Mississippi's Republican governor -- a former chairman of the Republican National Committee -- said in an interview Sunday that President Barack Obama's moratorium on deepwater drilling is worse than BP's massive oil spill for his state.
"Governor, what's worse, the moratorium or the effects of this spill on the region?" "Meet the Press" host David Gregory asked the governor on Sunday.
"Well, the moratorium," Barbour replied. "The spill's a terrible thing, but the moratorium is a terrible thing that's not only bad for the region, it's bad for America."
Barbour, however, said he thought the Obama Administration has done "more right than wrong."
"What is your assessment of how well coordinated the federal, state and local officials are, not only in your state, but also in Louisiana and Florida?" Gregory asked.
Nothing is satisfactory until the well is shut in," Barbour responded. "When the well's capped and then clean up the oil and then BP pay the bills. Until all of that is done, nothing is satisfactory. But as I've said before and I said it to the president, I think that the government has done more right that wrong. I thought appointing Ken Feinberg, who's got a great reputation that is well deserved, is good for BP and good for the government. Leave BP out of that. But BP's got to pay."
This video is from NBC's Meet the Press, broadcast June 20, 2010.
When asked yesterday on ABC’s This Week about Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-TX) accusation that the White House engaged in a “shakedown” of BP, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel noted the remark was “not a political gaffe,” but rather a statement based on “prepared remarks.” He linked Barton’s comments to the GOP’s “larger philosophy,” saying it “is an approach to what they see. They see the aggrieved party here is BP, not the fisherman. And remember, this is not just one person.”
Conservative pundit Sarah Palin quickly blasted Emanuel’s comments on Twitter, calling them “shallow” and “irresponsible.” Parroting Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-SC) rant against Obama, Palin said “Rahm, u lie”:
The right-wing echo chamber was quick to back Palin’s assertion. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said Emanuel’s statement that Barton reflects GOP philosophy “couldn’t be more wrong.” On Fox News this morning, conservative pundit Andrea Tantoros said “Palin is absolutely right” that Emanuel “has not a leg to stand on.” Watch it:
Despite the conservative howls, some in the media havefailed to note that Emanuel’s assertion is evidenced by the Republican Study Committee (RSC). Composed of over 115 Republican congressional members, including House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Chairman of the House Republican Conference Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), the RSC presented a collective view of what it saw as a White House “shakedown”:
BP’s reported willingness to go along with the White House’s new fund suggests that the Obama Administration is hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics. These actions are emblematic of a politicization of our economy that has been borne out of this Administration’s drive for greater power and control. It is the same mentality that believes an economic crisis or an environmental disaster is the best opportunity to pursue a failed liberal agenda. The American people know much better.
If a chorus of over 115 Republican members agreeing with Barton isn’t a reflection of GOP philosophy, what is?
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and member of the RSC, even described how he would put that philosophy into action. As the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent notes, Issa said in a recent speech to fellow conservatives that, were the GOP regain a majority in the House and should he get the power of subpoena, he “won’t use it to have corporate America live in fear that we’re going to subpoena everything. I will use it to get the very information that today the White House is either shredding or not producing.”
From Media Matters
Right-wing media figures have repeatedly claimed that it's "time we stopped blaming Bush" in discussions of the Gulf oil spill. However, under the Bush administration, federal offshore drilling regulators relaxed regulatory standards and were plagued by ethics scandals.
Conservatives say it's "about time we stopped blaming Bush," "ridiculous" and "offensive" to do so
Giuliani: "It's about time we stopped blaming Bush." On the June 17 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Rudy Giuliani said President Obama has "been president now for 18 months" so "it's about time we stopped blaming Bush."
JOE SCARBOROUGH (host): In the role of devil's advocate, we hear that we had the technology to stop this, in 2002, though, Dick Cheney and his energy task force said, no, we're not going to take an extra step.
GIULIANI: I have no -- I have no idea what Dick Cheney did five or six years ago.
SCARBOROUGH: Isn't it important to know?
GIULIANI: Of course it's important to know
SCARBOROUGH: It's part of the story.
GIULIANI: It's important to know as part of the history of this but the reality is, he's been president now for 18 months. It's about time we stopped blaming Bush.
Perino: Democrats are "ridiculous" and "offensive" to lay any blame for oil spill on Bush administration. On June 14 on Fox News' Fox & Friends, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino said that it was "offensive," "small," and "ridiculous" to put any blame for the Gulf oil spill on the Bush administration.
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): So there you have it on the Sunday shows as if the president Bush left yesterday, he's blaming. I mean, does President Bush have to go back, or someone like yourself go back and say what you inherited?
PERINO: Well, you know, we could, but I think that the American people by now they've -- it's gone from being, okay, yeah, we get it, you're blaming them to being ridiculous to now just being offensive and I think they look so small. And I think about those leaders -- they know that that is not true. They know that there are answers to every single one of those things and they chose not to talk about them.
And if you -- if one of those reporters had had the guts to say name one, name one regulatory piece that was repealed during the Bush administration that led to this or that. And instead they don't ask them about their role in the housing crisis or in the banking crisis. And I think I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of Democrats suggesting that we also try to drill for our own resources here in America because we have a national security and national economic security situation when it comes to our oil resources so it's just ridiculous.
KILMEADE: Right. Dana, also there's been at least 30,000 different wells drilled over the last 50 years in the Gulf. There's never been any accidents. Because one happens, it's George Bush's fault?
PERINO: Right. That's why it sounds so ridiculous. And I think, you know, if it was children that parents would fight - you know, children fighting in the back seat of a road trip, I think the parents would finally turn around and say, shut up or we're going to kick you out of the car.
Morris: "What's he going to do, posthumously blame Bush?" In a May 28 interview with Newsmax, Dick Morris responded to the Obama administration noting the lack of oversight of the Bush administration's Minerals Management Service (MMS), which oversees offshore drilling, by asking if Obama would "posthumously blame Bush."
Huckabee: "Next, George Bush will be responsible for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby." In an interview on Fox News' Hannity, Fox News host Mike Huckabee said it was "outrageous" for blame to be laid on the Bush administration for MMS mismanagement, and that "next George Bush will be responsible for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby."
From the June 4 edition of Fox News' Hannity (via Nexis):
TUCKER CARLSON: So, earlier this week, the center for American progress basically the in-house think tank of the Obama administration from which many Obama administration officials have come, issuing a report referring to this oil spill as quote "Dick Cheney's Katrina" and trying to lay the blame, you can imagine, on the now retired former vice president and the reasoning was so tortured and stupid, I won't repeat it here. We are seeing this again and again from the left trying to make this somehow a product of conservatism, this bill.
HUCKABEE: That, to me, is an outrageous, ridiculous approach. I mean, next George Bush will be responsible for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. I mean, where does this stuff stop? You know, at some point is I've been trying to say, Barack Obama bought the cow, it's his to milk. He can no longer blame everything he experiences on George Bush and Dick Cheney and the Republicans. He has a majority in the House. He has it in the Senate. He got the White House, and he's had it for a year and a half. He has to man-up and accept responsibility to be president of the United States.
O'Reilly: "Dishonest" for Democrats to "continue to lay it all on Bush." On the June 14 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly said that "there was not much difference in the Bush oil policy than the Clinton oil policy" and that "there's plenty of blame to go around," so "for the Democrats to continue to lay it all on Bush is flat out dishonest."
From the June 14 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor (via Nexis):
O'REILLY: President Bush did ban drilling off Florida's west coast. And there was not much difference in the Bush oil policy than the Clinton oil policy. Both presidents allowed deep water drilling in some areas, as did President Obama. And Congress went along with it.
So there's plenty of blame to go around. And for the Democrats to continue to lay it all on Bush is flat out dishonest.
