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Disgusting, but not surprising.

Interior secretary to issue new drilling ban

"WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday he will issue a new order imposing a moratorium on deepwater drilling after a federal judge struck down the existing one.

Salazar said in a statement that the new order will contain additional information making clear why the six-month drilling pause was necessary in the wake of the Gulf oil spill. The judge in New Orleans who struck down the moratorium earlier in the day complained there wasn't enough justification for it.

Salazar pointed to indications of inadequate industry safety precautions on deepwater wells. "Based on this ever-growing evidence, I will issue a new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities."

I bet George Soros was on the phone telling Obama what to do no longer than 30 seconds after the judge delivered his decision.

Hopefully common sense will prevail and the judge knocks this one down in record time.

While I sympathize with the concern over how to avoid a similar scenario with deepwater drilling, the problem the administration runs into is how to frame this as anything but arbitrary? What's the guideline for what disasters will result in moratoriums? What's the guideline for determining the length and scope of each moratorium? I'm not sure if there's any history to go on here in terms of how to do this, who has the authority to do it, and how we handle the implications of doing it. This could be a messy back and forth for sometime if people don't step back and approach this rationally to figure out how, if they can, do this.

GannonFan wrote:While I sympathize with the concern over how to avoid a similar scenario with deepwater drilling, the problem the administration runs into is how to frame this as anything but arbitrary? What's the guideline for what disasters will result in moratoriums? What's the guideline for determining the length and scope of each moratorium? I'm not sure if there's any history to go on here in terms of how to do this, who has the authority to do it, and how we handle the implications of doing it. This could be a messy back and forth for sometime if people don't step back and approach this rationally to figure out how, if they can, do this.

Obama's intentions are quite transparent (no pun intended) in this situation. The only ones he's fooling people like klean. During the campaign, it was no more offshore drilling. When elected, he decided to expand offshore drilling when he thought the oil companies (BP for one) were on board with his Cap and Tax fiasco. This disaster was the best thing that could happen for his agenda. He could "legitimately" stop all drilling offshore, pretty much kill the oil industry with a stroke of his pen, and get his budget busting, job killing, power grabbing Cap and Tax "plan" on the table. All doubts were erased as far as his intentions when he turned last week's address from the Oval Office into a policy speech for Cap and Tax.

Still, the minions will never "get it".

GannonFan wrote:...the problem the administration runs into is how to frame this as anything but arbitrary? ... This could be a messy back and forth for sometime if people don't step back and approach this rationally to figure out how, if they can, do this.

Your comment applies across the board to Obama's extra-Constitutional fiats. If the deep water drilling moratorium were the only time Obama had overstepped his legal and moral bounds, he might be able to sell it. But his hyper-partisan policy fiats are the rule, not the exception.

Or...he might be playing it safe. Should he take the oil industry's word that the rest of their operations are safe? Perhaps you off-shore drilling experts can clue us in.

kalm wrote:Or...he might be playing it safe. Should he take the oil industry's word that the rest of their operations are safe? Perhaps you off-shore drilling experts can clue us in.

Doesn't take much of an expert to do the math. There have been over 4500 wells drilled in what is considered "deep" into the Gulf and this was the first one that has ruptured...exploded, etc.

99.99% is pretty "safe" dontcha think?

Baldy wrote:

kalm wrote:Or...he might be playing it safe. Should he take the oil industry's word that the rest of their operations are safe? Perhaps you off-shore drilling experts can clue us in.

Doesn't take much of an expert to do the math. There have been over 4500 wells drilled in what is considered "deep" into the Gulf and this was the first one that has ruptured...exploded, etc.

99.99% is pretty "safe" dontcha think?

So you think the amount of oil extracted from the gulf and sold by multinational companies on the world market is worth the destruction to our coastline?

kalm wrote:

Baldy wrote: Doesn't take much of an expert to do the math. There have been over 4500 wells drilled in what is considered "deep" into the Gulf and this was the first one that has ruptured...exploded, etc.

99.99% is pretty "safe" dontcha think?

So you think the amount of oil extracted from the gulf and sold by multinational companies on the world market is worth the destruction to our coastline?

At a 99.99% success rate, there's a better chance that you will get killed in an automobile accident sometime in the future. Are you not going to drive anymore?

Baldy wrote:

kalm wrote:
So you think the amount of oil extracted from the gulf and sold by multinational companies on the world market is worth the destruction to our coastline?

At a 99.99% success rate, there's a better chance that you will get killed in an automobile accident sometime in the future. Are you not going to drive anymore?

That's not what I asked, but nice dodge.

kalm wrote:

Baldy wrote: At a 99.99% success rate, there's a better chance that you will get killed in an automobile accident sometime in the future. Are you not going to drive anymore?

That's not what I asked, but nice dodge.

It's called a comparison, but you didn't bother to answer the question. Nice dodge.

Baldy wrote:

kalm wrote:Or...he might be playing it safe. Should he take the oil industry's word that the rest of their operations are safe? Perhaps you off-shore drilling experts can clue us in.

Doesn't take much of an expert to do the math. There have been over 4500 wells drilled in what is considered "deep" into the Gulf and this was the first one that has ruptured...exploded, etc.

99.99% is pretty "safe" dontcha think?

It appears possible that BP may have forced Ocean Engineering into some safety shortcuts, with a wink and a nod from the government.

The question I have is whether the BP/Ocean Engineering debacle was a statistical anomaly, as you suggest, or if other operators have better safety records and procedures. As a former aviation safety investigator, I tend to think it more likely that BP induced some causal factors into their procedures which may not exist in the procedures of other operators.

The good operators should not be punished along with the bad, but I don't see Obama's people making any attempt at a distinction.

native wrote:

Baldy wrote: Doesn't take much of an expert to do the math. There have been over 4500 wells drilled in what is considered "deep" into the Gulf and this was the first one that has ruptured...exploded, etc.

99.99% is pretty "safe" dontcha think?

It appears possible that BP may have forced Ocean Engineering into some safety shortcuts, with a wink and a nod from the government.

The question I have is whether the BP/Ocean Engineering debacle was a statistical anomaly, as you suggest, or if other operators have better safety records and procedures. As a former aviation safety investigator, I tend to think it more likely that BP induced some causal factors into their procedures which may not exist in the procedures of other operators.

The good operators should not be punished along with the bad, but I don't see Obama's people making any attempt at a distinction.

The problem should be a moot point anyway. There are tens of thousands of safe wells in shallow water that are ready to be tapped again. But of course, thanks to the environazis and their enablers in the Obama administration, that won't happen anytime soon.