"U.S. government slams BP for missed deadlines on spill"

[G_j]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100523/pl_nm/us_oil_rig_leak


U.S. government slams BP for missed deadlines on spill

By Matthew Bigg and Chris Baltimore Matthew Bigg And Chris Baltimore – 25 mins ago

VENICE, La/HOUSTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government threatened to remove BP from efforts to seal a blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico if it doesn't do enough to stop the leak, though it acknowledged only the company and the oil industry have the know-how to halt the deepwater spill.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Sunday Washington is frustrated and angry that BP Plc missed "deadline after deadline" in its efforts to seal the well more than a month after an oil rig explosion triggered the disaster.

"I am angry and I am frustrated that BP has been unable to stop this oil from leaking and to stop the pollution from spreading. We are 33 days into this effort and deadline after deadline has been missed," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said after visiting BP's U.S. headquarters in Houston.

"If we find they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way appropriately," he told reporters as the administration maintained its hard line.

Salazar's strongly worded comments followed President Barack Obama's on Saturday, when he blamed the spill on "a breakdown of responsibility" at BP. The unfolding disaster has become a top priority on Obama's crowded domestic agenda.
..more..


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we'll see if the latest 'angry words' manifest as action..

[truedelphi]

1. Finally, some action.

Thank you, Mr Salazar. Better late than NEVER.

[scarletwoman]

9. What "action"? All I see is a sternly worded sound bite. nt

[pscot]

18. It has a "cover your ass" ring to it

for sure. Putting Salazar in that job was a mistake from the gitgo.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. "Strongly worded comments" and threats after BP missed deadline after deadline? That's tellin' 'em!

[Radical Activist]

12. So several previous attempts to stop the leak

don't count at taking action?

[Swamp Rat]

3. I wish they would stop BP from SPRAYING POISON all over our water

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. They seem to really care about that. Not.

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. This is now officially Obama's Katrina

33 days into this catastrophe of biblical scale and what are we given by the Admin. - foot stomping and harsh language. EPIC FAIL!!!!!

One can hardly imagine the outrage on this board if this were happening during the reign of Smirky the Lesser.

How about nationalizing the effort Pres. Obama? How about declaring a national emergency and a prime time press conference?

And, for fucks sake, how about bringing home some of our soldiers from these insane wars to defend OUR shores from the oily invader?

[Upton]

6. Talk is cheap..

I want some action. I want some leadership.

[DrDan]

7. there is a breakdown of responsibility all right . . . on several levels

[dkf]

8. We need all experts in the entire oil industry to critique BPs efforts.

Turn over all BPs leases to whoever can do it better. BP has proven they have no business drilling in US waters.

[aquart]

10. Aww. Which wrist?

[Cetacea]

11. I wonder how going against the EPA directive will play out?

K&R

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Are they stamping their feet or making BP take a time out???????

:shrug:

[Radical Activist]

14. "though it acknowledged only the company and the oil industry have the know-how to halt"

There's an awful lot of denial about this among the hand-wringers on this board.

[Catherina]

15. BP must be shaking in their boots

Slammed by Salazar who was "speaking from BP headquarters in Houston, Texas".

BP must be terrified.

What's next? A little moue of disappointment and a certified letter saying *pretty please*?

Excuse me Kenny boy. YOU filed a special motion asking the court to lift an injunction against drilling in the Gulf and cited BP by name to get a reversal of a court order that would have halted offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. YOU gave them a categorical exemption from all environmental reviews. YOU got loads of money from BP and stocked your staff with BP officials and now you're frustrated? GTF outta here.

For Immediate Release, May 5, 2010

Contact: Kierán Suckling, [phone]

Interior Department Exempted BP Drilling From Environmental Review:
In Rush to Expand Offshore Oil Drilling, Interior Secretary Salazar Abandoned Pledge to Reform
Industry-dominated Mineral Management Service

TUCSON, Ariz.— Ken Salazar's first pledge as secretary of the interior was to reform the scandal plagued Mineral Management Service (MMS), which had been found by the U.S. inspector general to have traded sex, drugs, and financial favors with oil-company executives. In a January 29, 2009 press release on the scandal, Salazar stated:

"President Obama's and my goal is to restore the public's trust, to enact meaningful reform...€to uphold the law, and to ensure that all of us -- career public servants and political appointees -- do our jobs with the highest level of integrity."

Yet just three months later, Secretary Salazar allowed the MMS to approve — with no environmental review — the BP drilling operation that exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and pouring millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster will soon be, if it is not already, the worst oil spill in American history.

BP submitted its drilling plan to the MMS on March 10, 2009. Rather than subject the plan to a detailed environmental review before approving it as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, the agency declared the plan to be "categorically excluded" from environmental analysis because it posed virtually no chance of harming the environment. As BP itself pointed out in its April 9, 2010, letter to the Council on Environmental Quality, categorical exclusions are only to be used when a project will have "minimal or nonexistent" environmental impacts.

MMS issued its one-page approval letter to BP on April 6, 2009.