Hannity: Chris Dodd has "lost his mind" to blame Bush for spill; "he should keep his opinions to himself." On the May 25 edition of Hannity, host Sean Hannity responded to Sen. Chris Dodd's comments about the Bush administration's role in the mismanagement of MMS by saying "clearly, he lost his mind" and that "maybe a guy like Chris Dodd, who was shamed into retirement and amid the stench of corruption -- maybe he should keep his opinions to himself."
From the May 25 edition of Hannity (via Nexis):
HANNITY: Now that the administration says they're in charge and they own this crisis, I guess that means anything and everything that happens from this moment on is on their watch. They are responsible. They will be held accountable. But at least one Democrat isn't on message and is still blaming all of this, believe it or not, on George W. Bush. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DODD: They come into office a year ago with all of this. And so after the last eight years of...
IMUS: Oh, come on!
DODD: ... a regulatory environment where ... drill, drill, drill. You -- what -- I think you were quoting "Drill, drill drill" a few months ago, weren't you, and Sarah Palin, the two of you? Drill, drill, drill?
IMUS: Now, I wasn't saying it. Don't try to lump me with Sarah Palin. And don't use that lame excuse to me about the Bush administration. Have you lost your mind!
DODD: Not at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: Well, clearly, he lost his mind, and I'm glad Imus was there to call him out on that. Now, maybe a guy like Chris Dodd, who was shamed into retirement and amid the stench of corruption -- maybe he should keep his opinions to himself.
Hannity: "When do we get over this idea that everything" is Bush's fault? Perino: "They can't help themselves" -- "rinse and repeat." Later on the same edition of his Fox News program, Hannity asked Perino: "Eighteen months Barack Obama has been president of the United States. When do we get over this idea that everything is George W. Bush's fault?" She responded, "[T]hey seem that they can't help themselves. Like Chris Dodd, right, like, on the shampoo bottle, it says "rinse and repeat":
From the May 25 edition of Hannity (via Nexis):
HANNITY: Let me deal with the issue of Imus and Chris Dodd. I mean, the economy is Bush's fault. The financial crisis is Bush's fault. The terrorist, you know, watch list is Bush's fault. Everything is Bush's fault. Eighteen months Barack Obama has been president of the United States. When do we get over this idea that everything is George W. Bush's fault?
PERINO: Well, they seem that they can't help themselves. Like Chris Dodd, right, like, on the shampoo bottle, it says "rinse and repeat"...
(LAUGHTER)
PERINO: That's all they do. It's, like, over and over and over again. And it's a common response.
Weasel Zippers: Every time a Democrat engages in "blame-Bush nonsense" then "we get one free shot to the face." Conservative blog Weasel Zippers responded to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) noting MMS deregulation under the Bush administration by saying, "There's only one way to stop this blame-Bush nonsense, every time a Dem does it we get one free shot to the face. I'll do my patriotic duty and volunteer my services."
Andrew Malcolm: Dodd is "eager to spread blame elsewhere."Los Angeles Times blogger and former Laura Bush press secretary Andrew Malcolm responded to Sen. Dodd's comments by saying that "Chris Dodd has been in the U.S. Senate now for five six-year terms and might have been looking into drilling safety precautions instead of special mortgage deals. So he too is eager to spread blame elsewhere."
Radio Equalizer: Progressives have "turned to an old standby: gratuitous Bush-bashing." Brian Maloney, writing at the conservative blog Radio Equalizer, responded to a progressive radio discussion about deregulation of the oil industry by saying that "with Obama's inaction on the rapidly-escalating Gulf oil crisis becoming increasingly clear, his 'progressive' minions have turned to an old standby: gratuitous Bush-bashing."
Inspector General reports detail MMS ethics violations during Bush admin.
Inspector General found "a culture where the acceptance of gifts from oil and gas companies were widespread" in Louisiana MMS office under Bush. The Department of Interior's Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated allegations against MMS employees for conduct that "occurred prior to 2007" in the Lake Charles, Louisiana, district, and "found a culture where the acceptance of gifts from oil and gas companies were widespread throughout that office," and that prior to 2007, "receiving gifts such as hunting trips, fishing trips, and meals from oil companies appears to have been a generally accepted practice by MMS inspectors and supervisors in the Gulf of Mexico region." MMS subsequently "provid[ed] additional ethics training to employees."
IG investigation found email porn, illegal drug use at Louisiana MMS office under Bush. The Lake Charles investigation also found that -- in addition to accepting gifts from oil companies-- MMS employees "admitted to using illegal drugs during their employment at MMS," including a clerical worker who said "he had used crystal methamphetamine the night prior to coming to work at MMS," and an inspector who "admitted that he might have been under the influence of the drug at work after using it the day before." Moreover, while reviewing MMS employees' email accounts "from 2005 to 2009," the OIG found "numerous instances of pornography and other inappropriate material on the e-mail accounts of 13 employees, six of whom have resigned."
IG: Bush MMS employee negotiated a job with drilling company while inspecting their platforms. The IG report states that a Lake Charles MMS employee, who now works for the Island Operating Company, an oil and gas production firm, negotiated a job with the company while inspecting IOC platforms.
Source told OIG that some Bush MMS inspectors allowed oil and gas companies to fill out their own inspection forms. From the May 24 report on the Lake Charles MMS office:
Another confidential source told investigators that some MMS inspectors had allowed oil and gas production company personnel located on the platform to fill out inspection forms. The forms would then be completed or signed by the inspector and turned in for review. According to the source, operating company personnel completed the inspection forms using pencils, and MMS inspectors would write on top of the pencil in ink and turn in the completed form.
We reviewed a total of 556 files to look for any alteration of pencil and ink markings, notations, or signatures. We found a small number with pencil and ink variations; however, we could not discern if any fraudulent alterations were present on these forms.
Inspector General: "Culture of ethical failure" at Colorado MMS office under Bush. The Office of Inspector General also issued a report on September 9, 2008, stating that several investigations uncovered a "culture of ethical failure" at the Lakewood, Colorado, MMS office. The report stated that "between 2002 and 2006, nearly 1/3 of the entire RIK [Royalties In Kind] staff socialized with, and received a wide array of gifts and gratuities from, oil and gas companies with whom RIK was conducting official business." In addition, the investigation found a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity in the RIK program - both within the program... and in consort with industry. Internally, several staff admitted to illegal drug use as well as illicit sexual encounters." The report further stated:
Our investigation revealed that many RIK employees simply felt that federal government ethics standards and DOI policies were not applicable to them because of their "unique" role in MMS. When interviewed, many RIK employees said they felt that in order to effectively perform their official duties, they needed to interact in social settings with industry representatives to obtain "market intelligence." Some felt their free attendance at industry functions was an absolute necessity given that it was industry's practice to conduct business over lunch, dinner, and golf outings.
One RIK employee opined that because RIK regularly paid a major producer to transport oil, it was perfectly appropriate for him to attend a "treasure hunt" in the desert with all expenses paid by the producer. Another RIK employee went so far as to say that RIK's goal was to be "part of industry."
In September 2009, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans to end the royalty-in-kind program, which collected royalties in oil and gas, rather than cash.
Under Bush, MMS relaxed oversight of drilling, ignored safety warnings, downplayed oil spill concerns
Bush MMS adopted regulation stating drillers are "in the best position to determine the environmental effects of its proposed activity." The Washington Post reported on May 25 that the actions taken by MMS, "are shaped in part by a 2005 regulation it adopted that assumes oil and gas companies can best evaluate the environmental effects of their operations." The article stated that "[t]he rule governing which information the MMS should receive and review before signing off on drilling plans states: 'The lessee or operator is in the best position to determine the environmental effects of its proposed activity based on whether the operation is routine or non-routine.' " Rolling Stone magazine reported that these "new rules pre-qualified deep-sea drillers" to receive ... an exemption from environmental review," even though such exemptions were "originally intended to prevent minor projects, like outhouses on hiking trails, from being tied up in red tape."
