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This comment still does not explain to me how anybody could have prevented this oil spill from happening,
Environmental groups sued the federal government Tuesday, alleging regulators excused BP PLC (BP) from complying with safety regulations that may have helped prevent the rig explosion and sinking that unleashed a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the Sierra Club and the Gulf Restoration Network allege the Minerals Management Service issued deepwater oil-drilling permits to BP and other companies without requiring "oil-spill response plans" and "blowout scenarios" typically required to show companies can handle drilling accidents. The complaint adds to a growing chorus of criticism that the MMS, a unit of the Department of the Interior, took an increasingly hands-off approach in its regulation of the oil industry. In separate suits, environmental groups alleged MMS illegally excluded exploratory drilling operations from certain environmental laws.
Originally posted by Southern Guardian
I like to know what you think the president could have done to prevent this oil from spreading to the marshlands?
Originally posted by Southern Guardian
I am pritty sure I heard 'Obamas Katrina' come from the mouths of Fox news first. You'd have me believe this is just coincidental. Continue being a parrot if that does you good.
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Originally posted by nixie_nox
Of course you have to let BP lead the efforts, you think the government has oil rigging laying around just in case? What resources does the government have that BP wouldn't, pray tell? Other then engineers.
That's also my question.
What, exactly is Obama supposed to do?
Originally posted by dragonseeker
they're supposed to plan for things like this to happen, because it can happen.
Obama is supposed to use his power as president, during a national emergency, which is what this is, to make things happen.
Let me put this in perspective: this is WORSE than 9/11. the damage to the country is far more severe and long-lasting.
No offense, but that is rather a lazy dismissal of the topic. I do not watch television, so accordingly, I couldn't have borrowed the point from the MSM or Fox News.
Maybe they read my threads.
Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
...I don't know what you expect him to do.
...What kind of power do people think a president has?
Conflict of Interest Worries Raised in Spill Tests
Local environmental officials throughout the Gulf Coast are feverishly collecting water, sediment and marine animal tissue samples that will be used in the coming months to help track pollution levels resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, since those readings will be used by the federal government and courts to establish liability claims against BP. But the laboratory that officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of an oil and gas services company in Texas that counts oil firms, including BP, among its biggest clients.
Some people are questioning the independence of the Texas lab. Taylor Kirschenfeld, an environmental official for Escambia County, Fla., rebuffed instructions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to send water samples to the lab, which is based at TDI-Brooks International in College Station, Tex. He opted instead to get a waiver so he could send his county’s samples to a local laboratory that is licensed to do the same tests.
Mr. Kirschenfeld said he was also troubled by another rule. Local animal rescue workers have volunteered to help treat birds affected by the slick and to collect data that would also be used to help calculate penalties for the spill. But federal officials have told the volunteers that the work must be done by a company hired by BP.
“Everywhere you look, if you look, you start seeing these conflicts of interest in how this disaster is getting handled,” Mr. Kirschenfeld said. “I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but there is just too much overlap between these people.”
JP officials commandeer BP's hired boats in Grand Isle
Jefferson Parish Emergency managers say they have commandeered all of BP's hired boats in Grand Isle.
A representative for Jefferson Parish Emergency chief Deano Bonano said they requested immediate action after oil moved into the marsh passes and onto the beaches in Grand Isle.
He said more than 40 boats were sitting idle while he watched the oil rush into the passes.
At around 5:30 p.m., Jefferson Councilman Chris Roberts confirmed the boats have been commandeered by JP emergency managers.
On Saturday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command told Eyewitness News that the dredging proposal wasn't off the table.
"It's still pending and undergoing federal review," said spokesperson Rob Wyman. "No final decision has been made."
Either way, Nungesser and the Plaquemines Parish Council may move forward on their own with the plan.
Originally posted by loam
Let's be clear. If you're going to cede control and decision-making to a foreign corporation over issues of critical national interest,
and actually help the said corporation to cover-up the details, scale and significance of the crisis,
Be sure to
Originally posted by loam
It is his government, no?
Have we arrived at the point where it's ok to expect the President to be just a figure head with no real power?
Is Obama in control? Or is he not?