Welcome to America, where when all else fails, call upon the almighty.
Praise Jesus.
Zharen
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
quote:
Judge blocks 6-month moratorium on Gulf deepwater drilling
New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- A federal judge in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a ruling the White House said it would immediately appeal.
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, which halted all drilling in more than 500 feet of water and prevented new permits from being issued. President Barack Obama ordered the moratorium after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig off Louisiana. Eleven people died in the blast, which triggered an underwater oil gusher.
Brian Collins, an attorney for the Justice Department, insisted Monday that the suspension is necessary while officials conduct a safety review.
But a group of companies that provides boats and equipment to the offshore drilling industry filed a lawsuit claiming the government has no evidence that existing operations pose a threat to the Gulf of Mexico and asked the court to declare the moratorium invalid and unenforceable.
Feldman agreed, writing in his ruling, "an invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the government will immediately appeal the ruling to the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
"The president strongly believes, as the Department of Interior and Department of Justice argued yesterday, that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense," Gibbs said. Such drilling "puts the safety of those involved, potentially puts safety of those on the rigs and the safety of the environment and the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now."
In issuing the ruling, Feldman said, "the court is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings (of the government) and the immense scope of the moratorium. The plaintiffs assert that they have suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable harm as a result of the moratorium. The court agrees."
Transocean President Steve Newman, whose company owned the Deepwater Horizon, said Tuesday that he supported ending the moratorium, and the office of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal filed a brief in support of blocking the moratorium.
Jindal and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, were among those asking the Obama administration not to appeal the ruling.
"I'm going to strongly urge the administration not to appeal this ruling, but to try to find a way forward that would achieve the president's goals for safety and responsibility, but at the same time would not jeopardize and threaten a very vibrant and necessary industry for decades," Landrieu told reporters during a conference call.
Ken Wells, the president of the Offshore Marine Service Association, said Tuesday that while the ruling is positive for his group -- which represents many of the ships that service oil rigs -- the decision is "tempered by the realization this is a big, strong government. And if they want to keep fighting on this, they will keep fighting."
Wells told CNN that many of the small business owners and workers who support the rigs felt "like innocent bystanders in all this," adding that many of them are losing their jobs left and right. He said Feldman's decision "may help our industry survive."
Government estimates indicate as much as 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons) of oil may be flowing into the Gulf every day, and the gusher has already taken a serious toll on tourism and the fishing industry in Gulf Coast states.
Shane Guidry said his company, which provides support vessels for deepwater drilling, may have to make cuts.
"I'm very, very concerned. I can see this going on for 24 to 36 months. If that happens, we have no choice but to let people go. We have investors to think about, returns to think about," said Guidry, CEO of Harvey Gulf International Marine. "We're in survival mode right now, and we have to survive this."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has closed 86,985 square miles -- about 36 percent of the Gulf's federal waters -- to fishing.
BP said Tuesday it had collected 25,830 barrels -- 1.08 million gallons -- of oil from the gushing undersea well over the past 24 hours. The amount is the most ever collected; the previous record was set Thursday when 25,290 barrels were collected.
Of the 25,830 barrels, 10,270 were "flared" aboard the Q4000, a ship which uses a specialized clean-burning system to flare oil and gas captured by a containment system. BP previously estimated the Q4000 would collect between 5,000 and 10,000 barrels a day.
The company announced Tuesday that it will donate net revenues it receives from the sale of oil recovered from the spill to the National Fish and Wildlife Federation.
Meanwhile, progress continues to be made on the drilling of two relief wells, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Monday.
"They're in a position now where they're closing on the wellbore," Allen said. "They're going to do something that's called ranging, where they actually send electrical current down the wellbore and ... it allows them to get an accurate reading about how far away from the pipe -- the wellbore -- they are getting as they get closer to making the intercept here in the next few weeks. But that ranging operation is scheduled to start in the next 24 hours."
