If Salazar's cleanup of MMS was "just too slow," why is he still there?

[wordpix]

:shrug: Salazar should have been tossed out when the blowout occurred or at least with the revelation of the "walrus" spill response document, which proves MMS didn't even bother to read the foxes' plan to defend the henhouse. The buck stops with Salazar overseeing MMS' regulation of the oil industry, but he kept the same Bushies in and failed to clean house for over a year, leading to this catastrophe

Obama is demonstrating he's not in command when he keeps this "general" in place at Interior.

[aquart]

1. Sadly, yes. He talks about action.

We need to see him TAKE action. We need BP's assets frozen on the ground. From Day 1 he should have had accountants identifying every BP dime in the US so we could seize if we went with that option.

[Autumn]

2. At least he didn't say Heck of a job Salazar

:puke:

[MannyGoldstein]

3. He is a member of Obama's 'Privileged Class'

and thus untouchable. The class includes anyone who Obama feels is roughly a peer - people who attended Ivy League schools, bankers, the wealthy, and so forth. He'll never, ever lay a finger on them.

[readmoreoften]

4. Will he get a merit raise? Should his tenure be revoked?

[AnnieBW]

5. I'm betting he'll be gone once the well is capped.

I'm sure that Obama doesn't need the additional problem of picking a new Interior Secretary in the middle of all of this. That's probably the only reason that Salazar is still there. I think he wants to finish the job that he started.

In all fairness, changing the culture of any large organization is difficult - especially when the people there liked and benefited from the status quo. Interior is the armpit of the Federal Government. I mean, this is the place that administers the Bureau of Indian Affairs, right? And we all know what a clusterfuck that is. I'm sure that MMS is just as much of a clusterfuck as BIA is. Yes, Salazar should have cleaned house earlier. And, I'm sure that once this crisis is over with, he's going to get his ass handed to him by Congress. At least I hope so! But right now, he's a convenient scapegoat.

[NYC_SKP]

6. FWIW- May 19 internal email from Secretary Salazar to MMS Staff:

(I'm not terribly upset with his announcement of May 19th)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=340722&mesg_id=340753

From: [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail] >
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 12:18 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Secretary's Priority Message - For MMS Employees

Dear Team,

The Minerals Management Service has existed by virtue of Secretarial Order since 1982. During nearly 30 years, MMS has managed the development of our Outer Continental Shelf resources and collected revenue for the American people in excess of $200 billion.

The 1700 employees of MMS are good people and public servants, with the few well-publicized exceptions who have brought dishonor to the Department and to MMS. As I reorganize the MMS, you have nothing to fear about your job if you have been working hard and comporting yourself with the standards I expect of all employees of the Department. I am certain the critical functions of energy production and revenue collection will be as essential in the future as they are today.

The Secretarial Order I have signed today will establish the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue as follows:

· Bureau of Ocean Energy Management: A new bureau under the supervision of the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management that will be responsible for the sustainable development of the Outer Continental Shelf’s conventional and renewable energy resources, including resource evaluation, planning, and other activities related to leasing.

· Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement: A new bureau under the supervision of the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management that will be responsible for ensuring comprehensive oversight, safety, and environmental protection in all offshore energy activities.

· Office of Natural Resources Revenue: A new office under the supervision of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget, that will be responsible for the royalty and revenue management function including the collection and distribution of revenue, auditing and compliance, and asset management.

Under the Secretarial Order I have signed, I am directing a schedule for implementation to be delivered to me within 30 days. Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Wilma Lewis, Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget Rhea Suh and Senior Advisor Chris Henderson will oversee the restructuring.

Undertaking major organizational changes is never easy. I am confident that we will move through this process together and will emerge from this reorganization strong and well-positioned to meet the needs of the American people we serve.

We understand that many questions remain as to how this restructuring should be implemented and we intend to undergo a thoughtful process to resolve those questions with your input. We have been reviewing the emails many of you have sent in and hope others will share their thoughts and ideas in the days and weeks ahead. In the coming weeks, I will visit MMS offices in New Orleans, Denver, and Herndon to explain the reorganization and hear from you.

Please note that unless you hear otherwise directly from a supervisor, each and every one of you should continue to fulfill your existing role and responsibilities.

The goal of this restructuring is to give you – the public servants of MMS –more tools, more resources, and an organizational structure that fits the missions that you are being asked to carry out.

