Thursday, May 27, 2010
President Obama's Press Conference on Deep Horizon - BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico (Video, Transcript)
Oil Spill confirmed far bigger than the Exxon-Valdez
I don't know if people understand the magnitude of this, but we are talking about no seafood from the Gulf (and the Gulf is responsible for 18-22% of the seafood consumption in the United States), ecological damage for years to come, economic disaster and very angry people in the Gulf Coast Region.
New oil flow estimates by scientists studying the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico would make the leak the worst in the nation's history, far bigger than 11 million gallons that spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster.
U.S. Geological Survey Director Dr. Marcia McNutt said the results are preliminary, but that two teams using different methods determined the well that exploded April 20 and sank two days later has spilled between 17 and 39 million gallons.
Earlier, more conservative estimates put the amount of crude oil at 7 million gallons.
The USGS estimates are bad news for President Barack Obama's administration and BP, which have taken a public relations beating as a result of the spill.
BP is trying to stop the leak by flooding the well with mud and then capping it with cement, a procedure known as a "top kill."
Video of the spill site appeared to show mud, and not oil, flowing from the blown-out well, hours after BP started the operation.
"It wouldn’t be reasonable for anybody to draw a conclusion from that until we’ve killed the well for good," BP managing director Bob Dudley told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira.
"The operation continues," Dudley said, but it is "too early to draw conclusions from it."
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Movement, MMS Director Elizabeth Birnbaum fired
Well, somebody had to go over that pimped out department called Minerals Management Services or MMS under the Interior Department. President Obama fires her. Well, he should and I say, get rid of Secretary Ken Salazar while you are at it. This alone is offensive and worth firing, though Birnbaum is after the fact.
CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports inspectors even went so far as to let oil companies literally fill out their own inspection reports using pencils. MMS inspectors would write on top of the pencil in ink and turn in the completed form.
And we won't talk about all the bribes, sex, drugs for oil leases to the mighty oil companies. Talk about too close for comfort? It is utterly disgraceful and due to all of this we have the worst environmental disaster, EVER, worse than the Exxon-Valdez.
The Obama administration has fired the head of the U.S. Minerals Management Service in response to blistering criticism over the federal government's lax oversight of BP and the rest of the offshore oil industry, Democratic sources told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The decision about Elizabeth "Liz" Birnbaum, who has run the service in the Interior Department since July 2009, was among the announcements being made Thursday by President Barack Obama.
The president's response to the five-week-old spill has prompted growing criticism about leadership from the White House, even as BP's efforts to stanch the leak are finally showing some promise.
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CBS
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Sense of Urgency is needed NOW, Obama White House
I am going to repeat what one diarist wrote this evening:
What the f**k is the White House thinking?
Do they understand the magnitude of this unfolding disaster?
Do they realize that they look and sound like the keystone cops, or worse, the Bush Administration?
And none of this is laughable....
The interview below is from Rachel Maddow with Energy Secretary, Steven Chu. I want everyone to understand something, perception matters. Ask former Prime Minister Gordon Brown after calling a constituent a "bigot". That one liner sealed the deal for many Brits who voted for the other guy. Chu's demeanor is that of academia, but when you have the public starting to fester in anger with people that DEPEND on their livelihood in conjunction with the BP Oil Spill disaster, I would THINK emotions of empathy is warranted. First video is with Ann Thompson, the second with Steven Chu. And the part from Chu that he only knows what he reads in the papers, is well, flabbergasting.
As Donna Brazile stated to Howard Fineman, "Where is the Fierce Urgency of Now". This from Countdown with Keith Olbermann:
The problem with all of this is that when you have a spill that is uncontrollable and the public SEES IT live daily, the reality really starts to sink in. The reality is that the Gulf Coast may not ever recover from this for DECADES. Then we have to witness ineptness and dishonesty of BP in relations to the TRUTH of what is actually happening, we know that the Obama Administration has very little if any solutions to fix this problem. It means that the Obama White House relies on BP for getting this spill capped and so far, BP gets an "F" in everything associated with this disaster.
Remember, George W. Bush was refuted by the public and it started with his handling of Hurricane Katrina. Bush's claim to fame photo of him flying over the Katrina disaster will be remembered for years to come. A photo of the leader of this country looking not engaged. Barack Obama appearing to be "MIA", is not good EITHER. Natural and man made disasters happens EVERY DAY, but people of this country elect individuals, parties, and presidents to be on the ball to fix it. Most importantly the public expects the truth as it become known, UP FRONT. BP did not do this and many, if you asked on the street, could not tell you what the hell the Obama Administration is doing about it. That is just the truth. Yes, you will post links, etc., but don't do it for me, this administration needs to CONSTANTLY communicate this to the public. That is not happening on the ground, but miscommunication and perceptions are starting to take place.