Also Tuesday, protesters in London, England, briefly disrupted an oil conference that BP CEO Tony Hayward pulled out of a day earlier.
Just before the welcoming speech by BP chief of staff Steve Westwell, who was standing in for Hayward at the World National Oil Companies Congress, a woman got on stage and started shouting. Security quickly removed her.
The woman was Greenpeace campaigner Emma Gibson, who told the crowd that "because BP is incapable of telling you the truth, I'm going to tell you what you need to know."
Hayward decided not to attend the conference because of his "commitment to the Gulf of Mexico relief effort," a BP spokesman said Monday.
Westwell started his speech by apologizing on Hayward's behalf for him not being at the conference. He said the past few weeks have been "extremely difficult for BP."
"It has been hugely shocking for us, for America, and for the rest of the world," Westwell said. "Everyone at BP is devastated, and we deeply regret what's happened. Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones. And we are profoundly aware of our responsibilities to those people whose livelihoods and neighborhoods have suffered."
He said BP is doing "everything in our power to put the damage right" and to learn lessons to prevent such catastrophes in the future.
"I'd also like to make it clear this is not simply about fulfilling our legal obligations. We feel a huge moral responsibility," he said. "All of us at BP will work tirelessly to clean up this spill, repair the damage and restore the Gulf Coast communities."
Kenneth Feinberg, who is overseeing BP's $20 billion escrow claims fund, is scheduled to meet with Alabama Gov. Bob Riley on Tuesday. He told CNN on Monday that he wants to accelerate the claims payment process.
Elsewhere, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry said the Islamic republic, which has chilly relations with the United States, would consider helping America with the oil spill if asked, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.
"The fact that America is still stuck, despite all its claims that it will solve this problem, is puzzling," ILNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying. "The difficult solution of an oil spill, from the standpoint that it's a humanitarian problem, persuades all countries to offer help.
"Iran has professional experts, and if the Americans ask for help, we will take their request under consideration," Mehmanparast said, according to the report.
BP said in a statement Monday that costs from the disaster now total about $2 billion, including the cost of the response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs. To date, more than 65,000 claims have been submitted and more than 32,000 payments totaling more than $105 million have been made, the company said.
I can not believe this. The whole in' Gulf of Mexico is contaminated and yet they say there's still no evidence that offshore drilling is of any threat to this country. And Jindal is a ing hypocrite. Crying so much for federal aid and yet still siding with the oil companies. Typical Republican douchebag.
Man, I haven't had any National pride for this pathetic country since 2000.
Halcyon+On+On
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Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
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concrete pillow exxon dreams hidden hiarchy no one in power taking blame
The17sss
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Originally posted by Zharen
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
I can not believe this. The whole in' Gulf of Mexico is contaminated and yet they say there's still no evidence that offshore drilling is of any threat to this country. And Jindal is a ing hypocrite. Crying so much for federal aid and yet still siding with the oil companies. Typical Republican douchebag.
Man, I haven't had any National pride for this pathetic country since 2000.
What's the problem here? When a plane crashes do we ground every flight until the situation has been cleared up? The moratorium for the entire industry to stop drilling for 6 months is reactionary bull and if left in tact would kill between 40,000 and 120,000 U.S. jobs. It costs around $300,000 per day to lease one of those rigs, and they'll pull up stakes and head to Brazil or whatever and still drill. The Russians, Venezuelans, Cubans, Vietnamese, Brazillians, etc. are all still drilling in the gulf and Caribbean full steam ahead.
God it annoys me when people say Jindal is a hypocrite over this issue. Why, because he wants a less bloated, more efficient government? First of all, he is not "siding with oil companies" at all- show me where he is. Secondly, his anger is that the Federal government is too slow in allowing his own state to help itself, with all the hoops he has to jump through to get permits and approvals for everything; he had thousands of people standing around waiting to get to work, but big government red tape was keeping them back. The Federal govt also has had a plan in place, their responsibility, since 1994 for something like this, and they did nothing according to that plan even though it was pre-approved!
