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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: coug who wrote (80626)	5/29/2010 3:26:27 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 89467

To: coug who wrote (80626)	5/29/2010 3:55:16 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

some comments on BP's tragic Gulf oil spill -- from a poster on The Oil Drum website: theoildrum.com by treeman on May 29, 2010 - 3:25pm Permalink I posted the following on May 2nd. My fear is that I was right. "As bright and knowledgeable as the posters to this site are, and I am impressed almost daily, I don't think any of us can really get a handle on how big a deal this gulf spill is and it's ramifications for the future. I fear this is the blackest of black swan events, and it will affect much more than the gulf and atlantic coasts. The result of man's hubris and misplaced attempt to control his environment. I will send off a prayer today. I'm not thinking that this will end well."

To: coug who wrote (80626)	5/29/2010 4:15:33 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Oil deregulation leaves U.S. helpless in gulf ________________________________________________________________ Editorial The San Francisco Chronicle Friday, May 28, 2010 Weeks after what is now the largest oil spill in U.S. history began to cause damage all along the Gulf Coast, officials and engineers are optimistic that a risky underwater well-plugging measure is working. But what if it's not working? Will the federal government be able to step in and do something else? So far, the answer has been "Not really." And Americans have been shocked. They've been shocked at the environmental devastation, at the impact on the area's already fragile economy and at the sheer length of time it has taken BP, the company that owns the oil well, to come up with a solution. Americans should be shocked by all of this. And then they should pressure Congress to do something about it. The government's startling helplessness in the face of unprecedented disaster is the direct result of our decades of deregulation. We can't take over responsibility for this spill from BP because we have allowed the company to own all the technology that's responsible for it. President Obama knows he can't present the issue to the public in quite this way. As much as they like the idea of deregulation, Americans don't want their government to be powerless in the face of a disaster. So the Obama administration is making a big show of activity. The president has extended a moratorium on new permits for deepwater oil and gas wells for another six months. (What will happen after that is unclear.) He flies to Louisiana today to look at the disaster more closely. He's made some heads roll - S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, director of the highly dysfunctional Minerals Management Service, has resigned at the request of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. We're still awaiting news of any resignations at BP, and that's perhaps a demonstration of the problem. BP didn't perform full testing to ensure that the oil well had been installed correctly. For weeks after the spill, BP was allowed to get away with minimizing the actual amount of the spill. The company has been allowed to use chemical dispersants that conveniently make it harder to track the amount of oil but might have devastating effects on the ecosystem. With this track record, why should we trust this company with the cleanup? We'll have to trust it because we don't have much choice. Some laws still keep federal regulators from having comprehensive oversight of the oil industry. Congress no doubt will drag BP to Washington for hearings, but the effort will be wasted unless members find the courage to attack the heart of the problem. BP started this mess. The government needs to accept that its role is to finish it.