In April 2008, Bush MMS loosened rules requiring blowout plan. The Associated Press reported on May 5 that a "rule change two years ago by the federal agency that regulates offshore oil rigs allowed BP to avoid filing a plan specifically for handling a major spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project." AP further reported: "The MMS rule change, made in April 2008, says that Gulf rig operators are required to file a blowout scenario only if one of five conditions applies. For example, an operator must provide a blowout scenario when it proposes to install a 'surface facility' in water deeper than 1,312 feet. While Deepwater Horizon was operating almost 5,000 feet below the surface, [BP spokesman William] Salvin said the project did not meet the definition of a surface facility. The MMS official agreed."
Bush MMS 2007 environmental impact assessment for BP lease dismissed risk of massive oil spill. The Washington Postreported on May 5: "While the MMS assessed the environmental impact of drilling in the central and western Gulf of Mexico on three occasions in 2007 -- including a specific evaluation of BP's Lease 206 at Deepwater Horizon -- in each case it played down the prospect of a major blowout." The Post stated that "In one assessment, the agency estimated that 'a large oil spill' from a platform would not exceed a total of 1,500 barrels and that a 'deepwater spill,' occurring 'offshore of the inner Continental shelf,' would not reach the coast. In another assessment, it defined the most likely large spill as totaling 4,600 barrels and forecast that it would largely dissipate within 10 days and would be unlikely to make landfall." According to the Times-Picayune, these assessments "paved the way for BP to assert that its plans for drilling in Lease Sale 206 posed no real dangers":
Before the lease of the oilfields in 2008, the MMS wrote a generic Environmental Impact Statement for the entire northern and western Gulf of Mexico that made the catastrophic well blowout that happened April 20 seem like a near impossibility.
MMS produced its blanket Environmental Impact Statement for 11 proposed leases, mostly off the Louisiana and Texas coasts. One of those planned sales was Lease Sale 206, which gave BP the right to drill at what is known as Mississippi Canyon 252 with a Transocean oil rig called Deepwater Horizon.
The MMS assessed everything from the possible impact of noise on marine life to the specific vulnerabilities of sea turtles and sturgeon, but through it all, the agency assumed any oil that might be spilled would be minimal and any leak would be quickly shut off.
The document states that small oil spills and leaks from pipelines and ships are relatively common and have little effect on the environment. In fact, thousands of natural seeps in the sea floor combine to pump much more oil into the Gulf of Mexico each year than the current manmade leak has produced, but they are spread all over the sea in amounts that quickly dissipate, according to the study.
When it comes to the type of oil well blowout that happened April 20, MMS was downright dismissive. The agency determined that fewer than six of every 10,000 wells would have a blowout that caused any oil to spill. Blowouts are "rare events of short duration," the study stated, and "the infrequent subsurface blowout that may occur on the Gulf OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) would have a negligible effect on commercial fishing."
That paved the way for BP to assert that its plans for drilling in Lease Sale 206 posed no real dangers.
Bush MMS failed to respond to 2004 warning about vital piece of blowout preventer.The Wall Street Journalreported on May 3 that "[f]ederal regulators learned in a 2004 study that a vital piece of oil-drilling safety equipment may not function in deep-water seas but did nothing to bolster industry requirements. The equipment, called shear rams, is supposed to seal off out-of-control oil and gas wells by pinching the pipe closed and cutting it." The Journal further reported that "[e]xperts theorize the rams may have failed to work as expected in the Deepwater Horizon disaster."
Bush MMS ignored warnings about faulty cementing in wells. The Associated Press reported on May 24 that numerous MMS reports identified "poor cement job" as the cause of offshore accidents, including incidents that took place in 2005 and 2007, "[y]et federal regulators give drillers a free hand in this crucial safety step." AP noted that rig owner Transocean and "independent experts" have pointed to "faulty cement work" as a possible cause of the blowout, and that new rules "in the works long before the Deepwater Horizon" took effect June 3, which "take a conservative watch-and-wait approach and demand only routines already carried out around the industry: a management program with monitoring and diagnostic testing."
WSJ: In 2003, Bush MMS decided not to require last-resort shut-off device. ABC News reported on April 30 that in 2000 MMS "issued a safety alert that called added layers of backup 'an essential component of a deepwater drilling system.'" However, according to the Wall Street Journal, "The industry argued against" mandating a remote-control shut-off switch that serves as "last-resort protection against underwater spills," and "[b]y 2003, U.S. regulators decided remote-controlled safeguards needed more study. A report commissioned by the Minerals Management Service said 'acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly.'" The Journal noted that the Deepwater Horizon rig did not have a remote-control device, which is required "in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil," and that "[i]ndustry consultants and petroleum engineers said that an acoustic remote-control may have been able to stop the well, but too much is still unknown about the accident to say that with certainty."
NPR similarly reported that Michael Saucier, MMS regional director in New Orleans, said at a hearing, "I think it was around 2001, there were some draft rules concerning secondary control systems for BOP stacks, and those rules were then sent up to headquarters to continue through the process." The NPR report goes on to state, "But what came back from headquarters were not rules, he said, just notices that 'highly encouraged' companies to use the backup systems. 'There is no enforcement on it,' he said."
Bush MMS reportedly suppressed scientists' concerns about environmental impact of spills in Alaska. A June 6 Denver Postarticle reported that an MMS office in Alaska rejected a 2006 analysis conducted by a biologist, which stated that a large oil spill could significantly harm fish populations. The analysis, which would have "required MMS to conduct a more detailed environmental impact statement before auctioning leases in the Beaufort Sea," was rewritten after a supervisor told the biologist that his analysis would cause a "delay in sale 202. That would, as you can imagine, not go over well with HQ and others." The Denver Post further reported, "Concerns raised by another MMS biologist, James Wilder, that the impact on polar bears was not adequately addressed in Shell's Alaska exploration plan, also were rebuffed, according to e-mails."
Bush administration promoted offshore drilling, sought to expand it
Bush MMS reports touted importance of offshore drilling. Bush's MMS released a report in 2004 -- titled Deep Water: Where the Energy Is -- that stated, "our best source of new domestic energy resources lies in the deep water Gulf of Mexico and other frontier areas." MMS reported that due to "declining production" in "near-shore, shallow waters" in the Gulf of Mexico, "energy companies have focused their attention on oil and gas resources in water depths of 1,000 feet and beyond." MMS estimated that "the deep water regions of the Gulf of Mexico may contain 56 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or enough to meet U.S. demand for 7-1/2 years at current rates." Bush's MMS also released a 2008 report titled Deepwater Gulf of Mexico 2008: America's Offshore Energy Future.
Bush asked Congress to ease ban on offshore drilling. In a June 18, 2008, speech, President Bush said "First, we should expand American oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS. Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil." In the September 6, 2008, presidential radio address, Bush said: "Congress should open the way for environmentally responsible offshore exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf. Experts believe that these areas could eventually produce nearly 10 years' worth of America's current annual oil production."
Bush issued executive order to end ban on offshore drilling. In a June 14, 2008, speech, President Bush announced the executive order he had issued to end the prohibition on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf: "So today, I've issued a memorandum to lift the executive prohibition on oil exploration in the OCS. With this action, the executive branch's restrictions on this exploration have been cleared away." Bush's executive order was meant to prompt congressional action needed to fully rescind the ban, and he noted, "This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress."
