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Obama: New offshore oil drilling still key



April 30, 2010

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama said Friday new offshore oil leases were on hold pending a 30-day probe into the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico spill but vowed not to walk away from plans for more drilling.

"Let me be clear: I continue to believe that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security, but I've always said it must be done responsibly, for the safety of our workers and our environment," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden.

The president said he had tasked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar with a 30-day review to say "what, if any, additional precautions and technologies should be required" to prevent future calamities.

"And we're going to make sure that any leases going forward have those safeguards," Obama said, as the White House confirmed new domestic offshore oil drilling was on hold until the disaster had been fully investigated.

Amid calls from the US Congress to freeze any further exploration, the president said he had directed officials to inspect all deep-water oil rigs and platforms for possible safety issues.

Oil from the giant slick washed ashore in Louisiana Friday, threatening an environmental calamity as the government mulled sending in the military to combat what officials called a national disaster.

With up to 200,000 gallons of oil a day spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from a ruptured well, the accident stemming from a sunken offshore rig may soon rival the Exxon Valdez disaster as the worst oil spill in US history.

Obama said he had sent Salazar, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, his energy and climate change policy adviser Carol Browner, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco to shape Washington's response.

"I expect their reports from the ground today," the president said, vowing to "continue to do everything necessary to respond to this event."

Some 1,900 federal emergency response personnel, 300 vessels and aircraft were on hand, and authorities had deployed 217,000 feet of protective boom to contain the slick "and there are more on the way," he said.

"We are fully prepared to meet our responsibilities to any and all affected communities, and that's why we've been working closely with state and local authorities since the day of the explosion," said Obama.

Strong southeast winds blew the first oily strands of slick directly onto the coastal wetlands of South Pass near the mouth of the Mississippi river late Thursday, Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, where oil washed ashore, told AFP.

A massive deployment of Coast Guard and private crews scrambled to contain the oil, fighting choppy seas that made the task more difficult.

Hundreds of miles of coastline were under imminent threat in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, a region that amounts to more than 40 percent of America's ecologically fragile wetlands.

The region is a prime spawning ground for fish, shrimp and crabs, home to oyster beds and a major stop for migratory birds.

Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod told ABC television that Obama was not backing off allowing more offshore oil leases but "no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here."

Axelrod said no new offshore drilling will go forward until "there is an adequate review of what happened here and what is being proposed elsewhere."

Obama earlier this year proposed a new policy that open tracts of waters off the Virginia, Alaska and Florida coasts to exploration.

Officials said this was long-term process that was already set to include years of environmental, commercial and scientific study.

The unfolding disaster had already spurred calls among coastal state lawmakers in the US Congress for halting, at least for now, any plans to expand offshore drilling.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said "this terrible event" required reviewing offshore drilling plans and warned it would "be taken into account" when the congress weighs legislation to open new areas to drilling.


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Sure going to be looking pretty all along the Santa Barbra coast and many, many other beach areas... in California for sure..

Funny how environmental concern seems to be not as important as one sees the gas tank approaching empty...

terrible accident.

Frankly, Obama was using the idea of allowing drilling as a carrot to the Republicans. But right now, no matter what party you belong to, it's gonna be kinda hard to convince people that modern technology eliminates the dangers of spills. So, does he pull a rabbit out of his hat in 30 days?

possibly....maybe earlier.

given folks acceptance of his "statements" on just about anything .....

would expect a simple.. "don't worry, it's OK.. yes we can" will take care of everything... along with some more Federal funds to the affected States..

providing the Treasury's doesn't shoot him for over spending...

Louisiana fishermen losing patience over spill

By Matthew Bigg
Fri Apr 30, 8:49 pm ET

VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) – Louisiana fishermen, who say they face ruin because of the huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill, were fast losing patience on Friday with what they say is the slow pace of efforts to contain the slick.

Federal, state and local authorities and London-based BP, which owns the offshore well that is the source of the spill, are engaged in a campaign to speed up efforts to protect the coast.

But for many fishermen the effort smacks of too little too late for the Gulf waters they plow, which teem with shrimp, oysters, crabs and fish and support a $1.8 billion U.S. fishing industry second only to that of Alaska.

Jason Melerine, 26, said the root of the slow containment work lay in the imbalance between an oil giant and small fishermen. "They should not have waited so long. They should have addressed this (slick) very fast," he said.

"But they (the oil industry) have got so much money they don't have to worry about this."

Once offshore shrimp beds are contaminated, the shrimp season -- which is just beginning -- will effectively end and clean-up efforts could last for years, fishermen said.

"They (authorities) should have done something quicker instead of waiting for it (the oil) to get so close," said Christopher Creppel, 25.

State authorities on Thursday declared the shrimp season open early because of the crisis, Creppel said, so he took his 20-foot (six-meter) boat out overnight, placing framed skimmer nets in the water and catching $1,100 worth of white shrimp.

