Judge blocks Obama oil moratorium

[RedCOMET]

Hat tip to Zebo and RedCOMET.

Zebo gets the credit. But you didn't really quote the good stuff in the article.

Salazar was far less aggressive, however, when it came to making good on his promise to fix MMS. Though he criticized the actions of "a few rotten apples" at the agency, he left long-serving lackeys of the oil industry in charge. "The people that are ethically challenged are the career managers, the people who come up through the ranks," says a marine biologist who left the agency over the way science was tampered with by top officials. "In order to get promoted at MMS, you better get invested in this pro-development oil culture." One of the Bush-era managers whom Salazar left in place was John Goll, the agency's director for Alaska. Shortly after, the Interior secretary announced a reorganization of MMS in the wake of the Gulf disaster, Goll called a staff meeting and served cake decorated with the words "Drill, baby, drill."

Salazar also failed to remove Chris Oynes, a top MMS official who had been a central figure in a multibillion-dollar scandal that Interior's inspector general called "a jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic bungling." In the 1990s, industry lobbyists secured a sweetheart subsidy from Congress: Drillers would pay no royalties on oil extracted in deep water until prices rose above $28 a barrel. But this tripwire was conveniently omitted in Gulf leases overseen by Oynes – a mistake that will let the oil giants pocket as much as $53 billion. Instead of being fired for this fuckup, however, Oynes was promoted by Bush to become associate director for offshore drilling – a position he kept under Salazar until the Gulf disaster hit.

 

[drebo]

The President can veto Congress, the courts can overturn Executive decrees, and Congress can determine that the courts have no say on certain matters.

Sounds like everything is working right. Next step is for the President to get his cronies in Congress to pass a law that says that the courts can't rule on issues relating to the gulf coast spill.

 

[squirrel dog]

states rights , it's what started the civil war .

 

[dahunan]

states rights , it's what started the civil war .

True.. then let them be responsible for ALL costs when the next one blows

 

[nonlnear]

What is it with Americans that whenever they contemplate secession they immediately start stroking their cocks and bellowing about war? You do know it's possible to secede without a war, right?

 

[drebo]

Obama gonna buy me a country?

 

[dahunan]

Zebo gets the credit. But you didn't really quote the good stuff in the article.


Quote:

Salazar was far less aggressive, however, when it came to making good on his promise to fix MMS. Though he criticized the actions of "a few rotten apples" at the agency, he left long-serving lackeys of the oil industry in charge. "The people that are ethically challenged are the career managers, the people who come up through the ranks," says a marine biologist who left the agency over the way science was tampered with by top officials. "In order to get promoted at MMS, you better get invested in this pro-development oil culture." One of the Bush-era managers whom Salazar left in place was John Goll, the agency's director for Alaska. Shortly after, the Interior secretary announced a reorganization of MMS in the wake of the Gulf disaster, Goll called a staff meeting and served cake decorated with the words "Drill, baby, drill."

Salazar also failed to remove Chris Oynes, a top MMS official who had been a central figure in a multibillion-dollar scandal that Interior's inspector general called "a jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic bungling." In the 1990s, industry lobbyists secured a sweetheart subsidy from Congress: Drillers would pay no royalties on oil extracted in deep water until prices rose above $28 a barrel. But this tripwire was conveniently omitted in Gulf leases overseen by Oynes – a mistake that will let the oil giants pocket as much as $53 billion. Instead of being fired for this fuckup, however, Oynes was promoted by Bush to become associate director for offshore drilling – a position he kept under Salazar until the Gulf disaster hit.

IF ANYONE thinks MMS can be controlled by a dem or republican you have another thing coming...

Look at how big MMS WAS *past tense

MMS is who will be sued SOON for allowing these OIL CORPS to continually buy their way out of following REGULATIONS...

I was going to make a whole topic on MMS just a couple days ago..and guess what

FWIW.. The name just got changed for the whole departmental group... so they can start covering up all the theft and corruption

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/us/08agency.html
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators warned offshore rig operators more than a decade ago that they needed to install backup systems to control the giant undersea valves known as blowout preventers, used to cut off the flow of oil from a well in an emergency.


Rules, Revolving Doors and the Oil Industry





The warnings were repeated in 2004 and 2009. Yet the Minerals Management Service, the Interior Department agency charged both with regulating the oil industry and collecting royalties from it, never took steps to address the issue comprehensively, relying instead on industry assurances that it was on top of the problem, a review of documents shows.

http://www.mms.gov/

he New Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOE) Web Site is Under Construction​

Secretarial Order 3302, issued June 18, 2010 renames the Minerals Management Service to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOE). The name change is effective immediately.
We will be working over the next several days to make the appropriate changes to our web site. To visit the former MMS web site, click here.