From Media Matters
In extensive June 17 interviews on Fox & Friends and MSNBC's Morning Joe, Rudy Giuliani offered a plethora of falsehoods on President Obama's handling of crises. The media's use of Giuliani as a credible crisis management expert belies his history of falsehoods and the criticism of his performance before, during, and after the 9-11 attacks.
Claim: Obama "waited 50 days, 55 days to really begin" responding to Gulf oil spill
From the June 17 edition of Fox & Friends:
GIULIANI: The government has played a big role in letting us down here as well. And who the heck is -- you know, criticizing President Obama, President Obama's response? I mean, the president waited 50 days, 55 days to really begin a resp--he told us in his speech that the federal government was in charge from the very beginning.
Fact: Timeline of events indicates Obama administration responded almost immediately to the spill. As Media Matters for America has documented, the Coast Guard began responding to the spill hours after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded at 10 p.m. on April 20. Obama was briefed on the incident and dispatched officials to the region the next day.
Claim: Obama should have "assembled a team" from "the big companies" to provide "second opinion" on spill
From the June 17 edition of Fox & Friends:
GIULIANI: The president's never assembled a team that really can act as a counter to BP. That's what he should have done from the very beginning. If I were handling this crisis, if someone who had any experience in crisis management were handling this crisis, the first thing you would have done is you would have gone to Exxon, Shell, the big companies--
STEVE DOOCY (co-host): People who do that stuff every day.
GIULIANI: Yeah, and I'd have somebody conduct a search, who's the best at this? Who has done this five times before? Like when you look for a surgeon, who's the best at heart surgery? Get em, put a team together, and let them look over everything BP is doing and independently advise me, are they making the right decision or the wrong decision?
From the June 17 edition of Morning Joe:
GIULIANI: The first thing I would have done is to bring in experts from the industry who are an independent source of advice for me. I met with some of the industry --
JOE SCARBOROUGH (co-host): The president didn't do that?
GIULIANI: Two days ago, I had dinner in Houston with several people who are top people in the industry. Never reached out, never asked, "Gee, has Shell done this before? Has Exxon done this before?" If your father or mother were sick, you would go get a second opinion from an expert doctor, not from an academician, which is what he did.
Fact: The oil spill response plans for all five major oil companies drilling in the Gulf were reportedly written by the same "tiny" consulting firm. According to a June 16 Washington Post report, "the same tiny Texas subcontractor" authored the Gulf spill response plans for BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Shell Oil, and ExxonMobil. The Post further reported that all five plans rely on "the same reassuring language," that three of the plans listed the phone number of a deceased marine science expert, and that four of the plans included provisions to protect walruses, which "have not called the Gulf of Mexico home for 3 million years." In congressional testimony, the CEOs of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips acknowledged that these flaws were an "embarrassment."
Fact: ExxonMobil's CEO acknowledged that "we are not well equipped to handle" major spills. In testimony before the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee on June 15, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson stated repeatedly that his company is "not well-equipped to handle" major oil spills.
Claim: BP was only drilling "out there" because "environmentalists have prevented us from drilling closer"
From the June 17 edition of Fox & Friends:
GIULIANI: The only reason they were drilling, according to the president, out there in deep water is because of our addiction to oil.
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): And that is totally --
GIULIANI: Totally untrue. The reason they are drilling out there is because environmentalists have prevented us from drilling closer and in other places like ANWR.
GRETCHEN CARLSON (co-host): Right, which is a very interesting point.
GIULIANI: That's the honest point, rather than the, rather than the let's take advantage of any crisis kind of point.
Fact: Bush MMS said "remarkable increase" in deep-water drilling due in part to "finding of reservoirs with high production wells." According to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS): "The deepwater portion of Gulf of Mexico has shown a remarkable increase in oil and gas exploration, development and production. In part this is due to the development of new technologies reducing operational costs and risks, as well as the finding of reservoirs with high production wells."
Fact: Bush MMS reported that the "best source of new domestic energy resources lies in the deep water Gulf of Mexico." In a 2004 report -- titled Deep Water: Where the Energy Is -- the MMS stated that "our best source of new domestic energy resources lies in the deep water Gulf of Mexico and other frontier areas." MMS reported that due to "declining production" in "near-shore, shallow waters" in the Gulf of Mexico, "energy companies have focused their attention on oil and gas resources in water depths of 1,000 feet and beyond." MMS estimated that "the deep water regions of the Gulf of Mexico may contain 56 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or enough to meet U.S. demand for 7-1/2 years at current rates."
Fact: Bush MMS reported deepwater drilling is "America's Offshore Energy Future," "significant proved reserves" discovered in recent years. In a 2008 report titled "Deepwater Gulf of Mexico 2008: America's Offshore Energy Future, MMS reported:
The deepwater GOM has contributed major additions to the total reserves in the GOM. Figure 40 shows the proved reserves added each year by water-depth category. Additions from the shallow waters of the GOM declined in recent years but, beginning in 1975, the deepwater area started contributing significant new reserves. Between 1975 and 1983, the majority of these additions were from discoveries in slightly more than 1,000 ft (305 m) of water. It was not until 1985 that major additions came from water depths greater than 1,500 ft (457 m). From 1998 to 2001, significant proved reserves were added in the 5,000- to 7,499-ft (1,524- to 2,286-m) water depth range. The year 2002 saw the first substantial addition from water depths greater than 7,500 ft (2,286 m).
Fact: NY Times reported BP discovery of "giant oil field" in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico indicated area was "probably the most promising area in United States-controlled territory." A September 2, 2009, New York Times article reported that "BP announced on Wednesday the discovery of what it characterized as a giant oil field several miles under the Gulf of Mexico," which the Times stated "was another indication that the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico are probably the most promising area in United States-controlled territory to bolster domestic oil production." The Times further credited BP's deep-water rigs with having "stabilized domestic production after almost two decades of yearly decline."
Fact: Transocean issued a report in February 2010 showing "significant quarterly revenue" from its deepwater rigs. A May 27 backgrounder issued by the Council on Foreign Relations reported that in February, Transocean Ltd. -- which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig -- "posted significant quarterly revenue from its ultra-deepwater rigs, while revenue from its shallow-water rigs declined." CFR further reported that "nearly half Transocean's shallow-water rigs have been idle, while its ultra-deepwater rigs were booked through the end of the year." CFR credited the surge in deepwater drilling to the fact that it "just started becoming economically profitable and technically feasible on a large scale."
Claim: Obama wasn't "held to account" for handling of "the Christmas almost-bomber" the way Bush would have been
Giuliani: If Bush had Mirandized the alleged Christmas Day bomber and waited several days to comment on the attack, he would have been criticized by the media. From the June 17 edition of Fox & Friends:
GIULIANI: One of the problems that President Obama has had is, he's never been really held to account the way other presidents have. If he had been held to account for the Christmas bombing, and his dilatory conduct with regard to that, his remaining on vacation, all the mistakes they made, 'the system worked,' all that stuff, given him Miranda warnings, you know, eleven days of remaining on vacation, he might have been, he might have, he might have awakened in time to realize, a president's gotta jump on top of this.
[...]
GIULIANI: They caught him on Christmas morning, the president's on vacation, the president remains on vacation for 11 days, doesn't respond for three days, this is, this is a dilatory response that I think if it had been President Bush, the media would have come down on him like cats and dogs.
Fact: Bush waited six days after 2001 attempted shoe bombing before commenting publicly. On December 22, 2001, after Richard Reid attempted to light a fuse in his shoes while aboard a U.S.-bound American Airlines international flight, the passengers and flight crew were able to restrain him and foil the plot. Bush first mentioned Reid on December 28, 2001 -- six days after Reid's attempted bombing -- during a press conference in Crawford, Texas.
