BP document controls subcontractor, maintains the Department of the Interior has allowed BP Atlantis to operate without documented, approved final engineering drawings considered critical to safe operation.

The organization also kicked off a related advertising campaign today to put public pressure on the Obama Administration to shut down BP Atlantis until proven safe. The television ad is featured at www.SpilltheTruth.org.

Oil gushing from Horizon has already surpassed the 10.8 million gallon Exxon Valdez spill, according to news reports. A worst-case scenario oil spill from Atlantis would be many times larger than the spill from the Horizon explosion and exceed the Exxon Valdez spill within just two days, according to Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.

"BP Atlantis is a ticking time bomb," Hauter said. "As clean-up continues in the Gulf, we need to act to prevent a larger disaster looming. Given that we have repeatedly asked regulators to act to solve the Atlantis safety crisis, it's outrageous that nothing has been done yet."

...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/05/shut_bp_atlantis_oil_rig_consu.html

[QC]

27. Doesn't "moratorium" mean that one has to stop doing something?

I could be wrong, of course, but I'm pretty sure that putting a moratorium on something involves forbidding it.

[laughingliberal]

29. It means what we say it means. Now STFU. nt

[QC]

31. More and more, it's exactly that way, isn't it?

It's disheartening to see how many people around here think that the worst thing about this disaster is is that it is causing people on a message board to criticize their favorite politician.

I swear, as cynical as I have become, I never would have imagined that.

Of course, the whole thing is a bit personal for me--I live on the Gulf Coast. This is not all something to argue about on a fansite, like Britney's new hairdo or something.

[Bluebear]

36. You need the New Dictionary to know what moratorium means.

[laughingliberal]

37. as well as what 'fierce advocate' means. nt

[QC]

38. "Transparency", too. n/t

[polichick]

30. When asked about this tonight by Rachel Maddow, Steven Chu, Sec'y of Energy said he...

"only knows what he reads in the paper."

[QC]

33. Well, that's probably better anyway,

since it absolves him from having to take a stand that might offend the powerful, something this administration seems to fear more than anyone else.

[laughingliberal]

41. Oh, Fuck me! Please tell me he didn't say that!

I guess we can be grateful he didn't say he has his staff summarize the news stories for him.

[Swamp Rat]

43. Can you believe that utter bull shit??

:wow:

[Mimosa]

44. OMG...

Why are they all playing dumb?

Playing for time, or what?

[Bluebear]

45. Wonderful.

[ShamelessHussy]

35. K&R

thanks for sharing :toast:

[Duppers]

39. Kick & rec.

[TexasObserver]

46. recommend

[Individualist]

47. K&R

[donheld]

48. Has our government gone mad?