Together, we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the American people are getting a fair return from their resources and that the safety of workers and the environment are protected.

Thank you,

Ken Salazar

[TheKentuckian]

8. Yeah, all that fire and brimstone a year and a half after taking the job

and already after the spill had to shake those folks to the core.

Big change is sure to follow a letter so cordial that it feels more like a departmental rearrangement rather than a substantial restructuring in response to an epic debacle they are significantly responsible for.

Damn, they have it E.A.S.Y.

Ive been comparably disemboweled for infinitely less in the private sector. I've caught way more for being a minute late.

I think this is pathetic in light of how horrible these people have been.

[TheKentuckian]

9. delete dup

[Gregin Orlando]

7. I am getting tired of being lied to

That pathetic speech by our so-called leader was a bunch of hog snot. BP and the federal government knew this was WAY worse from day one. Now we are being told to pray for shrimpers and that the beaches will be restored to their original condition. Pluheeze!! That won't happen in our lifetimes. As for the the "new" estimate of oil flow, that is nothing new. Scientists have been saying that for months. Even a writer for, OMG! The Examiner!!! wrote about that a month ago. You can read it here: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Exa... . If someone can sit on a PC and give the facts a month before the government, BP and the corporate media does, you have to know we are being lied to and conditioned to slowly accept the true magnitude of this disaster. Furthermore, there are enough toxins in the air from evaporating oil without burning more. Here's another: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m6d15-Toxins-in-air-from-evaporating-oil-may-pose-greater-threat-to-Gulf-residents-than-oily-water This disaster is already out of hand!

[lamp_shade]

10. A year and a half to clean up the mess caused by 8 years of Cheney's Secret Energy

Task Force interference with the MMS and massive republican deregulation? Give me a break. Salazar will get it done.

[depakid]

11. You said it: "give me a break"

:eyes:

This was an agency with high profile scandals and damning reports during Salazar's tenure by the Inspector General's office and the GAO.

In a responsible government, with a conscientious administrator, this would have been a top priority from day one. As the NY Times noted on January 1, 2009:

div class="excerpt"]The word on Ken Salazar, tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to run the Interior Department, is that he is friendly, approachable, a good listener, a genial compromiser and a skillful broker of deals. That is also the rap on Ken Salazar. What the Interior Department needs right now is someone willing to bust heads when necessary and draw the line against the powerful commercial groups — developers, ranchers, oil and gas companies, the off-road vehicle industry — that have long treated the department as a public extension of their private interests.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/opinion/02fri1.html

[KharmaTrain]

12. Whack-A-Mole Governing...

President Obama had to know he had a ticking time bomb at MMS and Interior. Of all government agencies, this was the one where booosh and cheney had dug their moles in the deepest (the DOD a close second) and where the clean-up inside would be the most needed. Unfortunately, we're seeing a management style through delegation...leaving it to others to clean up the messes while the President is stuck in dealing with the "crisis of the moment". He trusted Salazar to get things in order and I'd like to hear what actually was done over the first year of this administration. I won't fault the President for not being prepared when this disaster began to unfold, but I will fault his management style since...and the inability of those working on his behalf to clean house. I fear the same problem is happening at the DOJ.

This disaster caught this administration totally blind sided and embarassed. In the management style of trying to negotiate and compromise, President Obama had hoped to trade drill baby drill for cap and trade...it was a futile gesture at best and was immediately behind the 8-ball the moment the well exploded.

While others are up in arms about last night's speech, I wondered before he spoke what he could say that hasn't been said. Should he have made some false promises of having the hole plugged in 30 or 90 days? Announced the mass resignations of everyone in Interior? Frog marched Tiny Tony in front of the camera? Sad reality is there's little that can be said as long as the oil gushes and this slow motion disaster expands. Sorry...there aren't enough skimmer, booms, Kevin Costners and Supermen to contain all this oil. BP lied...no shock there and they knew they could thanks to a country that puts corporate profits ahead of all else...we still do.

Right now, other than handing out mops and shovels...to fight a rear-guard action, what else can be done? And then no sooner is the oil gone then a tide rolls in and the beaches are all blackened again. The focus has to be on plugging the hole...and unfortunately the best chance of that will be months away. I wish there was some magic bullet here, there isn't.