THANKS To BUSHCO: "Fed regulators allowed deepwater operators to base their plans on surface spills"

[kpete]

Bush administration reversed Clinton requirement to model deepwater spills
by Jed Lewison
Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 07:00:48 AM PDT

If you were developing a plan for responding to an oil spill caused by deepwater offshore drilling, it seems like you should be required to include a model in which you assume that the spill takes place below the surface in deepwater conditions, right?

Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, despite the seemingly obvious nature of that proposition, Federal regulators in the Bush administration eliminated that requirement. allowing the oil industry to develop response plans based on faulty data.

BP PLC and other big oil companies based their plans for responding to a big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on U.S. government projections that gave very low odds of oil hitting shore, even in the case of a spill much larger than the current one.

The government models, which oil companies are required to use but have not been updated since 2004, assumed that most of the oil would rapidly evaporate or get broken up by waves or weather. In the weeks since the Deepwater Horizon caught fire and sank, real life has proven these models, prepared by the Interior Department's Mineral Management Service, wrong.

MMS said in early 2000, in a notice to lessees, that it planned to require oil companies operating in deep-water to use new oil-spill predictions specifically designed for deep water.

That regulation never came into effect. Oil companies today still base their contingency plans on the government's models, designed only for surface spills.

.........
http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703900004575325131111637728.html?mod=ITP_pageone_0&mg=reno-wsj#printMode

When that 2001 paper was written supporting the Clinton decision, the head of MMS was a Clinton-era holdover, Dr. Thomas Kitsos. By early 2002, the Bush administration had tapped a new head of MMS, a former GOP state legislator from Dick Cheney's home state of Wyoming named Rejane "Johnnie" Burton. Burton, you'll be shocked to learn, was in the energy industry and in her announcement touted the fact that she "began her career in the oil and gas industry." It was under her leadership that MMS began to rapidly deteriorate, failing to address even the most basic safety issues for new offshore drilling.

If the Bush administration hadn't reversed the Clinton decision requiring accurate models, companies involved in deepwater drilling would have been forced to develop a mitigation plan for undersea deepwater spills. Instead, thanks to the Bush administration, federal regulators allowed deepwater operators to base their plans on surface spills, which are far less complex than deepwater undersea spills and don't take into account things like undersea plumes, undersea application of dispersant, and (last but not least) what to do about a months-long blowout gushing tens of thousands of barrels per day.

more:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/6/24/878912/-Bush-administration-reversed-Clinton-requirement-to-model-deepwater-spills

[aquart]

1. And that's how we get around the court order.

Demand plans and enforce inspections. Daily if necessary.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Thanks for posting this kpete.

I read that at dkos and was going to post it here. No big surprise that Cheney/Bush's oily figerprints are all over this disaster. I was wondering when the evidence of criminal negligence in their active lack of oversight of Big Oil would start getting exposed. I hope this is the start of a real investigation into how the previous administration created the conditions that allowed such an environmental disaster to occur.

I also hope that there's a clear criminal case that proves Cheney/Bush broke the law and violated their oath of office to protect the interests of this country. Republicans do private service, not public service.

[Kingofalldems]

3. GOP and their philosophy destroy everything in their path

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[txlibdem]

5. and the walruses

They all just photocopied the same mitigation plan... which included how to protect the walruses (which haven't existed in the gulf for 3 million years).

[K8-EEE]

6. K&R nt

[papadog]

7. SO WHAT! Obama won't prosecute so no one will go to jail.

That means the Repugs will do it again when they get into office , and they will one day get back into office. Thanks President Obama for leaving the country vulnerable to the next set of bastards that want to rape our resources and destry our country.