"Secretary Salazar has utterly failed to reform the Mineral Management Service," said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Instead of protecting the public interest by conducting environmental reviews, his agency rubber stamped BP's drilling plan, just as it does hundreds of others every year in the Gulf of Mexico. The Minerals Management Service has gotten worse, not better, under Salazar's watch."

As a senator, Salazar sponsored the "Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006," which opened up large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil drilling and criticized the MMS for not issuing enough offshore oil leases. As interior secretary, he has pushed the agency to speed offshore oil drilling and was the architect of the White House's March, 2010, proposal to expand offshore oil drilling in Alaska, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Coast from Maryland to Florida.

After meeting with Gulf oil executives early this week, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) told the Washington Post: "I'm of the opinion that boosterism breeds complacency and complacency breeds disaster. That, in my opinion, is what happened." The boosterism started at the top, with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Excerpts from the BP drilling plan that was categorically excluded from environmental review by the Department of the Interior:

"2.7 Blowout Scenario - A scenario for a potential blowout of the well from which BP would expect to have the highest volume of liquid hydrocarbons is not required for the operations proposed in this EP."

"14.5 Alternatives - No alternatives to the proposed activities were considered to reduce environmental impacts."€� œ

"14.6 Mitigation Measures - No mitigation measures other than those required by regulation and BP policy will be employed to avoid, diminish or eliminate potential impacts on environmental resources."œ

"14.7 Consultation - No agencies or persons were consulted regarding potential impacts associated with the proposed activities."€œ

"14.3 Impacts on Proposed Activities - The site-specific environmental conditions have been taken into account for the proposed activities and no impacts are expected as a result of these conditions."

"14.2.3.2 Wetlands - An accidental oil spill from the proposed activities could cause impacts to wetlands. However, due to the distance to shore (48 miles) and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no significant adverse impacts are expected."€� (p. 45) œ

"14.2.2.1 Essential Fish Habitat - ...In the event of an unanticipated blowout resulting in an oil spill, it is unlikely to have an impact based on the industry wide standards for using proven equipment and technology for such responses, implementation of BP's Regional Oil Spill Response Plan which address available equipment and removal of the oil spill."€

Visit the Center’s new Gulf Disaster website for more details: www.biologicaldiversity.org/gulf_disaster

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2010/bp-exempted-05-05-2010.html

�

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

1. The Bush administration. The oil-drilling lease was sold to BP by the George W. Bush administration in 2007 under its 2007-2012 Five-Year Offshore Oil Drilling Plan.

2. The Obama administration. The actual exploratory drilling was approved by the Obama administration on April 6, 2009.

Within days of the 2009 approval, the Center for Biological Diversity and its allies won a court order vacating the Bush Five-Year Offshore Drilling Plan. Rather than use the court order as a timeout on new offshore oil drilling to develop a new plan, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar filed a special motion with the court to exempt approved oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. He specifically identified BP’s operation as one that should be released from the vacature.

In July 2009, the court agreed to Salazar’s request, releasing all approved offshore oil drilling — including the BP operation — from the vacature.

3. BP. BP has the worst environmental and safety record of any oil company operating in America. Even after the 2005 Texas City Refinery blast that killed 15 people, BP has continued to rack up safety violations. Despite the dangerous nature of all offshore oil drilling and BP’s own egregious safety record, BP’s exploration plan downplayed possibility of a spill, repeatedly asserting that it was unlikely or virtually impossible. Amazingly, Secretary Salazar’s Minerals and Management Service approved BP’s exploration plan without any consideration of the environmental consequences of an oil spill.

4. The oil industry and its political backers. The Gulf crisis shows that the glib safety claims of the oil industry cannot be trusted.

There’s no way guarantee that a massive oil rupture will not occur. And if one does occur, there’s no way to contain it quickly and fully enough to avert unacceptable environmental damage. Ultimately, it’s the inherently dangerous nature of offshore oil drilling that led to this disaster. That’s why the Center is calling on the Obama administration to 1) revoke its 2010 decision to open up Alaska, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Coast to offshore oil drilling, 2) cancel Shell Oil’s permit to start oil drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea immediately, 3) not permit any new offshore drilling anywhere, and 3) transition the nation away from fossil fuel so the pressure to continue offshore oil drilling dissipates.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/energy/dirty_energy_development/oil_and_gas/gulf_oil_spill/index.html

[PurityOfEssence]

16. Great, just what we need: grandstanding ass-covering

"I am angry and I am frustrated that BP has been unable to stop this oil from leaking and to stop the pollution from spreading. We are 33 days into this effort and deadline after deadline has been missed," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said after visiting BP's U.S. headquarters in Houston.

Here's a translation for the gentle, trusting souls out there: "Please Mr. Oil God, please take care of this on time. We can't take over command from you, it'd look like we don't worship corporations, and worse than that, it might look bad on us if WE can't fix it fast either."

Meanwhile, politicians huff and bloviate about how THEIR regulations were sound, and it's merely a fault of a single corporation. Wait, wait, we didn't say that! Corporations are GOOD; hell, they're GREAT. It's just some individual humans in one single corporation.

Quick, find a scapegoat, rake up some Alabama tarballs and fetch the feathers!!

[charlesg]

17. A month from now - maybe five months - we'll see the same headline

unfortunately