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

To: stockman_scott who wrote (80723)	6/1/2010 5:39:28 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Respond to of 89467

No End In Sight: Gulf Oil Spill an Uncontrolled Disaster for BP, Obama Posted Jun 01, 2010 01:14pm EDT by Heesun Wee in Investing, Commodities, Recession, Politics Related: BP, RIG, HAL, USO, XOM, OIL, XLE As public outcry intensifies over the BP oil spill, WSJ op-ed writer Peggy Noonan penned a timely piece over the weekend titled: "He Was Supposed to Be Competent." The "he" refers to President Obama and how his lackluster initial response has turned into a political disaster for the president. With the "top kill" operation declared a failure over the weekend, BP again is trying to divert the oil leak with a dome. "The Gulf of Mexico has been defouled and it's going to take years, if not decades, to clean it up," Aaron tells Henry in the accompanying segment. It's a disaster for BP and its shares, which continued to plummet Tuesday. The stock has lost more than a third of its market value, or about $67 billion (and counting), in six weeks, Reuters reports. As Henry and Aaron discuss, where were the contingency plans? "It's as if this kind of accident" was inconceivable," Henry says. While there was a similar spill in the Yucatan off Mexico in 1979, that accident occurred in shallow waters unlike BP's current deepwater oil disaster. BP CEO, MMS in the Hot Seat Several senators have asked the Justice Department to determine whether any laws were broken in the BP spill, the NYT reports. Faced with mounting criticism, BP CEO Tony Hayward tried to calm the growing public outcry over the uncontained leak. And the bad news keeps coming. Also in the hot seat: the U.S. Minerals Management Service. WSJ also reported the federal government quickly revised permits prior to the April 20 blast that killed 11 people. "The unusual rapid-fire requests to modify permits reveal that BP was tweaking a crucial aspect of the well's design up until its final days," according to The WSJ. The drilling program was changing constantly prior to the explosion, according to workers quoted in the story. Today also marks the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season, which is forecast to be busy this year. Meanwhile, a lasting solution for the leak still may be months away. finance.yahoo.com