I know, another faux outrage diary, but the reality is that on the communication tip, the Obama White House gets an "F" as well. The "F" is for AGAIN, losing the narrative of this oil spill. We saw this last summer with the health care bill, which is now law.
Lastly, Obama White House please put people on television that one can at least, BELIEVE what they are saying? Just as the lack of communication is a killer, the belief that BP will make the Gulf Coast "whole again" is not just believable, as we all are reading this KNOW IT WILL NOT HAPPEN.
This oil spill will destroy the Gulf Coast as we know it and that is the DAILY FEAR that people of this region is coming to grips with. They have every right to be angry because it not only affects them but every person in the United States of America.
Update [2010-5-25 14:21:54 by icebergslim]:
Glad to see people ENGAGED, now we need to get the WH engaged. I don't like that Obama is flying around for fundraisers and coming back to CHI, my home city, Chicago. But he needs a break and the Chicago Police needs more to do, other than having gun shootouts which is happening daily here. But for those who want David Axelrod out, here he is on several news programs. Click on the link when he was on Hardball, it was then that I knew this man needs to be sent packing. Videos, links here....
Update [2010-5-25 15:55:59 by icebergslim]:
As I predicted, President Obama will be in the Gulf Coast on Friday before he jets to Chicago for the Memorial Day Weekend. My advice to POTUS, cop a squat on a cot and keep RETURNING to the Gulf Coast, WEEKLY...
Cross-posted @ Daily Kos
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Monday, May 24, 2010
A political mess.
Above is White House Senior Strategist to the President, David Axelrod. When you listen to the whole exchange, he defends BP and what they are doing.
Below at the White House Press Conference with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the point man for this oil spill Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen was there to answer questions about what is being done to cap this oil spill. My question immediately was this, "Why is Allen at this presser and does the White House have poll numbers showing the public turning against them not doing enough?" I have to ask that because up until lately the White House has deferred everything about this oil spill to BP. So to see Allen, who has been in the Gulf, at this presser was unusual for me.
There is anger out here on how this whole oil spill has been managed and much of it is towards BP, as it should be, but as the days lingered on while we have watched BP executives along with Halliburton and Transocean perform the "Tony Montana" stint in "pointing the fucking finger" which made our president call them out, one comes away with the conclusion that these guys will get away with it, the government still don't get it and we will be stuck with a huge tax bill when this is all said and done.
Anger is now including the government and what they have and have not done. President Obama was CORRECT in stating from the jump that this is BP's mess and they are totally responsible. I am in total agreement with him on this, but when you continue to see live feed of millions of gallons of oil just being pumped away into the Gulf, when you witness livelihoods stopped in the Gulf Region because of this, when you start to feel the economic pressure and outlash of the perceived notion to just "trust BP", when you start to hear public backlash, and then to read this from the CEO of BP who is the most arrogant asshole around:
"The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume," he said.
Do you think that BP really gives a damn while they have pissed in our pool? Do you think they care? And the government? They are clueless too!! And this from Hardball and the dodge ball that was in play with David Axelrod. The anger in the Gulf is WHITE HOT and the reality is that BP nor the government do not know what to do. Finally, Mike Papantonio laid it on the line about what is going on in the Gulf. The people are angry and tired of just talk from BP and the government. They do not want anymore speeches but action. The anger at BP is real and the perceived slow response from the U.S. Government. The people in the Gulf Coast want Barack Obama to sound like Huey Long not Ghandi, no more Kumbaya speeches. (Papantonio words, not mine's) The video is here, I would post it but from MSNBC. To think that people are not getting angry, think again.
For many on this site or just Democrats to think that this is a minor blip is crazy. This is not a minor blip, this is impacting a large portion of the United States of America, which has possibly gone into the channel to the upward Eastern Seashores. It is also our fault. Yes, OUR FAULT for not standing and stepping up. From Reagan to Obama, this country has been all about drilling. Even while this catastrophe is going onto DAY 35, we are still seeing oil drilling leases given out.
For me, I don't live in the Gulf Coast but my father does. He loves to fish and go to the beautiful, pristine beaches in Pensacola. Soon, and we all know it, will be toxic with BP's oil. This is the time for this country to say enough, but will we? I don't think so, we are too selfish.
And President Obama? He is caught between a rock and a hard place. I would like to see him LEAD and do it, but I realize that you can not lead when you don't know how to get out of the situation you are in. President Obama is in a tight situation. He has that oil pumping toxins at an incredible speed, he does not know how to stop it, we are entering hurricane season, he has to go back and forth with BP, and he is realizing that just saying that it is "BP's FAULT" is not enough. The public needs to see President Obama GO THE FUCK OFF on these oil companies. But he won't. He is stuck. He is stuck by his words and the reality that he doesn't have the man power to fix the mess BP has created. At this point, everything on the table is a "maybe", not a "guarantee", while the public is getting more angry.
