Move on obama

[Flatrater]

Give it up you lost.

http://www.newpatriotjournal.com/Art...illing_to_Coun

[MagicRat]

Link does not seem to work

[Flatrater]

Obama Administration Issues New Moratorium on Offshore Oil Drilling to Counter Judge Ruling

Written By: Guest Contributor
Published: 7/12/2010



Reprinted from FoxNews.com
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration issued a new moratorium Monday on deep-water offshore drilling that is no longer based on water depth and stresses new evidence of safety problems, hoping the revised ban will pass muster with the courts after the initial one was rejected.
"More than 80 days into the BP oil spill, a pause on deep-water drilling is essential and appropriate to protect communities, coasts, and wildlife from the risks that deep-water drilling currently pose," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in announcing the new moratorium. "I am basing my decision on evidence that grows every day of the industry's inability in the deep-water to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill, and to operate safely."
The new moratorium was panned by industry groups and supported by environmentalists.
Last week, a federal appeals court rejected the government's effort to restore its initial offshore deep-water drilling moratorium, which was issued after the catastrophic Gulf oil spill in April. The moratorium was blocked first last month by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman.
The Justice Department said Monday that it will file a motion with the U.S. District Court seeking a dismissal of that case, because the old moratorium is no longer operative, making the challenge moot. The department also will ask the appeals court to set aside Feldman's order of last month.

The Interior Department said that like the original ban, this one applied to most deep-water drilling activities. The department also said the suspensions in the new moratorium "are the product of a new decision by the secretary and new evidence regarding safety concerns, blowout containment shortcomings within the industry, and spill response capabilities that are strained by the BP oil spill."
The new moratorium also establishes a process to gather and analyze new information on safety and response issues, which could allow for identifying conditions to resume certain deep-water drilling activities. Unlike the last moratorium, which applied to waters of more than 500 feet (150 meters), the new one applies to any deep-water floating facility with blowout preventers.
The National Ocean Industries Association, an industry trade group for offshore production, said that while the new moratorium does not apply to anchored facilities using surface blowout preventers, "such facilities are generally used in shallow water, which makes the new suspension glaringly similar, if not even more restrictive than the original moratorium. It is not immediately clear how many facilities will be impacted."
In a Question & Answer document, the Interior Department said any count represents a snapshot in time. The document said that at the time of the BP spill, there were 36 floating drilling rigs that would have been affected by the new ban. It was unclear whether the new moratorium would be more or less restrictive than the original one.
The offshore industry also complained that while the new moratorium opens the door to lifting the restrictions if industry provides assurance for adequate containment and response, "The problem for industry is that it is unclear what exactly it will take to convince the administration that such capability exists.
In a memo to Michael Bromwich, the new head of the department's agency that oversees offshore drilling, Salazar said that the moratorium will give industry time to come up with more effective blowout containment strategies and capabilities for deep-water operations.
"I cannot conclude at this time that deep-water drilling can move forward in a safe and environmentally sound manner," he wrote.
Salazar also said that one factor in having the moratorium go through Nov. 30 is that hurricane season runs through that date.
"During this time of year, as we have already seen this year, the ability to contain and respond to a spill is often compromised by weather conditions," Salazar wrote.
Other industry groups and pro-drilling lawmakers also criticized the new moratorium.
"It is unnecessary and shortsighted to shut down a major part of the nation's energy lifeline while working to enhance offshore safety," said Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. "The new moratorium threatens enormous harm to the nation and to the Gulf region."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat representing Louisiana in the Senate, said in testimony to the presidential oil spill panel that she was "alarmed" at the Interior Department's statement that its decision is supported "by an extensive record of existing and new information indicating that allowing new deep-water drilling to commence would pose a threat of serious, irreparable, or immediate harm or damage to the marine, coastal and human environment." Landrieu said that statement "contradicts testimony given by drilling experts and ignores the history of oil and gas operations in the Gulf."
Lawyers for the companies that sued to block the moratorium did not immediately return calls for comment.
Todd Hornbeck, CEO of Covington-based Hornbeck Offshore Services, one of the plaintiff companies, said he did not know how the new moratorium would affect deep-water drilling projects.
"I've got to review it first," he said.
Meanwhile, environmental groups expressed support.
Catherine Wannamaker, a lawyer for several environmental groups that support the moratorium, said the new one does not appear to be any less restrictive than the first one.
"We continue to believe it's a necessary safety precaution," she said. "The first moratorium was a rational decision made by (Salazar) and should have withstood judicial scrutiny. The new moratorium makes (his) reasoning more explicit and is a step in the right direction."
Jacqueline Savitz, senior campaign director for Oceana, an international ocean conservation group, said the administration had no other choice.
"We commend the president for putting more drilling on hold," she said.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by Mikethechristian

Give it up you lost.

Thanks for the link. But, Mike, please elaborate on your comment. What do YOU think and why?

Imo a 'moratorium' is not a 'ban'. The oil industry's current guidelines and activities contributed to the current gulf disaster, so imo such a moratorium is quite reasonable, until the industry get their act together.

The domestic oil industry generates massive revenues for the federal government, so Obama is highly motivated to keep the industry operating safely.

[Flatrater]

I'm against the 6 month ban on oil drilling because of the negative impact it has on jobs and the eonomy. If there was a danger of another accident then the government should stop the drilling on that platform and not stop all the drilling on the safe platforms. If we have one airplane crash we shouldn't just ban all aircraft because of one dangerous sitatution.

The courts ruled against obama it's time he moves on to the next nightmare. obama has bungled this mess and he needs to fix his national image and immigration isn't the topic to fix his adminstration.

[drunken monkey]

So wait a minute.

Accident on an existing oil rig shows that previous safety guidelines may not be appropriate for oil drilling in certain areas and you are saying that you should let the others carry on because they're probably safe and so should continue their drilling because there probably won't be another accident?

Yeah, what a dumbass President for wanting to err on the side of caution.
I mean, who really cares about a bunch of birds and coastlines and environment.

While we're at it, why don't we ban recalls on cars when faults show up because well, they're not all going to set themselves on fire.

[Flatrater]

Now Drunken Monkey the courts have ruled twice on this matter. The courts have settled it yet obama keeps trying.

The fault of the accident has yet tobe determined so saying it was caused by previous safety guidelines that may not be appropriate is off base and alittle early. Let wait for the results to come in on the oil rig explosion cause.

I also saw on the news today that Exxon Mobile want to buy BP.

[drunken monkey]

Could it be if another accident does happen, he will also get the blame for not taking action against something that has such an impact on the world?

And my point still stands; you don't know for certain what caused the accident so does that mean you should continue drilling without knowing?
For what it's worth, I'd rather be safe than sorry; just like with the fuss over the volcanic ash over here a few months back - all flights grounded just because they don't know if it's safe to fly.


Incidentally, I'm also looking into buying BP shares.

[thegladhatter]

It wasn't safety guidelines that were the issue. It was the incompetant, short-cut-taking bastards at BP!