 

[RedCOMET]

Wow... thats a waste of name. its still going to be a clusteruck when all said is done. It going to cost us taxpayers a lot to make the transition from the MMS to the BOE.

A co-worker of mine used to MMS inspections back in the day and he always refers to them as the Mineral Mis-Management Service.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

So what if the argument for the moratorium shifts from these companies not having their shit together to the government not having it's shit together? I'm not necessarily for the moratorium, but it seems everyone involved in this industry is clearly incapable of managing not only this disaster, but also themselves in every capacity they are supposed to undertake.

 

[RedCOMET]

So what if the argument for the moratorium shifts from these companies not having their shit together to the government not having it's shit together? I'm not necessarily for the moratorium, but it seems everyone involved in this industry is clearly incapable of managing not only this disaster, but also themselves in every capacity they are supposed to undertake.

The govt not having their shit together??? Who in the Administration would ever admit to something as silly as that??? If they used that logic, all the Republicans/Dem/ teabaggers would go crazy!!!!

 

[ElFenix]

So what if the argument for the moratorium shifts from these companies not having their shit together to the government not having it's shit together? I'm not necessarily for the moratorium, but it seems everyone involved in this industry is clearly incapable of managing not only this disaster, but also themselves in every capacity they are supposed to undertake.

i think the intervenors on behalf of the .gov in this last case tried to argue that. in this particular case it didn't help as it only went to show that the .gov was acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner in creating that moratorium. now, if the .gov were to stop issuing all permits due to internal auditing/restructuring, that might be a different matter entirely. that wouldn't stop any activity already approved, of course.


i'm not sure that managing disaster is completely possible (not to mention, how do you define managing disaster?), and that the best practice isn't minimizing chance of disaster to begin with (which the rest of the oil industry say BP wasn't doing)

 

[werepossum]

Zebo gets the credit. But you didn't really quote the good stuff in the article.

True, but let's be honest. Right now Obama's the goat. But if BP hadn't screwed the pooch (and in a way that the pooch had never been screwed before) then Obama would be the hero.

 

[dahunan]

Zebo gets the credit. But you didn't really quote the good stuff in the article.

So what if the argument for the moratorium shifts from these companies not having their shit together to the government not having it's shit together? I'm not necessarily for the moratorium, but it seems everyone involved in this industry is clearly incapable of managing not only this disaster, but also themselves in every capacity they are supposed to undertake.

Personally, I think the argument will shift from BP being guilty to THE MMS and BLM and Uncle Sam being guilty and and.. responsible for billions in cleanup and recovery costs ..

^^huh?

Our government aided these goons in destroying the whole southeastern coast of the USA/North America

when that oil dirties CUBAS shores.. I will be all for them suing the USA for allowing BP et al to be run so reckless and irresponsibly in regards to the environment

 

[charrison]

What is it with Americans that whenever they contemplate secession they immediately start stroking their cocks and bellowing about war? You do know it's possible to secede without a war, right?

OF course it is possible, but the fed kept them from going peacefully. I am not sure things would work out differently today.

 

[Vic]

I was discussing this issue with someone the other day and he said that we need the oil. I agreed, and then reminded home that we need the fish too.

In their blind mania to attack everything environmentalist, some people (ironically those who usually like to pretend they believe in small govt) forget that there is a genuine free market environment-minded philosophy once popularly known as conservationism. And at the core of this philosophy is the idea that if you want to shit in your yard, go ahead, but don't fucking shit in my yard. And of course, those I referred to above would demand harsh govt-inflicted punishment if were talking about some punk shitting in someone else's yard. But now BP just shit on everyone's beachfront property in 5 states and their response is...

 

[werepossum]

I was discussing this issue with someone the other day and he said that we need the oil. I agreed, and then reminded home that we need the fish too.

In their blind mania to attack everything environmentalist, some people (ironically those who usually like to pretend they believe in small govt) forget that there is a genuine free market environment-minded philosophy once popularly known as conservationism. And at the core of this philosophy is the idea that if you want to shit in your yard, go ahead, but don't fucking shit in my yard. And of course, those I referred to above would demand harsh govt-inflicted punishment if were talking about some punk shitting in someone else's yard. But now BP just shit on everyone's beachfront property in 5 states and their response is...