Creppel said he doubts he would get that chance again, adding that most of the fishermen were still preparing for the season and had not even gone out.

Fishermen faced hardships due to an immediate loss of income in a part of southern Louisiana dominated by the oil and fishing industries. Several also said they were repaying boat loans worth tens of thousands of dollars and while those boats were insured, the income was not.

To make matters worse, sport fishing, which provides a secondary income for many commercial fishermen, will also likely be hard hit.

CLEAN-UP BUSINESS

Hundreds of fishermen came to a school in Boothville, Louisiana, on Friday for a meeting called by Plaquemines Parish (county) to register to be part of the clean-up effort.

They sat in the school's darkened gymnasium while officials gave a crash course in how to avoid oil poisoning during the clean-up. Their involvement is partly altruistic but it has another purpose: now that the fishing season has ground to a halt, they need jobs.

BP is also offering contracts to fishermen to use their boats in the clean-up effort, sad Vince Mitchell of O'Brien's Response Management, which is contracted by BP.

"Is this just a show to make BP look good, or are they actually going to hire us?" asked fisherman Mike Bruner, 48.

"If we can't go out and shrimp then at least give us a job," said Rangsey Pich, 24, part of a community of around 44 families from Cambodia who fish off the Louisiana coast. "It's your (BP's) fault that the oil is out there."

Fishermen said they feared much of the clean-up business would in fact go outside of the community.

That happened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when a giant storm surge put a community strung out along a narrow peninsula jutting into the Gulf of Mexico under many feet (meters) of water, fishermen said.

"There is a lot of bitterness. Most of these people are second, third and fourth generation fishermen and now they are looking at the end of their industry," said Roger Halphen, a local teacher.


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an it be all about the money

And we've all known for years that Cap and Trade is about trillions and trillions. It is the jewel in the crown.

Obama will react to this however he needs to so that it stregthens the odds of passage.

Now, just to stir the pot a bit.....

I've never tracked these things, but there are thousands of rigs off shore. I don't ever remember one exploding like this and the timing is quite interesting. BP says it will be many many months before an investigation will be completed as to how/why this happened. That ought to be enough time to get the story "straight". I think there is a movie here....or maybe a season for "24". If we toss the coal mine explosion in we could really weave a tale.

I remember the one in Santa Barbara.

Years later you would still come across sticky, smelly black tar on the beach out around UCSB.

I heard it was in 1969? Was it an explosion?

I read a piece a couple of years ago that said some (a lot, a little?) of the sticky stuff in SB and other California beaches is natural seepage. Article actually indicated a lot..and the author, an enviornmentalist purported that, absent events like this, getting the stiff out would probably result in cleaner beaches and waters.

40 years, if that's the case is a darn track record....unless it's on your beach right at the beginning of the tourist season you depend on. We are going to have to settle for the noise of windmills and a lot of decapitated birds, I think.

Yes, I believe it was 1969.

I'd be inclined to believe the natural seepage aspect. What I noticed in the mid 70s was isolated, small clumps along the high tide line; sometimes under rocks here and there.

remember when seeing the first press on the rig going up... and Googling "how to cap a well 5000 feet below sea level... not much came back... ... and at the time thinking.. blown well at 5,000 feet.. only leaking a little..

there was a "reality show" which was on some time back that followed the daily routine of the "guys" that worked the rigs... "BLACK GOLD"...

if you want to understand what may have happened... watch the show..

Oh, please.......... they said the same thing up in Alaska... look how well that one turned out

Originally Posted by dusty

an it be all about the money

Now, just to stir the pot a bit.....

I've never tracked these things, but there are thousands of rigs off shore. I don't ever remember one exploding like this and the timing is quite interesting. BP says it will be many many months before an investigation will be completed as to how/why this happened. That ought to be enough time to get the story "straight". I think there is a movie here....or maybe a season for "24". If we toss the coal mine explosion in we could really weave a tale.

There are stories circulating on the internet that it was the result of sabotage by some crazy environmental group. Personally, it makes little sense to have targeted a rig so far offshore. There were closer, easier targets.

should look at it as a learning experience... what else you going to do... at this point in time....

maybe some "green jobs"... you know, collecting dead birds and the rest... scrapping the crap off the fauna and flora in the area...

it might even jump start the economy..

What insurance companies are wringing their hands, er, bank accounts?

Reuters - U.S. officials on Saturday conceded it is "inevitable" that oil from an uncontrolled leak in the Gulf of Mexico will hit the U.S. coast, threatening an environmental and economic catastrophe.




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Yep, and guess what starts in thirty days... Hurricane season... talk about a mess, now what would that add to the picture?

Originally Posted by dusty

What insurance companies are wringing their hands, er, bank accounts?

Hopefully AIG. Nothing like a good dose of karma.

Now why would one think that AIG would be hurt by anything...