Every citizen has a right to be angry at a huge oil company that drills into the earth for the oil, but when a disaster happens they all of a sudden never really had a workable plan. And every citizen has a right to be angry at the Interior Department of this country that just signed off on a plan, that they probably never questioned, asked or reasoned about. They just signed off, because the company was "BP".
In the end, yes, this is a political mess. Oh, but in the mean time we still got to deal with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was in Louisiana today with Homeland Secretary Napolitano and a Senate Delegation (full video here with confirmation of oil leases still being permitted but suddenly yanked due to public outrage), I PREDICT President Obama will be back on the Gulf Coast SOON:
Update [2010-5-24 20:9:46 by icebergslim]:
From Keith Olbermann, I mean this is unbelievable. BP was told to use less dangerous toxins in the water from the EPA and BP said, "NO". WHO IS RUNNING THIS? Then the EPA asks BP to consider using less toxins to disperse the oil. Again, this is the problem from the White House. This is a catastrophe and the White House is acting like this is no big deal. WHITE HOUSE this is a big deal and many have LOST ELECTED SEATS with actions like this. Ask George W. Bush and the Republicans. Will post video when it is up. Unbelievable.
Update [2010-5-24 22:13:19 by icebergslim]:
Here is the link to Keith Olbermann, again UNBELIEVABLE and Barack Obama better stop pickin' his nose and act like he is in CHARGE.
Cross-posted @ DailyKos
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Saturday, May 22, 2010
President Obama's Weekly Address, May 22, 2010, BP SPILL (Video, Transcript)
The President announces that the independent commission he created for the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling will be chaired by former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Graham and former EPA Administrator Bill Reilly. He promises accountability not just for BP, but for those in government who bore responsibility.
Transcript
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Monday, May 10, 2010
What if this happened to you?
What if you were on an oil rig that blew up in the gulf? What if you witnessed your colleagues die, burn to death but was sequestered for more than 24 hours, unable to let your family know you were alive because your company demands you sign a waiver that you not sue them? That you are not physically or mentally shattered? What if this happened to you?
Well, at this point in this country NOTHING should surprise anyone, but the stench of what happened to Transocean employees reminds me of the workings of a slimy, oily business man who won't let you go until you say, "Yes". In this instance, Transocean representatives with the Coast Guard kept survivors of the BP explosion on a boat for over 24 hours trying to get information and signatures.
The hold up was that the Coast Guard and Transocean representatives wanted full information of what happened. The survivors were told that no one leaves until forms are filled out. But one person did not fill out the Coast Guard form because he remembered one individual stating he was a lawyer from BP. The person's name is Christopher Choy.
But when Choy read the Coast Guard form, he didn't like what he saw. "At the bottom, it said something about, like, you know, this can be used as evidence in court and all that. I told them, I'm not signing it," Choy says. "Most of the people signed it and filled them out. I just didn't feel comfortable doing it." Choy shared his story at length with NPR and the PBS program NewsHour, in one of the most extensive interviews from a survivor of the April 20 rig blast.
The Coast Guard acknowledges it kept the men on the water in part so its investigators could get statements. But Choy says he thought the man who gave him the form said he was a lawyer with BP, the oil company. BP says it had no investigators or lawyers there.
Choy didn't sign the Coast Guard form. But he'd come to regret that he didn't refuse the next time he was asked to sign something.
The next time was after being up more than 24 hours, sequestered, only able to speak to his wife for a minute, when he got to a Louisiana hotel a Transocean representative was there for him to sign AGAIN.
But before they could go home, there was one more form and one more attempt to get the survivors to give information. At the hotel, there were representatives for Transocean who asked Choy to initial a line that said: I was not injured as a result of the incident or evacuation.
Choy had seen men with open wounds and burning flesh. He knew 11 of his friends were dead. He felt he was among the lucky ones.
Exhausted and just wanting to get home with Monica, he signed.
This is not surprising, all Transocean wanted was signatures to RELIEVE them of responsibility. Why? Because Mr. Choy is unable to go back to work, he has hired an attorney, he is having dreaded nightmares of friends dying, he is showing signs of possible post-traumatic symptoms, but his employer, Transocean reminds him that he signed off on their waiver and told them that, "I was not injured as a result of the incident or evacuation." Surprised? See what they do to you when you are sleep deprived? That is just how companies are and how they really feel about their employees. Sad, but true. Just as we see how really concerned BP is of the impact their irresponsibility will be on this region by trying to pay off residents on the cheap, like $5000.00 cheap.
Alabama Attorney General Troy King said Sunday night that he has told BP they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians, the Mobile Press-Register reports. King reportedly said the agreements stipulate that residents will give up their right to sue the company in exchange for a payment of up to $5,000.
