Despite Obama’s Moratorium, Drilling Projects Move Ahead

Source: New York Times

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)

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

:hi:

As long as Salazar is employed by the U.S. government, the duplicity continues unabated.
"Drill baby drill" is apparently now and always will be official policy.

Who is really in charge?

the game remains the same.

A group of largely anonymous billionaires.

Running both parties.

take a lifelike poster of him and stick it in the ground and get the same results.

No matter how one spins it- this does not sound good:



and

Let's get real. THAT's who is running this country.

Salazar should be FIRED IMMEDIATELY. Fuckass

:cry:

How about honest?

:puke:

I think Obama is a good chap, probably he just doesn't want to get a hole in his head the minute he shows actual leadership.

We don't need no stinkin' wetlands. We don't need no stinkin' fish. We don't care about the stinkin' birds. We love money.

who's really in charge?

perfect question as we return to the streets. And calling all freeway bloggers...

edit: "who's in charge" would also be a good chant response to "usa, usa"

Get the picture. No one else is running the show

Is it not now crystal clear that our government is nothing but a corporate controlled bunch of incompetents? Sorry folks but this is the final nail in the "obama os super smart" coffin. Obama clearly is in over his head...way over his head. His handling of this (and really every major issue he has had to deal with) is simply pathetic and really just incompetent. Forget ideology, incompetence is now our greatest enemy. we are being run by a bunch of dumb asses whose only concern is to keep their corporate donors happy and get reelected. THATS IT. Personally I think its time to panic...WE ARE SCREWED.

their little puppet on a string.
we are truly leaderless.

The first black president and his place in history. Truly sickening. :puke:

surprised he's not on a box of Wheaties.

We are screwed.

Welcome to DU. Glad to have you on board. :toast:

and LEAVE again! I leave because of sheer FRUSTRATION and as one who stated above... PANIC because I feel HOPELESS!!

Will the masses ever revolt again? I no longer think so! At least the masses who feel as I do!

Okay, now others can respond as to HOW I need to get involved "locally" and how I must keep on working! The usual words that are really nothing more than words!

I HAVE BEEN IN THE TRENCHES and worked very, very hard to be an involved citizen who hasn't just looked on without putting my boots on the ground!

These days I'm having difficulty putting one foot in front of the other!!!!

very picture of a useless, empty suit. I wish the Democratic primaries were tomorrow.

Obama was "supposed" to be the guy, the answer, the hope. If he's not, it's proof the problem is not the man, it's the SYSTEM.
A Democratic primary tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year won't fix anything.

soon enough I'm sure!! Obviously I've gotten more exasperated as times goes by, but I don't KNOW what to do!!

I'm headed out the door real soon to trek up to the beach! Not sure how I'm going to feel, not sure how many truly understand how many Floridians feel immense HURT! I KNOW this is going to impact almost everyone, but having lived right on the Gulf for over 30 years it seems like some sort of RAPE!

Best word I can come up with at this moment, but sure there are many more! The sun is out, it's HOT and the water still isn't roiling in oily! At least I haven't seen it yet!!

that I wonder what the parties will use to drive us to the polls in the fall. republicans already have a lead with all their hate mongering. But I wonder if "At least we're not bush" will be enough to motivate the millions that put Obama in office the first time. I think the republicans will be a little more successful because their followers show more ignorance and willingness to believe lies. Many Democrats are smarter and know when they've been played and lied to.

Of course they will trot out the supreme court, but we've seen how Obama would handle that - move the court a little more right each time. If the republicans screw up and nominate another geezer and hick slut, maybe we will be scared into voting against them, but I'm having a hard time finding anything I will have a chance to vote for instead of vote against. Not very motivating.

Even had a post or two deleted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXL998q7skI

Kind of long, but well worth a listen. Lays out what we're really up against.

otherwise we might have caught this sort of thing earlier, if we had not been forced into learned helplessness.

I think one thing Obama's Presidency has exposed to many in the country is the fact that the Congress and Senate NEVER has run our Nation, corporations run us. I think people are finally awakening to this fact after decades and decades of suppression from most of the public. Us on the Left have been correct all along.

