House Dems whack Cheney over oil spill

[babylonsister]

House Dems whack Cheney over oil spill
By Ben Geman - 07/20/10 11:09 AM ET


Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee traded partisan blows Tuesday over whether the Obama administration or the former Bush administration deserves more blame for the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Senior Democrats on the panel — Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) — used a hearing on the Interior Department’s role to trace the disaster back to former Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy policy task force.

Waxman said that task force — which was assembled early in the Bush administration — set the stage for policies that pushed drilling at the expense of tough safety oversight of rigs and review of environmental risks.

“The cop on the beat was off-duty for nearly a decade and this gave rise to a dangerous culture of permissiveness,” Waxman said. “In many ways this history begins with Vice President Cheney’s secretive energy task force.”

Waxman said that under the Bush-era Interior Department, “the priority was more drilling first and safety second,” although he added that the current administration was also too hands-off before the spill.

Waxman said the Bush-era lease sale that included the tract where BP’s drilling eventually went awry should have been preceded by much stronger environmental reviews about the sale’s effects.

Markey also bashed the Bush administration.

“Seven years before this spill, the Bush administration exempted most Gulf of Mexico leaseholders from having to include blowout scenarios in their oil and gas exploration or production plans. Oil companies were also no longer required to say how long it would take to drill a relief well, and how a blowout could be contained by capping the well,” he said.

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/109765-house-dems-whack-cheney-over-oil-spill-gop-hits-obamas-role

[ocd liberal]

1. I just explained this to someone

who responded with silence.

[Hekate]

2. The Waxman cometh

:kick:

[FrenchieCat]

3. No one gives a shit!

They are after Vilsak's head.

That's more fun!

[babylonsister]

4. I think he needs to reinstate someone ASAP; he messed up

and overreacted. IMO.

[catgirl]

5. We'll see if this gets any news coverage n/t