Dude, the Federal government forced 16 barges that were sucking up thousands of gallons of oil per day to shut down for a full day last week because they needed to confirm enough life vests were on board first. And Jindal has no right to be pissed!?
get nyce
quote:
BP said in a statement Monday that costs from the disaster now total about $2 billion, including the cost of the response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs. To date, more than 65,000 claims have been submitted and more than 32,000 payments totaling more than $105 million have been made, the company said.
105,000,000 / 32,000 = 3,281
So say one of those claims was a shrimping company, you think that 3k is anywhere near the amount they'd be making? Ok so maybe it's a sliding scale maybe there are some claims for $60 for something small right and some 40k claims from businesses, of course their going to satisfy the $60 claim, after all it's $60.
quote:
Government estimates indicate as much as 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons) of oil may be flowing into the Gulf every day, and the gusher has already taken a serious toll on tourism and the fishing industry in Gulf Coast states.
...
BP said Tuesday it had collected 25,830 barrels -- 1.08 million gallons -- of oil from the gushing undersea well over the past 24 hours. The amount is the most ever collected; the previous record was set Thursday when 25,290 barrels were collected.
A - government is grossly overestimating the leak
B - BP is capturing half of what the government is estimating
C - who publishes this ? they all lying to us anyways, we're ed!
D - Hurricane in the gulf, lighting strikes it, we now have a FIRECANE and...we're ed
Zharen
quote:
Originally posted by The17sss
What's the problem here? When a plane crashes do we ground every flight until the situation has been cleared up? The moratorium for the entire industry to stop drilling for 6 months is reactionary bull and if left in tact would kill between 40,000 and 120,000 U.S. jobs. It costs around $300,000 per day to lease one of those rigs, and they'll pull up stakes and head to Brazil or whatever and still drill. The Russians, Venezuelans, Cubans, Vietnamese, Brazillians, etc. are all still drilling in the gulf and Caribbean full steam ahead.
God it annoys me when people say Jindal is a hypocrite over this issue. Why, because he wants a less bloated, more efficient government? First of all, he is not "siding with oil companies" at all- show me where he is. Secondly, his anger is that the Federal government is too slow in allowing his own state to help itself, with all the hoops he has to jump through to get permits and approvals for everything; he had thousands of people standing around waiting to get to work, but big government red tape was keeping them back. The Federal govt also has had a plan in place, their responsibility, since 1994 for something like this, and they did nothing according to that plan even though it was pre-approved!
Dude, the Federal government forced 16 barges that were sucking up thousands of gallons of oil per day to shut down for a full day last week because they needed to confirm enough life vests were on board first. And Jindal has no right to be pissed!?
You can not compare a plane crash to that of destroying an entire ecosystem, the likes that are affecting 4 states. Has the federal govt been slow in responding to this crisis? Yes, I agree. I'm sure all the bureaucratic red tape has significantly slowed the recovery process in the Gulf. But if a certain action or process has caused this much destruction, both physically and economically, why, I repeat, WHY would you continue it? At least the Katrina disaster wasn't man-made, this one is. If Louisianians think they can just return to their way of life before the rig exploded, then they got another thing coming to them. If anything, this proves how dangerous off-shore oil drilling is. It needs to be highly regulated, and it needs to be carefully examined if we are to allow this process to continue. Sorry if I choose a healthy, hospitable environment to live in over job growth.
Lews
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Originally posted by Zharen
You can not compare a plane crash to that of destroying an entire ecosystem, the likes that are affecting 4 states. Has the federal govt been slow in responding to this crisis? Yes, I agree. I'm sure all the bureaucratic red tape has significantly slowed the recovery process in the Gulf. But if a certain action or process has caused this much destruction, both physically and economically, why, I repeat, WHY would you continue it? At least the Katrina disaster wasn't man-made, this one is. If Louisianians think they can just return to their way of life before the rig exploded, then they got another thing coming to them. If anything, this proves how dangerous off-shore oil drilling is. It needs to be highly regulated, and it needs to be carefully examined if we are to allow this process to continue. Sorry if I choose a healthy, hospitable environment to live in over job growth.
