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Edited on Thu May-13-10 12:38 PM by Jennicut
Writing on Wednesday on the Huffington Post website, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the MMS had been corrupted and captured during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration. -- An acoustic switch could have averted the disaster, and, Kennedy said, "n 2000, the Minerals Management Service while weighing a comprehensive rulemaking for drilling safety, deemed the acoustic mechanism 'essential' and proposed to mandate the mechanism on all gulf rigs."<2> -- But "between January and March of 2001, incoming Vice President Dick Cheney conducted secret meetings with over 100 oil industry officials allowing them to draft a wish list of industry demands to be implemented by the oil friendly administration. Cheney also used that time to re-staff the Minerals Management Service with oil industry toadies including a cabal of his Wyoming carbon cronies. In 2003, newly reconstituted Minerals Management Service genuflected to the oil cartel by recommending the removal of the proposed requirement for acoustic switches. The Minerals Management Service's 2003 study concluded that 'acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly.'"http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/9582-background-thanks-to-bush-cheney-deepwater-horizon-had-no-eia-and-no-acoustic-switch.html
Cheney had the energy meetings, the oil industry bigwigs spelled out what they wanted, the MMS said no acoustic switches needed as they were too costly. Guess cost is all relative now, huh?
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