Fact: Bush remained on two-week vacation at Camp David and at his Texas ranch after shoe bomber attack. According to announcements from the Office of the Press Secretary (accessed via Nexis), Bush arrived at Camp David on December 22, 2001, and then traveled to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, on December 26. The New York Times reported on December 31: "Last week, the president arrived at the ranch after Christmas at Camp David and has since been running, fishing, clearing brush, watching University of Texas football, reading a biography of Theodore Roosevelt and getting in a 'little chain-saw work,' as he put it at his news conference." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported (accessed via Nexis) on January 6, 2002, that Bush would return to the White House on January 7, 2002
Fact: Wash. Times reported in January 2002 that "Critics find little to carp about with Bush vacation." Bill Sammon wrote in a January 4, 2002, Washington Times article that "Democrats and journalists" had not criticized Bush for taking the vacation and quoted Leon Panetta who said of Bush, "No matter where you're at, you're going to find yourself preoccupied with the job of being president ... It's not like he's sitting in a rocking chair."
Fact: Politico contrasted Bush and Obama responses and reported "[T]here were virtually no complaints from the press or any opposition Democrats that [Bush's] response was sluggish or inadequate." In a December 29, 2009, article, headlined "President Obama takes the heat President Bush did not," Politico reported that "it was six days before President George W. Bush, then on vacation, made any public remarks about the so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, and there were virtually no complaints from the press or any opposition Democrats that his response was sluggish or inadequate." Politico added: "That stands in sharp contrast to the withering criticism President Barack Obama has received from Republicans and some in the press for his reaction to Friday's incident on a Northwest Airlines flight heading for Detroit."
Fact: During Bush administration, shoe bomber was also read his Miranda rights. According to news reports, attempted shoe bomber Richard Reid was read his rights shortly after his 2001 arrest and the investigation into Reid's crimes was handled by the FBI and federal prosecutors.
Claim: Unlike Bush and Giuliani, Obama "was off on vacation twice" during a crisis
From the June 17 edition of Morning Joe:
GIULIANI: [I]f this is job number one, which I don't think it was, because the president was off on vacation twice during all of this. If this were job number one--
SCARBOROUGH: Did you go on vacation as the mayor?
GIULIANI: Did I go on vacation as the mayor? No.
SCARBOROUGH: Isn't that a cheap shot?
GIULIANI: No, it is not a cheap shot.
SCARBOROUGH: You never went on vacation?
GIULIANI: Not in the middle of a crisis, I didn't.
SCARBOROUGH: Ronald Reagan went on vacation.
GIULIANI: Not in the middle of a crisis he didn't.
SCARBOROUGH: George W. Bush went on vacation.
GIULIANI: Not in the middle of a crisis. This is the second time the president has done that, and I resent it. On Christmas Day, when we had the Christmas bombing, he was on vacation --
SCARBOROUGH: It was Christmas.
GIULIANI: -- remained on vacation for 11 days.
GIULIANI: He's the president of the United States.
SCARBOROUGH: They've got microphones in Chicago.
GIULIANI: On Christmas evening, the first year I was the mayor, I left my house and I went to the hospital, and I spent five hours there, because I was the mayor of New York City, and I should be on the spot, taking charge of something from the very beginning.
This has been a gross failure in crisis management. Could not have done it worse. And you shouldn't be on vacation when a crisis is affecting the country.
Fact: Obama visited Asheville in April and Chicago in May. The Obamas visited Asheville, North Carolina, the weekend of April 23. During that trip, Obama eulogized the 29 workers killed in the West Virginia mine explosion and "met with the workers' families privately before the ceremony," according to CNN. During Memorial Day weekend, Obama traveled to Chicago and was scheduled to deliver his Memorial Day address at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. Due to a thunderstorm, he spoke at Andrews Air Force Base instead.
Fact: Bush vacationed during aftermath of Katrina. In the two months after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, Bush reportedly made at least three separate weekend trips to the presidential retreat at Camp David. Bush visited the Camp David retreat in September 2005 and again during two weekends in October 2005. Three months after the hurricane, news outlets reported that hundreds of thousands of people were "still at loose ends in provisional housing -- many in isolated trailer parks"; "thousands of people were "still unaccounted for"; and "[m]ore than 80 percent of New Orleans's population has not been able to return home."
Fact: Giuliani reportedly spent more time at Yankees games than at ground zero following the 9-11 attacks. In an August 18, 2007, Salon.com article, Alex Koppelman examined Giuliani's schedule in the 90 days following the World Trade Center attacks and found: "By our count, Giuliani spent about 58 hours at Yankees games or flying to them in the 40 days between Sept. 25 and Nov. 4, roughly twice as long as he spent at ground zero in the 90 days between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16."
Claim: "It's about time we stopped blaming Bush" for spill
From the June 17 edition of Morning Joe:
SCARBOROUGH: In the role of devil's advocate, we hear that we had the technology to stop this, in 2002, though, Dick Cheney and his energy task force said, no, we're not going to take an extra step.
GIULIANI: I have no -- I have no idea what Dick Cheney did five or six years ago.
SCARBOROUGH: Isn't it important to know?
GIULIANI: Of course it's important to know
SCARBOROUGH: It's part of the story.
GIULIANI: It's important to know as part of the history of this but the reality is, he's been president now for 18 months. It's about time we stopped blaming Bush.
Fact: Bush MMS adopted regulations stating drillers are "in the best position to determine the environmental effects of its proposed activity." The Washington Post reported on May 25 that the actions taken by MMS "are shaped in part by a 2005 regulation it adopted that assumes oil and gas companies can best evaluate the environmental effects of their operations." The article stated that "[t]he rule governing which information the MMS should receive and review before signing off on drilling plans states: 'The lessee or operator is in the best position to determine the environmental effects of its proposed activity based on whether the operation is routine or non-routine.'" Rolling Stone magazine reported that these "new rules pre-qualified deep-sea drillers" to receive an "exemption from environmental review," even though such exemptions were "originally intended to prevent minor projects, like outhouses on hiking trails, from being tied up in red tape."
Fact: In April 2008, Bush MMS loosened rules requiring blowout plan. The Associated Press reported on May 5 that "A rule change two years ago by the federal agency that regulates offshore oil rigs allowed BP to avoid filing a plan specifically for handling a major spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project." AP further reported: "The MMS rule change, made in April 2008, says that Gulf rig operators are required to file a blowout scenario only if one of five conditions applies. For example, an operator must provide a blowout scenario when it proposes to install a 'surface facility' in water deeper than 1,312 feet. While Deepwater Horizon was operating almost 5,000 feet below the surface, [BP spokesman William] Salvin said the project did not meet the definition of a surface facility. The MMS official agreed."
Fact: Bush MMS 2007 environmental impact assessment for BP lease dismissed risk of massive oil spill. The Washington Post reported on May 5: "While the MMS assessed the environmental impact of drilling in the central and western Gulf of Mexico on three occasions in 2007 -- including a specific evaluation of BP's Lease 206 at Deepwater Horizon -- in each case it played down the prospect of a major blowout." The Post stated that "In one assessment, the agency estimated that 'a large oil spill' from a platform would not exceed a total of 1,500 barrels and that a 'deepwater spill,' occurring 'offshore of the inner Continental shelf,' would not reach the coast. In another assessment, it defined the most likely large spill as totaling 4,600 barrels and forecast that it would largely dissipate within 10 days and would be unlikely to make landfall." According to the Times-Picayune, these assessments "paved the way for BP to assert that its plans for drilling in Lease Sale 206 posed no real dangers."
