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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (87191)	7/7/2010 4:12:18 PM
From: tonto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224735

While advising our government of this, please tell MMS that they are lying too...(g) The federal agency that oversees oil rig safety and leasing of federal lands for drilling has refused to release safety inspection records for Deepwater Horizon in the wake of the explosion that killed 11 people. A federal Mineral Management Service (MMS) spokesperson told CBS News there were 26 government inspections at Deepwater Horizon over the last five years - but there were no "incidents of non-compliance" leaving BP's rig with a spotless record. When CBS News asked to see those inspection reports on April 29th it took the agency a week and a half to decide that the public records could not be released because they were "considered part of an ongoing investigation." An MMS spokesperson said in an email, "we need to scrutinize these documents very carefully to ensure they meet legal standards for release." MMS did not inspect. The inspections were done by independent contractors hired by the drilling contractor.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (87191)	7/7/2010 4:20:33 PM
From: tonto	Respond to of 224735

Though federal regulations require offshore drilling locations to be inspected by the Department of the Interior's Minerals Mining Service every 30 days, those inspections have repeatedly not happened since the Deepwater Horizon site was permitted by MMS in 2001 – including one out of every four months since President Obama's inauguration. ABC News has learned that in the 16 months from January 2009 through April 2010 MMS failed to inspect Deepwater Horizon four times – in May 2009, August 2009, December 2009, and January 2010. The reasons for the lack of inspections, sources said, were logistic. In May and August 2009, the proper twin engine helicopter needed to fly to the Deepwater Horizon site was being serviced. Inclement weather prevented flights to the site for 12 out of 22 work days in December 2009, with maintenance to the helicopter consuming another two days, leaving eight days for the inspection – which was not carried out. The next month, January 2010, inclement weather prevented flights for eight of the 19 work days, with four days impacted because of maintenance. But even in those seven days available, again, the inspection was not carried out. Inspections were carried out in February, March, and April of this year. The lack of regular inspections is not a new development. In the past five years – 60 months -- Deepwater Horizon was inspected 48 times. And in the 104 months since September 2001 when MMS permitted the site, Deepwater Horizon was inspected 88 times. “It is MMS’s goal to inspect drilling rigs on a monthly basis,” an Interior Department official said, “but there are various reasons why a drilling rig may not be inspected every month, such as if helicopters are grounded because of inclement weather or rig inactivity due to hurricanes; if a rig moves between multiple locations in a month; if a rig is on location and preparing to drill, but not actually drilling; or if a rig is at the end of its work on a location but is preparing to move off.”

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (87191)	7/7/2010 4:49:48 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224735

MO sues Fed Gov over healthcare. Dims learn what goes around comes around. stltoday.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (87191)	7/7/2010 6:01:42 PM
From: tonto	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 224735

Even Fewer Deepwater Horizon Inspections Than MMS Claimed Earlier Ooh, this gets uglier and uglier the harder one looks at this. From the Associated Press via ABC (hat tip reader Glenn Stehle): The federal agency responsible for ensuring that an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was operating safely before it exploded last month fell well short of its own policy that inspections be done at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows. Since January 2005, the federal Minerals Management Service conducted at least 16 fewer inspections aboard the Deepwater Horizon than it should have under the policy, a dramatic fall from the frequency of prior years…. The inspection gaps and poor recordkeeping are the latest in a series of questions raised about the agency’s oversight of the offshore oil drilling industry… Earlier AP investigations have shown that the doomed rig was allowed to operate without safety documentation required by MMS regulations for the exact disaster scenario that occurred; that the cutoff valve which failed has repeatedly broken down at other wells in the years since regulators weakened testing requirements; and that regulation is so lax that some key safety aspects on rigs are decided almost entirely by the companies doing the work….. MMS officials offered a changing series of numbers….Even using the more favorable numbers for the most recent 64 months, 25 percent of monthly inspections were not performed.