Obama is furious over oil spill

[moreluck]

Even if you, yourself can't solve the problem, you would think you would have some idea of who to call to be on your panel......you'd think!!


Gerri Willis
- FOXBusiness
- June 21, 2010
The President's Lackluster Oil Team


My two cents: Let's use the Gulf oil spill as an excuse to fix the Gulf oil spill -- not as cover to pass more ]important legislation that will put taxpayers on the hook.

The president promised to bring the smartest minds to bear on diagnosing the reasons for the Gulf oil disaster. So when he chose a panel to investigate the origins of the spill, I was prepared to be impressed.
No such luck.

Don't get me wrong: There are lots of smart folks on the panel. People with big-time degrees and big-time resumes-but they are short on the one thing needed in this crisis: technical expertise.
Let me give you some examples. One member is an environmental activitist who says the disaster stems from America's addiction to oil. Hmm...sounds like political analysis to me.

Only one of the seven commissioners has an engineering background, but it's in optics and physics - not too useful in this case.
The other commissioners are experts in policy and management.
Choosing someone who has actually been involved in drilling a well might have been a good idea.
But as has been the case throughout this crisis, the appearance of action has always been more important than actually getting something done.

I've got an idea: let's use the Gulf oil spill as an excuse to fix the Gulf oil spill -- not as cover to pass more legislation that will put taxpayers on the hook.
But that's just my two cents!

 

[moreluck]

Obama struck down by court.....

 

[av8torntn]

Whatever the rationale, and if De Standarrd's claim that the Jones Act forbids the European companies to help fight the spill is true, it is high time the U.S. government grant the Jones waiver, and let this be an international collaborative effort. [/LEFT]

I'm afraid they would also need a waiver from the EPA to operate. From what I have read four of these ships could clean up an amount of oil that is greater than the highest estimate of the amount coming out of the well. To do this however some small amounts of oil would come from these ships back into the gulf and this would be a violation of EPA rules. Between this and the coast guard stopping the clean up effort to check barges for life vests show just how incompetent they really are. When something like this happens we are harshly reminded of the value of great leadership by watching the extremely poor leadership of our president. Instead of calling for lawsuits he should be calling for the government to stop blocking the containment and cleanup efforts.

 

[Babagounj]

http://www.wdsu.com/news/23997498/detail.html

Federal Gov't Halts Sand Berm Dredging

Nungesser Pleads With President To Allow Work To Continue

 

[av8torntn]

"Oil continues to spew into the Gulf of Mexico from the site of the BP oil rig, yet the Obama administration refuses to relax a protectionist U.S. shipping law known as the Jones Act that makes it more difficult for foreign-owned ships to help contain the damage."

"Defenders of the Jones Act claim it promotes national security by maintaining a merchant marine fleet in case of war. But Jones Act ships tend to be old and of limited use in times of real emergencies. In fact, during the 1991 Gulf War, only one Jones Act ship actually went to war; President George H. W. Bush suspended the law because it was interfering in the efficient transfer of goods. President George W. Bush again suspended the law in 2005 so that fuel and other needed supplies could more quickly reach New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. What is an expensive indulgence for domestic shippers during peacetime becomes an intolerable liability for the nation during time of emergency."

Link

 

[Babagounj]

a lack of leadership

 

[fxdwg]

In heard that the cap they placed was gone and it is sweying as much as it other was.

When is the US Govm't going to take over????

Barry is a failure!!

 

[av8torntn]

"In reality, government intervention played an important role in the spill’s happening in the first place. As Judge Andrew Napolitano points out, BP originally sought to drill in 500 feet of water, a plan approved by the state of Louisiana but then nixed by the federal government, which demanded the company drill in 5,000 feet depths instead."

"Furthermore, the federal government has stymied efforts by local and state governments, along with private individuals, to deal with the spill, and has turned away offers from well-trained and well-equipped outfits from foreign countries because of the Jones Act, which protects American maritime unions."

Do we need alternative energy because of the Gulf oil spill?

 

[toonertoo]

I feel like I am living in the twilight zone. Ships available, and not being used. Barriers being built and stopped, more oil coming on shore every day that did not need to.