So far about $25 billion.

 

[Vic]

So far about $25 billion.

I wasn't talking about BP's response... I was discussing the predictable response of certain partisans with inconsistent views.

And BP hasn't paid out anyone yet. The purpose of the fund is to encourage damaged parties to settle out of court early, as much of BP's stock plunge is based on investor concern of future litigation costs and payouts.

 

[Zorkorist]

I was discussing this issue with someone the other day and he said that we need the oil. I agreed, and then reminded home that we need the fish too.

In their blind mania to attack everything environmentalist, some people (ironically those who usually like to pretend they believe in small govt) forget that there is a genuine free market environment-minded philosophy once popularly known as conservationism. And at the core of this philosophy is the idea that if you want to shit in your yard, go ahead, but don't fucking shit in my yard. And of course, those I referred to above would demand harsh govt-inflicted punishment if were talking about some punk shitting in someone else's yard. But now BP just shit on everyone's beachfront property in 5 states and their response is...

They didn't shit in anyones yard, they only shit in the yard they were hedging.

They had no idea that their hedhes would grow out of control and swallow playgrounds,

-John

 

[charrison]

I wasn't talking about BP's response... I was discussing the predictable response of certain partisans with inconsistent views.

Which partisans have decided things need to be business as usual? I dont think I have seen any of those yet.

And BP hasn't paid out anyone yet. The purpose of the fund is to encourage damaged parties to settle out of court early, as much of BP's stock plunge is based on investor concern of future litigation costs and payouts.

yes they are and have been paying out claims.

 

[Zorkorist]

yes they are and have been paying out claims.

Claim early, claim often.

-John

 

[Zorkorist]

It's like Katrina... but this time British Petroleum is the sucker.

-John

 

[IGBT]

What is it with Americans that whenever they contemplate secession they immediately start stroking their cocks and bellowing about war? You do know it's possible to secede without a war, right?

most states would be better off returning to territory status and dump all fed unfunded mandates.

 

[RedCOMET]

Ouch...
Oil Companies, Drill Operators Clash Over Idled Rigs

Oil companies and drilling-rig operators are entering uncharted waters as they fight over who should pay for rigs idled by the recent U.S. offshore-drilling moratorium, and one case has already landed in court.

While offshore drilling could legally resume after a federal district court judge overturned the moratorium Tuesday, few if any oil companies are likely to go back to work until higher courts rule on appeals, officials at several companies said. Meanwhile, the unused rigs are costing them as much as $600,000 a day.

At least three oil companies are demanding early exits from long-term leases on five rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, alleging the ban on offshore drilling voided their contracts.
<SNIP>

Also:

Transocean rejects Anadarko claim of force majeure&#8206;

Rowan says new US regs hurt shallow-water drilling&#8206;

Statoil declares force majeure in Gulf of Mexico
&#8206;

So the ban is lifted.. but companies are still trying to figure out their financial obligations under their contracts.

 

[RedCOMET]

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/25/news/economy/shallow_drilling_ban/index.htm

Stealth ban on Gulf drilling

The offshore drilling ban imposed after the BP disaster is only supposed to hit operations in deep water -- 500 feet or more.

But drillers in shallow water say they haven't been issued permits since the April 20 explosion. The delay has already forced hundreds of layoffs, and many more could be on the way.

"I'm almost out of business over here," said Paul Butler, president of Spartan Offshore, a small drilling company in Metairie, La.
<snip>

Safety first: An Interior Department spokeswoman said there is no freeze on shallow water drilling. However, she said, new safety procedures were put in place following the Deepwater Horizon spill.

"Companies have to comply before we can issue them permits," the spokeswoman said. "No one has fully complied."

Spartan's Butler said there was a long delay between when Interior stopped issuing permits and when the new safety guidelines came out. Indeed, the first Interior Department notification to oil companies about the new requirements was dated June 8, nearly two months after the disaster.

Butler said he has been scrambling to get his paperwork in order and hopes that permits will be issued soon.

Nice that someone in the main stream media is reporting that the moratorium has affect shallow water operations.

 

[Darwin333]

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/25/news/economy/shallow_drilling_ban/index.htm

Stealth ban on Gulf drilling



Nice that someone in the main stream media is reporting that the moratorium has affect shallow water operations.

Just dump some gravel in the water and they will be exempted because they are now considered a "on shore" drilling activity.