Tell us again how safe offshore platform drilling is!
Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee falsely claimed "not one drop of oil was spilled" during Hurricane Katrina
Summary: On Fox & Friends, Mike Huckabee falsely asserted, "When Katrina, a Cat-5 hurricane, hit the Gulf Coast, not one drop of oil was spilled off of those rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico."
In fact, according to a report prepared for the federal government by an international consulting firm, damages related to Hurricane Katrina resulted in 70 spills from outer continental shelf structures with a total volume of approximately 11,104 barrels of oil and petroleum products.
During the June 27 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who recently joined Fox News as a contributor, falsely asserted, "When Katrina, a Cat-5 hurricane, hit the Gulf Coast, not one drop of oil was spilled off of those rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico." In fact, according to a 2007 report prepared for the U.S. Minerals Management Service by the international consulting firm Det Norske Veritas, damage related to Hurricane Katrina resulted in 70 spills from outer continental shelf structures with a total volume of approximately 11,104 barrels of oil and petroleum products, including damage to 27 platforms and rigs that resulted in the spilling of approximately 3,433 barrels of petroleum products and 2,252 barrels of crude oil and compensate. Damage to 43 pipelines resulted in the spilling of approximately 5,419 barrels of oil and petroleum products.
Further, regarding the combined impacts of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on outer continental shelf structures in the Gulf of Mexico, the report stated, "124 spills were reported with a total volume of roughly 17,700 barrels of total petroleum products." The report further noted that "about 13,200 barrels were crude oil and condensate from platforms, rigs and pipelines, and 4,500 barrels were refined products from platforms and rigs."
From the June 27 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Meanwhile, the guy whose ID is activated with Fox News -- it's former Arkansas governor, Fox News contributor, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Governor, what do you -- where do you think John McCain's going with his energy policy? I have a hunch that within two weeks, if he's gonna come off and say, "Let's drill here" -- come off one policy -- why not go the rest of the way and say, "Let's go to ANWR," because emergency is -- this is an emergency situation?
HUCKABEE: Well, I think the policy is emerged, and he realizes that we are in a crisis situation. When fuel gets this high, every -- it's not just the airline tickets, it's the jobs that go with it. It's the price of bread and milk --
KILMEADE: Yep.
HUCKABEE: -- and eggs on the shelf. Everything is going up. But people's wages aren't going up to meet it. And we've got to do something other than just wring our hands and say, "How much do the Saudis want for us to pay?" And so drilling in ANWR makes a lot of sense.
I've been to ANWR. That can be done without taking a major footprint out of the reserve and making a big dent. There's not the environmental passions --
KILMEADE: Did you tell him this, Governor? You guys are buddies.
HUCKABEE: Yeah, you know, I mean, I think it's a matter that there are a lot of people very passionate about not wanting to do anything in ANWR or the outer continental shelf. But I'll give you a great reminder. When Katrina, a Cat-5 hurricane, hit the Gulf Coast, not one drop of oil was spilled off of those rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico. So we know that the technology to drill offshore is extraordinarily safe and environmentally friendly. And it's not something that we have to be as worried about as we do a refinery on shore or some other type of issue.
DAVE BRIGGS (guest host): Governor, the strategy has been set for how they're going to go after Barack Obama. Paint him as a guy who makes decisions based out of political expediency, a guy that can flip-flop, a typical politician. Does the gun legislation, the ruling by the Supreme Court, really give the Republican Party an opportunity?
—J.H.
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