No the government does not need to take over, they need to get the hell out of the way, and let the people who know what to do, do it!

BP is the one who needs to handle it, we for Gods sake do not know how!

I will be more than happy to use alternative fuel when it becomes available. Until then I do not want some idiots in Washington telling me I have to pay so I wont be tempted to use too much. Fire them all in November!

 

[moreluck]

That's my plan for November......right before the turkey!!

 

[over9five]

No the government does not need to take over, they need to get the hell out of the way, and let the people who know what to do, do it!

+1!!!!!!

 

[av8torntn]

No the government does not need to take over, they need to get the hell out of the way, and let the people who know what to do, do it!

Exactly!!

 

[toonertoo]

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to know, while yes the marine life and wildlife are being affected before it hits beaches, once it hits shore, its harder to clean, and even more damage is done. It is easier to clean up out of the water, as the two dont mix real well.
The ball was dropped like a big meteorite crashing into land.
Why did he not respond to this, a command post should have been set up immediately!!
It sickens me to see what is happening in the Gulf. countries offer help, we turn it away, skimmers available and not used. I wish I could wake up and it would be a bad dream.
No one is in charge, he is in way over his head and too arrogant to let the "little people" help. This will be his legacy, and the biggest failure ever!

 

[klein]

This one is great, putting the blame on Obama, now and then.

 

[Babagounj]

barry consulted with his top picked experts on the oil spill, and then altered their report to impose his ban.
Now that's great leadership, but for the fact that he got caught.
Just another bad mistake for him, but don't worry his kool-aid drinkers will again overlook this.

 

[wkmac]

President Obama and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were informed that BP would drill an unprecedented 35,000 feet well bore at the Macondo site off the coast of Louisiana. In September 2009, the Deepwater Horizon successfully sunk a well bore at a depth of 35,055 below sea level at the Tiber Prospect in the Keathley Canyon block 102 in the Gulf of Mexico, southeast of Houston.

During the September drilling operations, the Deepwater Horizon drill penetrated a massive undersea oil deposit but BP's priorities changed when the Macondo site in the Mississippi Canyon off the coast of Louisiana was found to contain some 3-4 billion barrels of oil in an underground cavern estimated to be about the size of Mount Everest. It was as a result of another 35,000 feet well bore sank by the Deepwater Horizon at the Macondo site that the catastrophic explosion occurred on April 20.

According to the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) sources within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Pentagon and Interior and Energy Departments told the Obama Administration that the newly-discovered estimated 3-4 billion barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico would cover America's oil needs for up to eight months if there was a military attack on Iran that resulted in the bottling up of the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic, resulting in a cut-off of oil to the United States from the Persian Gulf.

Obama Administration Knew About Deepwater Horizon 35,000 Feet Well Bore

 

[klein]

wkmac, I call that article BS.
As of last estimates from Shell CEO, he believes Alberta has 200 Trillion barrels of oil.
Enough to supply the entire world for over 200 years !

Besides, the uS isn't that dependent on Middle Eastern Oil. The majority already comes out of Canada, Saudi Arabia second, and then it's Mexico and Venuzuala.

 

[Babagounj]

that maybe true, but the general public has been told otherwise. According to our government we get most of our oil from the Middle East.

 

[bekbek1]

Oh he is not furious, no this spill fits niclely in his agenda. When he told BP to put up 20 billion dollars into a fund to compensate people harmed by the oil spill, the president went around the constitution. No where in the consitution does it say the president has the authority to take vast sums of money from private companies and then distribute that money how he pleases. Our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men". The consitution says private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of the law." Without consitutional government, freedom cannot endure. This crisis fits into their agenda, "a crisis cannot be allowed to go to waste." This is an opportunity to expand government's power. "Those who cannot see beyond the immediate events to the isssues of arbitarty power-versus the rule of law and the preservation of freedom-are the "useful idiots" of our time. But useful to whom?". "Useful idiots" was the term coined by Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.

 

[tieguy]

Obama is rewriting the rules as he goes.