This from a company, BP, that is destroying the Gulf Region and afraid of what it may have to pay for their irresponsibility. So, to offer $5000.00 to desperate, poor individuals who makes their livelihood in these waters while masking that they really care is not much. Though BP has been told to stop trying to scam Gulf Coast residents, you better believe that if anyone signed a waiver, BP will fight it to the HILT, so their responsibility will remain minimal. Here is the wording from their waiver that is floating around the Gulf Coast:
The form reads: “I hearby agree on behalf of myself and my representatives, to hold harmless and indemnify, and to release, waive, and forever discharge BP Exploration and Production Inc., its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, regular employees and independent contractors …”
And to many dismay, the Obama Administration wavers over 27 oil and gas companies to continue offshore oil exploration studies. I don't know what studies mean in oil and gas talk, but if it is drilling like the Gulf Coast disaster, when will we learn anything?
Audio story from NPR, here. Read the full story, here.
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Monday, May 3, 2010
"Drill, Baby, Drill" is retired.
We heard, "Drill, Baby, Drill" through the 2008 election, continuously. In fact when President Obama performed a bait and switch on March 31, 2010, stating he will allow off shore drilling, Senator John McCain tweeted, "Drill baby drill! Good move – where are Reid and Pelosi on this?"
Well, as the 2010 mid-term election is upon us, that is a statement you WON'T hear. Not from Republicans and anyone running for office on either side. Not after hearing and watching what the BP Explosion has done and is still doing to the Gulf Coast region. Not when 200K gallons of oil is still pumping into the waters of the Gulf Coast and BP don't know how to stop it. This is a catastrophe of epic proportion.
Right now, that region is holding its breath hoping BP will figure out how to stop the spill, people are praying that this oil will not spill into the Gulf Coast waterways, shores. (Which unfortunately, many are starting to smell this oil on coastal shores.)
All of this has me thinking about the Santa Barbara Oil Spill. This spill off Southern California helped found Earth Day.
Responding to widespread environmental degradation, Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, called for an environmental teach-in, or Earth Day, to be held on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated that year, and Earth Day is now observed on April 22 each year by more than 500 million people and several national governments in 175 countries.[citation needed]
Senator Nelson, an environmental activist, took a leading role in organizing the celebration, hoping to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda. He modeled it on the highly effective Vietnam War teach-ins of the time.[6] The proposal for Earth Day was first proposed in a prospectus to JFK written by Fred Dutton.[7] However, Nelson decided against much of Dutton's top-down approach, favoring a decentralized, grassroots effort in which each community shaped their action around local concerns.
Nelson had conceived the idea for Earth Day following a trip he took to Santa Barbara right after the horrific oil spill off the coast in 1969. Outraged by the devastation and Washington political inertia, Nelson proposed a national teach-in on the environment to be observed by every university campus in the U.S.[8]
Environmentalists and many on the left did not want President Obama caving to the Republicans for any off-shore drilling. This was not Barack Obama's position during the election and caving for a principled point can lose you voters. But it was this statement said by President Obama that should change his mind, totally on off-shore drilling.
So today we’re announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration, but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America’s natural resources. Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, we’ll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security. And we’ll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence.
The problem with this point is that when it comes to off-shore drilling, we give the whole ball of wax to the oil companies. As we are seeing everything unfold, BP not only lied to the Administration on the magnitude of this spill, but whatever tools they had has failed. There goes protecting the environment, tourism, that region's economy and potential health hazards for the people of that region.
BP said last week that it and its partners in the well, including Anadarko Petroleum (APC.N), were paying $6 million a day in clean-up efforts but admitted costs would rise sharply when the oil slick hit land, as would claims for damages.
Hayward said the technical options his company was working on to try to seal the ruptured well included an undersea containment system that would capture the leaking oil and channel it to a tanker on the surface.
"It's fabricated and will be on location next weekend," he said.
Another option, the drilling of a relief well to intersect and try to control the ruptured well, was also "now underway," Hayward added.
BP was also using undersea robotic vehicles to try to fix the well blowout preventer -- a mechanism that he said had failed to prevent the oil gushing from the ruptured well following the rig accident.
"No one understands why it's failed. We have assembled in Houston 160 companies from across the industry to focus on this task," Hayward said.
We have seen the oil-spilled show every few decades. The show itself does not change, just the key oil players and administrations. And the results have always been the same, that of apology and shame by the offenders, that of threatening rhetoric by the administrations, that of anger by the population, and that of FORGETFULNESS down the road.
I hope President Obama changes his position on off-shore drilling and take a bold path of leading this country off the dependence of oil, period. Pandering to the right to get a bill passed may work in some instances, but for this instance, a total loss.
Cross-posted @Daily Kos
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