Obama Admin misrepresents.....again

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TXgolfer

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FOXNews.com - Experts Say White House 'Misrepresented' Views to Justify Drilling Moratorium


Experts Say White House 'Misrepresented' Views to Justify Drilling Moratorium

Published June 10, 2010

Reuters

May 26: Greenpeace protesters hold up a banner as Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar testifies before the House.

The seven experts who advised President Obama on how to deal with offshore drilling safety after the Deepwater Horizon explosion are accusing his administration of misrepresenting their views to make it appear that they supported a six-month drilling moratorium -- something they actually oppose.

The experts, recommended by the National Academy of Engineering, say Interior Secretary Ken Salazar modified their report last month, after they signed it, to include two paragraphs calling for the moratorium on existing drilling and new permits.

Salazar's report to Obama said a panel of seven experts "peer reviewed" his recommendations, which included a six-month moratorium on permits for new wells being drilled using floating rigs and an immediate halt to drilling operations.

"None of us actually reviewed the memorandum as it is in the report," oil expert Ken Arnold told Fox News. "What was in the report at the time it was reviewed was quite a bit different in its impact to what there is now. So we wanted to distance ourselves from that recommendation."

Salazar apologized to those experts Thursday.

"The experts who are involved in crafting the report gave us their recommendation and their input and I very much appreciate those recommendations," he said. "It was not their decision on the moratorium. It was my decision and the president's decision to move forward."

In a letter the experts sent to Salazar, they said his primary recommendation "misrepresents" their position and that halting the drilling is actually a bad idea.

The oil rig explosion occurred while the well was being shut down – a move that is much more dangerous than continuing ongoing drilling, they said.

They also said that because the floating rigs are scarce and in high demand worldwide, they will not simply sit in the Gulf idle for six months. The rigs will go to the North Sea and West Africa, possibly preventing the U.S. from being able to resume drilling for years.

They also said the best and most advanced rigs will be the first to go, leaving the U.S. with the older and potentially less safe rights operating in the nation's coastal waters.
 
Like I said, whatever he says has an expiration date.
 
I think it's safe to say our President is not a legitimate source of information.
 
White House Rejects Claim It Skewed Expert Opinion to Justify Drilling Ban

Published June 11, 2010
| FOXNews.com

A deepwater drilling rig operates near the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico June 8. (AP Photo)

White House energy adviser Carol Browner on Friday rejected accusations from a panel of experts who claim the administration misrepresented their views to justify a six-month ban on offshore drilling in response to the BP oil rig disaster.

The denial came after the experts alleged that the Interior Department modified a report in late May that was used as the basis for the sweeping moratorium on existing drilling and new permits.

Though the report claimed the analysts, picked by the National Academy of Engineering, "peer reviewed" the department's recommendations, the experts say the two paragraphs that called for the moratorium were added only after they signed off on it.

To the contrary, the experts warn that such a moratorium could not only harm the economy but make the situation in the Gulf more dangerous. The April 20 oil rig explosion occurred while the Deepwater Horizon well was being shut down -- a move that is much more dangerous than continuing ongoing drilling, they said.

"A blanket moratorium is not the answer," they wrote in a letter claiming Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar's report "misrepresents" their position. "A blanket moratorium will have the indirect effect of harming thousands of workers and further impact state and local economies suffering from the spill."

That's exactly the argument that Gulf Coast lawmakers and the families of oil rig workers have been making as they fight the administration's moratorium decision.

"We do not believe that punishing the innocent is the right thing to do. We encourage the secretary of interior to overcome emotion with logic," the experts wrote.

But while Salazar has acknowledged that the moratorium was his decision, not theirs, Browner argued that the administration did nothing wrong.

"No one's been deceived or misrepresented," Browner told Fox News, defending the moratorium as a safety measure. "These experts gave their expert advice, and then a determination was made looking at all of the information, including what these experts provided -- that there should be a pause, and that's exactly what there is. There's a pause."

The experts claimed the draft report that they looked at called for a six-month freeze on permits for new exploratory wells 1,000 feet or deeper and a "temporary pause" on current drilling.

Somehow, that was changed to call for a six-month moratorium on permits for new wells being drilled using floating rigs and an "immediate halt" to drilling operations on 33 permitted wells.

"None of us actually reviewed the memorandum as it is in the report," oil expert Ken Arnold told Fox News. "What was in the report at the time it was reviewed was quite a bit different in its impact to what there is now. So we wanted to distance ourselves from that recommendation."

The experts also faxed a memo to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Louisiana Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter to clarify that they do not believe the report justifies the moratorium.

They also said that because the floating rigs are scarce and in high demand worldwide, they will not simply sit in the Gulf idle for six months. The rigs will go to the North Sea and West Africa, possibly preventing the U.S. from being able to resume drilling for years.

They said the best and most advanced rigs will be the first to go, leaving the U.S. with the older and potentially less safe rights operating in the nation's coastal waters.
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:hmm:
 
Watch the gas prices sky rocket to $5 to $6 dollars a gallon if this happens, not mention thousands of additional job losses on top of the fishing and shrimping industry, and recreational dollars lost due to lack of tourism. And it'd be a political suicide for Democrats should this happen and right before the November 2010 election, too.
 
kokonut said:
Watch the gas prices sky rocket to $5 to $6 dollars a gallon if this happens, not mention thousands of additional job losses on top of the fishing and shrimping industry, and recreational dollars lost due to lack of tourism. And it'd be a political suicide for Democrats should this happen and right before the November 2010 election, too.
Click to expand...

That's simply not true.
 
TXgolfer said:
Guess we will have to wait and see....... Could be a cruel....cruel summer
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I find it interesting how BP is allowed to drill oil in the USA considering the fact it's a British corporation...

Not only to mention how they sent their lobbyists to Washington D.C. to weasel their way out of installing safety valves on their oil rigs.
 
Banjo said:
I find it interesting how BP is allowed to drill oil in the USA considering the fact it's a British corporation...

Not only to mention how they sent their lobbyists to Washington D.C. to weasel their way out of installing safety valves on their oil rigs.
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Yup......a whole bunch of ass kicking is needed. BP and Admin asses
 
Another case of people with profit making as their first priority ignoring probability of further damages. We'll see what the appeal brings.
 
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