I think he thought we actually did live in a democracy and now realizes who really runs the country.

he must have slept through his term in the Senate.

:thumbsup: Funny how it's never Obama's fault. Guess the buck doesn't stop at his desk either. Why'd he even bother running, in the first place? :argh:

I'm just saying that sometimes he seems like even he is surprised by the limited powers of our Govt over corporations. I'll blame the entire political system before I'll blame one man for all this mess. The problem is the buck doesn't stop on anyone's desk, ever, because the buck can't be stopped. The buck has morphed into a giant threatening superpower that can inflict more harm on us than we can on it. Sure we can scold corps and point fingers but they can give us a huge giant eff you and collapse our economy and cause major gas shortages, causing us to come to a standstill. What a tangled web we weaved. My suggestion: Nationalize anything of extreme importance to the future and prosperity of our country.

That may be the only way we will survive as a country and as a species.

and it's not a pleasant thing.



I feel nauseous.

Must have given him huge insight into the hidden powers that be up top. Remember, we elected him because of his lack of experience i.e. The common man, not (so much) a Washington insider. Ironically thats how the founding fathers wanted it to be, 'politician' wasn't supposed to be a career, you were supposed to get elected, put in your 2 cents, then eventually go back to your job of being a lawyer, blacksmith, etc.

... and then reviewing things like his votes for extending the patriot act and giving immunity to the telcos.

His willingness to be labeled as a pragmatist, also leads to my confusion in trying to frame/understand Obama. If he is not willing to believe anything himself, I don't believe I should give my undying benefit of the doubt.

He seems like a very nice guy, and working for his campaign I got to see a truly inspirational person from some of the internal media materials we got access. That is why the disappointment brewing seems to be rather sour for those who actually cared or wanted to believe there was a real chance to stop being cynical for once. Which is, I think, the boat I found myself by the 08 elections. That and the fact, I truly wanted to prove my old man wrong that this time around there would be an actual difference. But as they say in the old world, the devil knows more because he is old that for being the devil ;-)

... and spend half of our time interviewing for better positions at a competitor, on the company's dime.

Done. Toast. I feel civil unrest coming next.

I mean Obama's a "looking forward" kind of non leader you know. I certainly am disappointed that this guy was nominated by the MSM.

Looks like a government bureaucracy not knowing what the other hand is doing.



And yet, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has classified some of the drilling types that have been allowed to continue as being as hazardous as new well drilling. Federal records also indicate that there have been at least three major accidents involving spills, leaks or explosions on rigs in the gulf since 2002 caused by the drilling procedures still being permitted.

“The moratorium does not even cover the dangerous drilling that caused the problem in the first place,” said Daniel J. Rohlf, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, adding he was not certain that the Interior Department was capable of carrying out the needed reforms.

The moratorium has created inconsistencies and confusion.

While Interior Department officials have said certain new drilling procedures on existing wells can proceed, Mr. Salazar, when pressed to explain why new drilling was being allowed, testified on May 18 that “there is no deep-water well in the O.C.S. that has been spudded — that means started — after April 20,” referring to the gulf’s outer continental shelf.

However, Newfield Exploration Company has confirmed that it began drilling a deep-water well in 2,095 feet of water after April 20. Records indicate that Newfield was issued a permit on May 11 to initiate a sidetrack drill, with a required spud date of May 10. A sidetrack is a secondary wellbore drilled away from the original hole.

There's confusion all right, in that folks who want all oil well work to stop aren't being appeased, therefore *any* oil well work is mis-characterized as if a new well was being drilled.

Why do you claim 'bureaucracy' as the culprit here? That sounds like a distracting statement that a Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin demagogue would make to protect their fascist ideology of deregulation from the scrutiny it would deserve for this disaster...and the financial corruption....and the mining industry MURDERS.

we are competing with China for oil. That may be why Obama stated that we have to foreign oil independent. China needs oil anywhere they can get it and has the money. The Mid East oil countries don't need the U.S. any more. We need to pursue alternative energy like we did the space program. Ironically, China may come up with the answer sooner than the U.S. will.

The other reality is that the world is running out of accessible oil.