Fact: Bush MMS failed to respond to 2004 warning about vital piece of blowout preventer. The Wall Street Journal reported on May 3 that "[f]ederal regulators learned in a 2004 study that a vital piece of oil-drilling safety equipment may not function in deep-water seas but did nothing to bolster industry requirements. The equipment, called shear rams, is supposed to seal off out-of-control oil and gas wells by pinching the pipe closed and cutting it." The Journal further reported that "[e]xperts theorize the rams may have failed to work as expected in the Deepwater Horizon disaster."
Fact: Bush MMS ignored warnings about faulty cementing in wells. The Associated Press reported on May 24 that numerous MMS reports identified a "poor cement job" as the cause of many offshore accidents, including incidents that took place in 2005 and 2007, "[y]et federal regulators give drillers a free hand in this crucial safety step." AP noted that rig owner Transocean and "independent experts" have pointed to "faulty cement work" as a possible cause of the blowout, and that new rules "in the works long before the Deepwater Horizon" took effect June 3, which "take a conservative watch-and-wait approach and demand only routines already carried out around the industry: a management program with monitoring and diagnostic testing."
Fact: WSJ reported that in 2003, Bush MMS decided not to require last-resort shut-off device. ABC News reported on April 30 that in 2000 MMS "issued a safety alert that called added layers of backup 'an essential component of a deepwater drilling system'." However, according to the Wall Street Journal, "The industry argued against" mandating a remote-control shut-off switch that serves as "last-resort protection against underwater spills," and "[b]y 2003, U.S. regulators decided remote-controlled safeguards needed more study. A report commissioned by the Minerals Management Service said 'acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly'." The Journal noted that the Deepwater Horizon rig did not have a remote-control device, which is required "in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil," and that "[i]ndustry consultants and petroleum engineers said that an acoustic remote-control may have been able to stop the well, but too much is still unknown about the accident to say that with certainty."
NPR similarly reported that Michael Saucier, MMS regional director in New Orleans, said at a hearing, "I think it was around 2001, there were some draft rules concerning secondary control systems for BOP stacks, and those rules were then sent up to headquarters to continue through the process." The NPR report goes on to state, "But what came back from headquarters were not rules, he said, just notices that 'highly encouraged' companies to use the backup systems. 'There is no enforcement on it,' he said."
Fact: Bush MMS reportedly suppressed scientists' concerns about environmental impact of spills in Alaska. A June 6 Denver Post article reported that an MMS office in Alaska rejected a 2006 analysis conducted by a biologist, which stated that a large oil spill could significantly harm fish populations. The analysis, which would have "required MMS to conduct a more detailed environmental impact statement before auctioning leases in the Beaufort Sea," was rewritten after a supervisor told the biologist that his analysis would cause a "delay in sale 202. That would, as you can imagine, not go over well with HQ and others." The Denver Post further reported, "[c]oncerns raised by another MMS biologist, James Wilder, that the impact on polar bears was not adequately addressed in Shell's Alaska exploration plan, also were rebuffed, according to e-mails."
Claim: Obama waited "55 days" before he appointed "someone to deal with" the oil spill
From the June 17 edition of Morning Joe:
GIULIANI: They haven't put a team together, and that's obvious. What is the team? He took until two days ago to appoint another czar. I mean, 55 days into this and you finally appoint someone to deal with it? 50 -- And he's had 55 days to deal with it.
Fact: Adm. Allen was appointed National Incident Commander on May 1. While Obama announced on June 15 that he had directed Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to develop a "long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan," a May 1 press release from the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command stated that "U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen will serve as the National Incident Commander for the administration's continued, coordinated response -- providing additional authority and oversight in leveraging every available resource to respond to the BP oil spill and minimize the associated environmental risks." The release further stated that "Admiral Allen has overseen Coast Guard efforts since the moment this incident began."
Giuliani has long record of ludicrously false or hypocritical statements
Giuliani falsely claimed that "[w]e had no domestic attacks under Bush." On the January 8 edition of ABC's Good Morning America, Giuliani falsely claimed that "[w]e had no domestic attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama." Giuliani later walked back his blatantly false statement, saying, "I did omit the words 'since September 11th.' I apologize for that. I should have put it in." However, Giuliani continued to ignore several domestic attacks that took place under Bush after 9/11 -- including the 2002 attack at the Los Angeles International Airport, the 2002 DC-area sniper shootings, and the 2006 SUV attack at the University of North Carolina. Giuliani also dismissed the 2001 anthrax attacks, which were characterized by John Ashcroft as "a terrorist act," because, Giuliani said, "as far as we know, that was not done in the name of Islamic terrorism."
Giuliani attacked KSM's civilian trial after lauding Moussaoui's. On the November 13, 2009, edition of Fox News' Your World, Giuliani criticized the Obama administration's decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) in the U.S. criminal justice system in New York City as a "terrible, terrible mistake" because KSM "should be prosecuted in a military tribunal." But in 2006, Giuliani reportedly praised the federal trial of Zacarias Moussaoui -- who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- of which he said: "It does demonstrate that we can give people a fair trial, that we are exactly what we say we are. We are a nation of law."
Giuliani falsely claimed Obama never said "war" in his State of the Union. In a January 28 Fox & Friends appearance, Giuliani falsely claimed that President Obama "didn't mention the word 'war' " in his State of the Union address. In fact, Obama made at least seven mentions of the word "war," including calling for the U.S. military to "have the resources they need in war," adding that "we all have a responsibility to support them when they come home."
Giuliani's performance before, during, and after the 9-11 attacks was criticized
Giuliani reportedly placed emergency command center in WTC despite warnings it was "number one" terrorist target. Giuliani has received criticism for selecting 7 World Trade Center -- which collapsed during the 9-11 attacks -- as the site of his emergency command center. In their book, Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 (HarperCollins, August 2006), Village Voice senior editor Wayne Barrett and co-author Dan Collins wrote that the site was chosen after Giuliani "overruled" warnings from former police commissioner Howard Safir and NYPD chief operating officer Lou Anemone not to locate it there, "[r]ejecting an already secure, technologically advanced city facility across the Brooklyn Bridge" because Giuliani "insisted on a command center within walking distance of City Hall." In an August 7, 2007, Village Voice article, Barrett reported that Anemone "had done a detailed vulnerability study of the city for Giuliani, pinpointing terrorist targets" and that Anemone says that "[i]n terms of targets, the WTC was number one."
Giuliani failed to ensure New York police and fire departments had interoperable radios. New York City's firefighters have been critical of Giuliani for what they see as his failure to ensure that the New York police and fire departments had interoperable radios, with Harold A. Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters [IAFF], reportedly saying of Giuliani: "The whole issue of the radios is unforgivable. ... Everyone knew they needed a better system, and he didn't get it done." At the time of the attacks, the New York fire department was using outdated VHF radios that were incompatible with the police department's UHF radios. In failing to improve the radio system, Giuliani reportedly ignored warnings that followed the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a 1995 sarin-gas drill conducted by New York City officials that the lack of interoperable radios was a problem.
Giuliani reportedly "drew outrage" from first responders by falsely claiming he "was at Ground Zero as often" as "most of the workers." The New York Daily News reported on August 10, 2007, that Giuliani "drew outrage and indignation from Sept. 11 first-responders yesterday by saying he spent as much time -- or more -- exposed to the site's dangers as workers who dug through the debris for the missing and the dead." According to the Daily News, Giuliani stated: "I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers. I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them" On August 17, 2007, The New York Times reported that "for the period of Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001," Giuliani spent "a total of 29 hours" at the WTC ruins "often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble." The Times added that "[i]n that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts."
