Academia, Environment, Science, Society, Torts

Spill, Baby, Spill: White House Remains Committed To Off-Shore Drilling Plan As Spill Destroys Gulf Coast

The White House is under attack on its plan to open up areas for drilling off the East Coast — a plan long opposed by environmentalists and now attracting renewed criticism with the growing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The spill is now believed to exceed the Exxon Valdez but some experts — gushing 200,000 gallons a day, here.

The first lawsuits by fishermen have been filed over the devastation to the Gulf. The White House is reportedly reconsidering its plan to open up sensitive areas off the East Coast to drilling. It appears that it only takes a massive environmental disaster to get the Obama Administration to reconsider such plans. Hypothetical examples of a massive oil spill from an oil rig a few weeks ago were viewed as simply too speculative by the Administration.

UPDATE: After first defending the policy, the White House is now saying that the disaster was sufficient to get it to take the new drilling off the table — at least for the moment, here.

111 thoughts on “Spill, Baby, Spill: White House Remains Committed To Off-Shore Drilling Plan As Spill Destroys Gulf Coast”

  1. FFLEO,

    I have to disagree with you – everything I’ve seen from President Obama since his inauguration tells me that he is an intelligent, engaged (8 years of President Bush shows us the importance of this), deliberative person who gets advice from experts before making considered decisions*. I have seen numerous people say that in meetings the president elicits the opinions of everyone in the room (and that he is generally the most knowledgeable person in the room). His Q&A session early this year with congressional Republicans showed that his command of the facts, the issues and his ability to think on his feet are prodigious. While there are things I wish he had been better on in his first year (civil rights and torture, for instance), you cannot deny that he has gotten more done in his first year or so than any president since FDR in the most polarized political environment in this country since the civil war.

    * NO ONE knows all of the information that the president needs to make decisions. In my opinion, the most important trait necessary to being a good president is to surround yourself with smart knowledgeable people and listen to them before you decide – all of the indications I’ve seen says that this is precisely President Obama process.

  3. FFN,

    I have stated before that Mr. Obama is too naive to be a good president. He does not possess the life experiences that help forge a reasonable, knowledgeable, and steady person. He spouts ignorant sound bites as he did in the attached video and elsewhere while attempting to micromanage detailed, complex subjects about which he has no knowledge whatsoever.

    I consider Mr. Obama not more than a base, ignorant, will-o-the-wispy politician of the worst sort.

  4. “There are grave environmental concerns which this horrific spill has highlighted,” said Bob Deans, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council…”

    I heard that they are looking at a safety valve that was rendered useless when the concrete flooring was poured as the cause. It was poured by…Halliburton! ….and I want to know why, given Halliburtons stellar record in the war…they are being utilzed for ANYTHING!
    [above info provided by Rush Limbaugh….so it could be total hooey…]

  5. I concur with Slartibartfast in being thankful for having a president willing to reconsider issues based on NEW facts.. If this had happened on the chimpy/darth watch, BP would have gotten a new federal grant by now to subsidize their lost billions in profits!!

    I hate to sound cliche, but this will be a disaster of biblical proportions…

  6. I, for one, am thankful that we have a president who is willing to reconsider his decisions based on new facts.

    Bdaman,

    Secretary Napolitano MSUT assume that this was an act of terrorism until it is proved otherwise – to do anything else would be negligent on her part.

  8. Elaine M:

    “Maybe the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was a sign from God. Let’s check with Pat Robertson on this one.”

    I was thinking the same thing earlier this week – between this and the tornado’s that ripped through MS, etc., I guess God’s really pissed off about all that porn they buy in the ‘red’ states.

  9. I literally can’t hear the tone of Obama’s voice without getting really, really angry anymore.

  11. http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/new-off-shore-drilling-banned-as-alarming-oil-slick-hits-us-shores-951096.html

    The major oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has prompted the U.S. administration to ban oil drilling in new areas of the country’s coast pending investigations into the cause of the uncontrollable massive oil spill.

    “No additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened,” White House senior adviser David Axelrod told ABC television.

    Speaking in an interview with “Good Morning America” Friday, Axelrod said no new offshore drilling would go forward until “there is an adequate review of what happened here and what is being proposed

  12. It’s not 200,00 barrels per day – please post correction

    Government officials said the blown-out well 40 miles offshore is spewing five times as much oil into the water as originally estimated — about 5,000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons, a day.

  16. “I sincerely hope that every Exxon office in the world burns flat to the ground”

    By way of grammatical correction and just to be clear.

  17. Thanks again, President Barrack “I Do What K St. Tells Me” Obama!

    For not only continuing to act like Bush Light in office but for showing the exact same quality of disaster response skills as your predecessor. Having been through Katrina, I’d like to take this opportunity to give both of you, Barry and Exxon, the finger. With both hands.

    I do so sincerely that every Exxon office in the world burns flat to the ground. They aren’t content to start an illegal war so they can steal oil. Nooooo. They’ve got to screw up our coastal waters (and the already struggling fishing industries) because they’re too goddamn greedy to use proper safety procedures (which cut in to their profits). Eh? Who needs to obey the law when you can bribe politicians into keeping you out of prison?

    Well pardon the bluntness but fuck you both and the campaign “contributions” you rode in on.

    You both suck. Any President with balls would have nationalized Exxon for their role in the Secret Energy Task Force right after they slapped that treasonous traitor Cheney in cuffs, you graft swilling greedy sociopathic pigs.

  18. DHS Secretary Napolitano announced that this incident is of national significance and the Department of Interior has announced that they will be sending SWAT teams to the Gulf to inspect all platforms and rigs. Obama ordered the Secretaries of Interior and Homeland Security as well as Administrator Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency to visit the site on Friday to ensure that BP and the entire U.S. government is doing everything possible, not just to respond to this incident, but also to determine its cause. And I’ve been in contact with all the governors of the states that may be affected by this accident. So it appears that one, they have not determined the reason for a catastrophic failure, and two, send in the SWAT teams to secure the rigs. Accident? or act of terrorism?

  19. Here’s a little light verse about drilling:
    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HBdAiKhEbw&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

    Doncha just love that word “generally.”

    Maybe the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was a sign from God. Let’s check with Pat Robertson on this one.

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