Face it: we have killed many people, waged wars, overthrown governments,all in the pursuit of oil, gas, and other natural resources. We will continue to do so.

The difference is that now the people in Big Oil's crosshairs are us.

Every living thing on this planet is expendable if it's in the way, everything.

WE.ARE.SCREWED, and we have no govt to protect us because it is bought and paid for by corporations.

I was hearing a news story on my local liberal talk radio station last week about how the oil companies have been caught by surprise by seeing demand down at the time of year they usually see it rise. Kind of putting a crimp in their gouge the public all summer and blame it on them operations. So, a moratorium in the short term here isn't going to affect the situation much. The piece also mentioned the rise in demand in China they were expecting has not been what they thought it would be.

I guess it is up to us to figure out what 'moratorium' means.

I thought it meant 'stop and reassess'. Guess not. Got to go find Webster's.

construed differently from my definition!!!
:shrug:

Obama appointed Salazar
he is doing his bidding
and Obama is doing BP's bidding

What it gets down to
is America is owned by the Oil companies

they could poison thousands and Kill thousands
and this government won't lift a finger to stop them

it has been 33 days of killling and NOTHING has been done

PLEASE ARREST BP"S CEOS
ARREST them for murder
of the OCEAN

Wall Street reform that still allows Credit Default Swaps.. No Glass-Steegal.....

NAFTA goes on day after day... jobs go to China...Soldiers still dying in Afghanistan with no clear-cut goal...

Can't shut the oil off... too busy finger pointing.. Coast Guard turned into Big Oil private police...

Hillary off to the Mideast and China again.. making threats (eerrr..I mean .."Diplomacy")

I see a pattern here...

We have to get rid of these people.

Thanks for the thread, Swampy.

I posted this in GD, but it has been largely ignored and unrec'ed.

When the oil arrives in other states, maybe they will give a shit and stop trying to win inane political points.

and Ken Abbott in their suit to SHUT ATLANTIS DOWN NOW!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37199423#37199423

My FANTASY is seeing M$M coverage of MILLIONS of Americans converging on Washington to DEMAND IT.

:hug:

:hug: We are so fucked here in New Orleans and S. Louisiana. :cry:

I am determined to go down with the ship, but who knows, I may end up in Köln someday. ;)

:cry::loveya::cry:

since I just discovered NRDC, TPL et al. are "partners" with BP.

The Atlantis rig mentioned on 60 Minutes, for example? The one where very few technical drawings have even been inspected, and yet the rig is already BUILT! I wish I could pull that off. I can't even install a modular school room without stamped drawings!

In other words, they get them by hook or crook, while you, me, and the average American has to jump through hoops only to be denied a permit to build an addition to a home or shed in the back yard.

Cheerist, we are in one fucking huge mess. I'm sorry Swamp Rat. I don't know what to do.

Obama needs to fire some folks and now. If he doesn't we will all have to assume that he is not sincere about dealing with this issue.

All these permits probably represent thousands of votes that'll drift away from Obama because the change the voters wanted was neglected.

What we need is a new moratorium on all waivers now.

in the US NOW; otherwise, he is looking like just another puppet controlled by BigOil puppetmasters.

This BP Halliburton spill is turning out to be Obama's Katrina and he is looking completely impotent. Goodbye, Obama, I had great hopes for you but your "fierce urgency of now" from the campaign just doesn't translate in your presidency. You will not get a second term unless you get control NOW.

This moratorium seems to have more holes than a sieve.

Disgusted and saddened.

Obama's.....lies? It's only ok if you are obama (IOOKIYAO)

his damned orders during a national crisis, and two, stops all momentum for off shore drilling then how could we seriously consider him anything more than just another politician?

I so want him to kick ass as MY president, but the admin's actions scream moderate/conservative on several issues. :(

--as long as Salazar is not fired, Obama is complicit with destruction of the planet.

oh, and who was the genius who appointed Salazar in the first place?
and real lefties "resigned" long ago -- remember Van Jones?
If I were him, I'd consider myself lucky to no longer be associated with this corrupt administration of BP/Haliburton puppets.

NT!