Another Stumble in the Gulf

[Valin]

Power Line:

John Hinderaker
6/11/10

The administration has decreed a six-month moratorium on exploratory drilling in the Gulf, based on a report that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote for President Obama. Salazar claimed that a panel of seven experts selected by the National Academy of Engineering had peer reviewed his report. It turns out, though, that the seven experts never saw the recommendation for a moratorium, and in fact oppose it:

The seven experts who advised President Obama on how to deal with offshore drilling safety after the Deepwater Horizon explosion are accusing his administration of misrepresenting their views to make it appear that they supported a six-month drilling moratorium -- something they actually oppose.

The experts, recommended by the National Academy of Engineering, say Interior Secretary Ken Salazar modified their report last month, after they signed it, to include two paragraphs calling for the moratorium on existing drilling and new permits.

The experts, recommended by the National Academy of Engineering, say Interior Secretary Ken Salazar modified their report last month, after they signed it, to include two paragraphs calling for the moratorium on existing drilling and new permits.

Salazar's report to Obama said a panel of seven experts "peer reviewed" his recommendations, which included a six-month moratorium on permits for new wells being drilled using floating rigs and an immediate halt to drilling operations.

"None of us actually reviewed the memorandum as it is in the report," oil expert Ken Arnold told Fox News. "What was in the report at the time it was reviewed was quite a bit different in its impact to what there is now. So we wanted to distance ourselves from that recommendation."

Salazar apologized to those experts Thursday.

Carol Browner tried to claim that the administration did nothing wrong, but it is hard to follow her logic:

"No one's been deceived or misrepresented," Browner told Fox News, defending the moratorium as a safety measure. "These experts gave their expert advice, and then a determination was made looking at all of the information, including what these experts provided -- that there should be a pause, and that's exactly what there is. There's a pause."

That, of course, is very different from attributing the recommendation of a moratorium to the experts, or claiming that they had "peer reviewed" it. In fact, the expert panel made cogent arguments against the administration's moratorium:.....(Snip)

[Pepper]

Valin

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is a tool and a fool. What else do you expect from an Obama appointee?

 

Did you see during the hearings when he was asked point blank by a congressman if BP ever had refused an order?

 

Salazar could not say NO - which was the correct answer. Instead he hemmed and hawed and eventually gave a weasel answer.

 

If they don't rescind this moratorium the newer and more expensive drilling rigs will leave, we get stuck with the oldies so when they do drill again, more potential for leaks.

 

Meanwhile, Obama drives by the gas stations with $5 gas from the comfort of his government limo.

[pollyannaish]

I think the administration is pretty surprised that people aren't just rolling over on this thing. They have suspect expectations:

 

1. They assume everyone in the world hates "the oil industry" the way they do. They don't. And when you think about it a HUGE portion of this country is employed directly in, or tangentially by the industry. We don't like HIGH PRICES, and we don't like POLLUTION. If you can mostly avoid those two things, we like them pretty well.

 

2. They assume that scientists are going to go along with misrepresentations or be confused by misrepresenting a "pause" as a "moratorium" and not understand that what the administration really wants is a "halt." Scientists who aren't cow-towing for a grant do NOT like to be misrepresented. The same holds true for researchers and mathematicians.

 

3. They assume that BP is "always trying to get away with something." They MIGHT be, but it's always best to be temperate in accusing in a situation like this. Often these companies try very hard to comply with most safety and regulatory requirements. They know their size makes them a target and they are not going to get by with much. They may be able to cut better deals with the government on these safety and regulatory requirements, and they may be able to have cozy relationships with those in the government and influence policy—but THAT becomes the government's responsibility, not the BPs. They've probably done next to nothing that the government of many countries has not signed off on. Small and mid-sized companies are much more likely to cut safety and regulatory corners because they have less influence to get out of them directly, and because they have less to lose if they get caught, and because they are less likely to get caught in the first place.

 

4. They assume that the country will look at them as peers when the situation gets tough, not as "the man." Sorry President Obama, but you are now "the man" with all that entails. This administration has the weird idea that they are one of us. What they don't seem to understand is that once you hold the reigns you are no longer us. You are them. Which means the criteria on which you are judged completely changes.

[Valin]

Valin

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is a tool and a fool. What else do you expect from an Obama appointee?

 

Ponder Ponder Ponder Ponder

Nope! Pretty much what I expected.

But then I have to say that otherwise I'd be booted out of the VRWC.

[Pepper]

well said, pollyannaish.

 

Obama is judged on is what he does, not what he reads off the Tele-Prompter in the form of empty promises or ass kick threats.

 

1/3 of the nation, partly liberal, partly confused, partly racist, partly racial apologists, who bought the flim-flam man and snake oil approach hook, line and sinker.

[pinz]

Pepper!

 

If they don't rescind this moratorium the newer and more expensive drilling rigs will leave, we get stuck with the oldies so when they do drill again, more potential for leaks.

 

Meanwhile, Obama drives by the gas stations with $5 gas from the comfort of his government limo.

 

Obama will smile as he is driven by, perhaps even laugh maniacally. He is meeting his goals, one by one.

[Pepper]

Agree, he won't let this crisis go to waste, Pinz.

Obama will smile as he is driven by, perhaps even laugh maniacally. He is meeting his goals, one by one.

[pinz]

One of the reasons they hate Cheney is that he is an unrepentant leader. The lefties I know revel in workshops and group decisions because they are totally unfamiliar with and uncomfortable with the concept of leadership. (A by-product of Alinskythink using ridicule as a prime opposition tool?)

 

Obama has no leadership skills, but even worse, has no understanding of the concept of leadership, or how one would actually lead if one needed to in order to save one's a$$.

[Pepper]

Great post, Pinz

 

"One of the reasons they hate Cheney is that he is an unrepentant leader. "

 

I think it might even be more basic. Cheney is a grown-up.

 

 

Obama is clueless, a Man-child in grown up clothes.

[pinz]

True and true.

[Valin]

Great post, Pinz

 

"One of the reasons they hate Cheney is that he is an unrepentant leader. "

 

I think it might even be more basic. Cheney is a grown-up.

 

 

Obama is clueless, a Man-child in grown up clothes.

 

 

That makes him the prefect Leftist.

[Pepper]

Valin!

 

That makes him the perfect Leftist prefect.