Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill I disagree. They really need to clean house there. Under Bush/Cheney MMS was converted from a regulatory body to an oil company assistance service.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill i agree they need to clean house, but they are only going to fire that lady watch, and place the entire blame on her.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill Conspiracy theorists say she was fired because she was going to spill some beans: Members of Congress and President Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and have vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it. Birnbaum was scheduled to testify before the House Appropriations Committee Thursday morning about the oil spill but she will not appear, Fox News has confirmed. Her deputy, Secretary David Hayes will testify in her place alongside Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. :wink:
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill As we suspected, its progrssing but too early to say it has "worked". Appears we'll know something definite today though. Lt. Commander Tony Russell, an aide to Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday that the mud was stopping some oil and gas but had a ways to go before it proved successful. The top kill started Wednesday night and it could be several days before officials know if it is working. "As you inject your mud into it, it is going to stop some hydrocarbons," Russell said. "That doesn't mean it's successful." BP spokesman Tom Mueller also discounted news reports that the top kill had worked. "We appreciate the optimism, but the top kill operation is continuing through the day today — that hasn't changed," he said Thursday morning. "We don't anticipate being able to say anything definitive on that until later today." Gulf oil spill now bigger than Exxon Valdez - Yahoo! News
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill Look higher. Birnbuams boss, Sylvia Baca, the deputy assistant secretary for lands and minerals management is a former BP executive. It's part of the cozy relationship that Interior and MMS officials go back and forth between government regulator and regulated industry executive jobs. Obama gave a good example today. Congress mandates that MMS permits be issued within 30 days. That's not enough time to do an evironmental assessment, so MMS gives their buddies a waiver to be able to abide by the law . . . wink-wink, nudge-nudge, saynomore-saynomore. Just doing what the law says,you know. And why does the law say that? Because the Big Oil lobby in Washington owns the Congress and they wanted it that way. The people will not get back control of their government until corporate donations are eliminated and lobbyists banned from the Hill. Let big business lobby the citizens directly and we'll tell our representatives how to vote!
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill I was listening to WWL yesterday and Garland had on a state rep talking about oil state taxes. He said that in Louisiana "local" oil producers have to pay a 12% state tax WHILE BP and other foreign companys pay ZERO state tax. He is TRYING to pass a bill that will make it 3% across the board. HE IS NOT GETTING VOTES because of the oil companies greasing the pockets of certain politicians. Their excuses for not voting yes (from what the state rep said) was 1. The companies would leave and drill elsewhere 2. The companies would refine in other states The state rep conters with 1. Fine that would allow for more american companies doing business 2. Since there HAS NOT BEEN a NEW refinery built in this country in the last 30 years there is NO OTHER state that can handle the amount of refining that Louisiana does so they dont have a choice of where to bring it. And yet he is still having trouble getting this bill passed.....what I want to know is there a way to find out who is voting NO and make sure when they come up for reelection EVERYONE knows how cozy they are with Big Oil!
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill dont ask for republican help. this will be considered raising taxes.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill Its not over: Setback Delays ?Top Kill? Effort to Seal Leaking Oil Well in Gulf - NYTimes.com