Giuliani-backed Homeland Security nominee Kerik pled guilty to eight felonies, sentenced to four years in prison. On December 3, 2004, President Bush nominated Bernard Kerik to head the Department of Homeland Security, reportedly after Giuliani had repeatedly made a "personal pitch to the White House" on Kerik's behalf. Giuliani had appointed Kerik New York City Police Commissioner in 2000 -- even after Giuliani was reportedly briefed on Kerik's ties to what the Times described as a company "suspected of links to organized crime" -- and the two were reportedly "literally inseparable on 9/11 and in the months that followed."
On December 10, 2004, Kerik withdrew his nomination. Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson subsequently began investigating Kerik for corruption, resulting in Kerik's 2007 indictment on 16 counts. In 2009, Kerik pleaded guilty to eight felonies, including two counts of tax fraud, one count of making a false statement on a loan application, and five counts of making false statements to the government. The last charges "stemmed from statements Mr. Kerik made to the White House during the vetting process after the Bush administration nominated him to lead the Department of Homeland Security." In 2010, Kerik was sentenced to four years in prison.
Tomorrow, the chief executives of the five big oil companies — including BP’s Tony Hayward — are going to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. According to an e-mail released by that Committee today, a BP drilling engineer warned that the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was a “nightmare well” that had caused the company problems in the past. The e-mail came just six days before the well exploded:
More than five weeks before the disaster, the Deepwater rig was hit by several sudden pulsations of gas called “kicks” and a pipe had become stuck in the well. In fact, the well had to be shut down because of “one intense kick of natural gas.” The blowout preventer was discovered to be leaking fluid three separate times. “As early as June 2009, BP engineers had expressed concerns in internal documents about using certain casings for the well because they violated the company’s safety and design guidelines.”
Despite the serious unanswered questions about the safety of offshore drilling the BP spill has highlighted, a number of prominentconservativeleaders have doubled down on their calls for an immediate expansion of drilling, even before the investigation of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is complete. One such leader is Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R). His state has been hit the hardest by the Gulf spill, yet Jindal wrote a letter to President Obama earlier this month “criticizing his decision to implement a temporary moratorium of deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico” and calling for more drilling now.
In an interview with ThinkProgress this morning, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said Jindal’s call for more dilling in the wake of the disaster would make this his “last term in office,” if he was a West Coast governor:
TP: So I’m curious about your response is to Republicans, conservatives, such as Governor Jindal whose state is clearly being ravaged by the Deepwater Horizon spill, but is still calling for more drilling tomorrow. [...]
MERKLEY: Well I can tell you, if he were governor on the West Coast, it’d be his last term in office. Becasue the senators all came together on the West Coast unanimously — all six, California, Oregon, and Washington — and said that drilling is not in the best interests of our states. … So we don’t want drilling at 30 miles, we don’t want it at 50 miles, we don’t want it at 100 miles, because that oil may end up both foul our commercial fisheries, our ecosystems, and our coastlines, and it’s not a risk worth taking.
Watch it:
Merkley and the five other senators representing the West Coast came together last month to propose legislation that would permanently ban new drilling in the Pacific. They want to restore a moratorium on new leases for offshore drilling in federal waters that was in place from 1981 to 2008. The West Coast has experienced the dangers of massive oil spills first hand. In one of the biggest spills in American history, 200,000 gallons of oil gushed from a well off of Santa Barbara, California for 11 days in 1969. This “environmental nightmare” prompted the congressional moratorium that Merkley and the other senators are trying to reinstate.
ThinkProgress spoke with Merkley before an event at the Center for American Progress on the need to reduce our dependence on oil.
While BP has denied that it is blocking the media from reporting on the Gulf oil spill, numerouspressreports indicate otherwise. Today, while preparing for a Skype chat on his laptop at a public beach in Alabama, ABC News reporter Matt Gutman “was hassled by the manager of a nearby crew, asking Gutman why he was on the beach.” Gutman captured the interaction on video, and said “several people” had asked him “not to talk to any of the workers here”:
BP has said that “anyone on cleanup crews can share their views,” but Gutman and other reporters have found that field managers often prevent workers from doing so. As ThinkProgress noted, BP initially forced workers to sign a contract that explicitly barred them from talking to the media. Though that clause of the contract appears to have been removed due to a lawsuit, workers are clearly still paranoid about talking to the press. One contractor who broke the silence surreptitiously escorted a New York Daily News crew around some of the affected sites, saying he was frustrated with what he deemed the “coverup.” “They specifically informed us that they don’t want these pictures of the dead animals,” he said.
As if the water wasn't deep -- or oily -- enough around British Petroleum's public relations, the company has hired a former spokeswoman for Vice President Dick Cheney to be its public face for the disaster.
Anne Womack Kolton, former head of public affairs at the Department of Energy and Cheney's onetime campaign press secretary, will take the baton from BP this week.
While at Cheney's side, Kolton defended the secrecy of the Vice President's Energy task force, a group which held secretive meetings with energy company executives. When the General Accounting Office -- the research arm of Congress -- sued the Administraton for records relating to Cheney's meetings, Kolton (then Womack) was at his side.
"We are ready to defend our principles in court," she said. "This goes to the heart of the presidency and to the ability of the president and vice president to receive candid, discreet advice."
A blogger at the liberal web site Daily Kos notes that BP was reportedly among one of the companies that Cheney met with.
In 2004, Womack Kolton also drew attention from the left after Cheney made comments suggesting a Democratic victory would precipitate a terrorist attack.
“Whoever is elected in November,” she said, “face[s] the prospect of another terrorist attack. The question is whether or not the right policies are in place to best protect our country. That‘s what the Vice President was saying.”
A Department of Energy press release notes that "Ms. Kolton joined the Bush administration in January 2001 as Assistant Press Secretary in the White House Press Office after serving on the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign as Assistant Press Secretary to then Vice Presidential candidate Dick Cheney."
"Before joining Bush-Cheney 2000," the release continues, "Ms. Kolton was Washington Liaison for Texas Attorney General John Cornyn."
Kolton also appeared in the news when asked for a response about Cheney's apparent difference of opinion with President George W. Bush on the anti-gay marriage amendment.
"The vice president respects the president's right to make that decision," she said.
By Amanda Terkel
Last week, the LA Times reported that local fishermen hired by BP to clean up the Gulf Coast spill had “become ill after working long hours near waters fouled with oil and dispersant.” Especially galling was the fact that one of the fishermen said that the company hadn’t provided them with any protective equipment, like gloves. Now, John Wunstell, Jr., one of the fishermen who became sick with “nosebleeds, an upset stomach, and aches,” is filing a restraining order against BP, citing the
treatment he faced from the company after he went to the hospital:
“At West Jefferson, there were tents set up outside the hospital, where I was stripped of my clothing, washed with water and several showers, before I was allowed into the hospital,” Wunstell said. “When I asked for my clothing, I was told that BP had confiscated all of my clothing and it would not be returned.”
The restraining order requests that BP refrain from “altering, testing or destroying clothing or any other evidence or potential evidence” when workers become ill.
BP CEO Tony Hayward has tried to downplay the sicknesses, attributing them to food poisoning. However, Dr. Michael Osterholm, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, has said that Hayward’s explanation sounds fishy, explaining that the fishermens’ symptoms are more in line with a respiratory illness. On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called on BP to provide treatment for clean-up workers who become sick. (HT: scorpiorising at DailyKos)
Glenn Beck, who repeatedly and angrily tells his alleged persecutors to "leave the families alone," spent a good chunk of his radio program this morning mocking and attacking the intelligence of President Obama's 11-year-old daughter, Malia.
Obama remarked yesterday during his press conference that Malia asked him of the Gulf oil spill: "Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?" Beck, taking off on this, mockingly affected Malia's voice, asking "Daddy" why he "hates black people so much." Then Beck attacked Malia's intelligence, saying: "That's the level of their education, that they're coming to -- they're coming to Daddy and saying, 'Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?' "
This routine continued for several minutes, as Beck and his co-hosts touched on a variety of topics and laughed the entire time, all of it at the expense of an 11-year-old girl.