This.
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by The17sss
What's the problem here? When a plane crashes do we ground every flight until the situation has been cleared up? ...
Have you not read or seen that the major oil companies all have the SAME clean-up plan - sometimes 100% word for word? They don't have a plan to clean up another mess with any sort of efficacy, should it occur, again.
The17sss
quote:
Originally posted by Zharen
You can not compare a plane crash to that of destroying an entire ecosystem, the likes that are affecting 4 states. Has the federal govt been slow in responding to this crisis? Yes, I agree. I'm sure all the bureaucratic red tape has significantly slowed the recovery process in the Gulf. But if a certain action or process has caused this much destruction, both physically and economically, why, I repeat, WHY would you continue it? At least the Katrina disaster wasn't man-made, this one is. If Louisianians think they can just return to their way of life before the rig exploded, then they got another thing coming to them. If anything, this proves how dangerous off-shore oil drilling is. It needs to be highly regulated, and it needs to be carefully examined if we are to allow this process to continue. Sorry if I choose a healthy, hospitable environment to live in over job growth.
You made an excellent point- this proves how dangerous offshore drilling is. Which is why we should ask why the hell we are that far out drilling, in that deep of water. In shallow water, it could have been capped. On land, we wouldn't have this problem. But this is the ironic consequence of irrational environmental policy (combined with irresponsibility by BP and the entities who monitor them of course). How rediculous is it, honestly, that we can't drill in Alaska's ANWR which is a barren tundra the size of South Carolina... and the portion of that where drilling would occur is about a square mile in size?
But I do understand what you're saying man. Of course that kind of stuff should be highly regulated, I totally agree. There were serious failures in doing so for this particular rig, including safety inspections that were rubber stamped and passed over; reports coming out now of warnings and problems weeks before the explosion that were not attended to- a major dereliction of duty by many people on both sides. However, shutting down ALL 33 deep water rigs in the Gulf, plus ones off Alaska's coast (wtf?)? I'm sorry but if you think there is economic strain now on the tourism and fishing industries, what do you think will happen to the local economies when tens of thousands of additional people go out of work because of the moritorium... people working for other companies/rigs who have nothing to do with BP? Almost 20% of Louisana's state GDP comes from that industry. If we're going to shut them down, why not shut down the oil tankers that are cris-crossing our waters constantly too, which are even more spill prone than rigs? This is the same kind of overreaction that shut down nuclear power plant building over 30 years ago. I'm all for regulation man, and comprehensive safety measures... but they need to be fully attended to.
Environmentally speaking, yes it's awful. On the bright side, when the Exxon Valdez incident ed up the fragile ecosystem in Alaska, experts said it would take a generation to become whole again. It took less than 10 years.
quote:
Originally posted by EddieZilker
Have you not read or seen that the major oil companies all have the SAME clean-up plan - sometimes 100% word for word? They don't have a plan to clean up another mess with any sort of efficacy, should it occur, again.
Yes... and BP had something like 300 or so violations in the past couple of years, while Exxon had 2 and Chevron had 1. I would hope they are learning from this experience. Perhaps next time, for example, we won't turn away Holland's offer to send a bunch of skimmers 3 days after the explosion.
Sunsnail
i agree with 17sss here. those kooky environmentalists are to be blamed for this oil spill
HEY-Y-Y-Y, WAIT A SECOND
:rolleyes:
WittyHandle
quote:
Originally posted by EddieZilker
Have you not read or seen that the major oil companies all have the SAME clean-up plan - sometimes 100% word for word? They don't have a plan to clean up another mess with any sort of efficacy, should it occur, again.
And their emergency contact number was a Dr. who has been dead for 5 years.