In discussing how President Obama uses children to shield himself from criticism, I broke my own rule about leaving kids out of political debates. The children of public figures should be left on the sidelines. It was a stupid mistake and I apologize--and as a dad I should have known better.
Transcript below the jump:
BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy? Daddy? Daddy, did you plug the hole yet? Daddy?
PAT GRAY (co-host): (imitating Obama) No I didn't, honey.
BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy, I know you're better than [unintelligible]
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Mm-hmm, big country.
BECK: (imitating Malia) And I was wondering if you've plugged that hole yet.
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Honey, not yet.
BECK: (imitating Malia) Why not, daddy? But daddy--
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Not time yet, honey. Hasn't done enough damage.
BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Not enough damage yet, honey.
BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah?
BECK: (imitating Malia) Why do you hate black people so much?
GRAY: (imitating Obama) I'm part white, honey.
BECK: (imitating Malia) What?
GRAY: (imitating Obama) What?
BECK: (imitating Malia) What'd you say?
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Excuse me?
BECK: (laughing) This is such a ridiculous -- this is such a ridiculous thing that his daughter-- (imitating Malia) Daddy?
GRAY: It's so stupid.
BECK: How old is his daughter? Like, thirteen?
GRAY: Well, one of them's, I think, thirteen, one's eleven, or something.
BECK: "Did you plug the hole yet, daddy?" Is that's their -- that's the level of their education, that they're coming to -- they're coming to daddy and saying 'Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?' " Plug the hole!
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yes, I was doing some deep-sea diving yesterday, and--
BECK: (imitating Malia) Daddy?
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I was doing--
BECK: (imitating Malia) Why--
GRAY: (imitating Obama) Yeah, honey, I'm--
BECK (imitating Malia) Why, why, why, why, do you still let the polar bears die? Daddy, why do you still let Sarah Palin destroy the environment? Why are -- Daddy, why don't you just put her in some sort of a camp?
M.C.L comment: Hey Beck this one is for you:
Beck kid: Daddy I was surfing the internet and there's a blogger in Detroit saying you used to be a drunk, cracked out bastard. Is that true?
Glenn Beck: Honey I used to be a alcoholic and I used to do drugs but that's in my past. But I'm not a bastard.
Beck kid: But daddy he also said you look like a retarded Muppet baby..
Glenn Beck: Hey that's mean.
Beck Kid: He also said when you was on drugs you traded special kind of favors for your drugs.. What were those favors daddy?
GlennBeck: I don't want to talk about it...
Beck kid: He said something about reach-arounds for coke...
Glenn Beck: I don't want to talk about that...
Beck Kid: He also said when you go into bars you try to drink the beer that sometimes spill into ash trays.
Glenn Beck: That was a lucky guess on that socialist communist blogger part...
Beck Kid: Daddy what's a right wing ball sucking douchebag of the fourth degree?
Glenn Beck: I.. I..
Beck kid: He also said the kind of people who watch your show are fat, white racist who have no lives of their own..
Beck kid: He also said if you combine the IQ points of your audience it would be 30 points.
Oil giant BP admitted on Saturday that its fourth attempt to stop the oil leak at the Deepwater Horizon -- known as "top kill" -- has failed.
"I don't think the amount of oil coming out has changed," BP's chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, told reporters. "Just by watching it, we don't believe it's changed."
According to government estimates, between 18 million and 40 million gallons of oil have poured into the Gulf of Mexico since the rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers.
Writing at Business Insider, finance reporter Joe Wiesenthal says BO will likely be "taken off the job" on the oil spill, because of the bad publicity the failed efforts at stopping the leak have given the Obama administration.
Having BP run the show has been a disaster for a couple of reasons. One is that Obama has to defend the company's actions, and two is that BP is HORRIBLE at PR, waiting hours to give updates that everyone is clamoring for. Watch for the military to take over, though using BP's resources and of course BP's dime.
ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS BELOW
Engineers tried Saturday to plug an oil gush spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico after US President Barack Obama visited the disaster area and vowed never to abandon those imperiled by it.
As BP pleaded for patience to allow time for its risky and complex "top kill" to work and plug the massive leak, Obama pledged "to continue to do whatever it takes to help Americans whose livelihoods have been upended by the spill."
The US president, clad in hiking boots and with his sleeves rolled up, ordered the number of workers feverishly trying to contain and clean up the spill along the southern US coastline to be tripled.
He toured an oil-slick blighted Louisiana beach, picking up tar balls to examine them, as he outlined his administration's "historic response" to the disaster which has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
His second trip to the region since an April 20 explosion tore through the Deepwater Horizon rig, 80 kilometers ( 50 miles) off shore, came as experts and residents hold their breath, hoping BP can stop the oil flowing from a fractured pipe.
Government scientists estimate some 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of crude a day have been gushing into the Gulf since the rig sank two days after the blast which killed 11 workers.
"I think the key element here is to exercise patience," said BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles, adding the operation would last another 24 to 48 hours.
The British energy giant is using robotic submarines to pump heavy drilling fluids down the wellhead, hoping to drown the leak long enough to allow engineers to then seal it with cement.
"We'll have periods where we're pumping. We'll have periods where we're monitoring results of that pumping. We'll have periods where we actually pump in this, what we call junk," Suttles said, seeking to allay concerns over why BP had stopped the pumping several times since it began on Wednesday.
The New York Times said Saturday the operation was marked by "an apparent lack of progress," pointing out that officials said they would continue with the process for another 48 hours before giving up and considering other options, including another containment dome to try to capture the oil.
The disaster has already closed stretches of coastal fishing waters, endangering livelihoods which are also dependent on tourism, and threatening a catastrophe for Louisiana marshes, home to many rare species.
"I'm here to tell you that you're not alone. You will not be abandoned. You will not be left behind," Obama promised to local residents. "We are on your side and we will see this through."
He said 20,000 people had already been deployed to contain and clean up the spill, but that he had ordered Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and US Coast Guard chief Admiral Thad Allen to "triple the manpower in places where oil has hit the shore or is within 24 hours of impact."
Allen, who has been charged with overseeing the government's response, said initial signs suggested BP's "top kill" was succeeding.
"They have been able to push the hydrocarbons down with the mud. The real challenge is to put enough into the well to keep the pressure where they can put a cement plug over the top," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Government data released Thursday would mean between 18.6 million gallons and 29.5 million gallons of oil have poured into the Gulf -- far more than the roughly 11 million gallons of crude spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
Amid the environmental catastrophe, there were also growing fears for the health of cleanup workers exposed to the oil and chemical dispersants.
Four more crewmen aboard ships helping burn off surface oil were evacuated to hospital late Friday after falling ill, a day after the US Coast Guard announced that seven workers were evacuated for medical emergencies.
Obama said 910,000 meters (three million feet) of hard boom had already been deployed in an effort to stop the oil spill reaching wetlands and beaches. But he admitted "there's a limited amount" available.
"We're going to try to get more boom manufactured, but that may take some time," he said.
The commander of a federal research ship who has spent five days out at sea on the edges of the slick said a heavy smell of oil hung over the area.
"It's a strong smell out there," said commander Shepard Smith of the Thomas Jefferson, a 204-foot survey vessel. "It smells like freshly creosoted railroad ties."
BP said Friday the oil spill had cost the firm about 930 million dollars, while the company's market value has also dropped by billions.
-- With AFP
This video is from President Obama's tour of Louisiana beaches affected by BP's oil spill, shot May 28, 2010, as snipped by Mediaite.
