'Obama's Katrina': an Illustrated Timeline

21 April 2010: All 115 workers are evacuated from the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig.

22 April 2010: President Obama delivers a speech on Wall Street to advocate more government intervention in the country's financial sector, but offers no reforms for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which helped precipitate the 2008 meltdown. He also delivers a speech regarding the contributions of Earth Day to environmental awareness.

23 April 2010: President Obama blasts the Arizona governor, state legislators, police officers and residents for backing federal laws that prohibit illegal immigration.

24 April 2010: The president delivers his weekly radio address, which focuses on further regulation of Wall Street. He also calls upon certain segments of his original supporters -- African-Americans, Latinos, Hispanics, and women -- and asks them to mobilize for political action.

24 April 2010: Efforts to contain the spill are hampered by lack of resources and difficult weather.

25 April 2010: President Obama interrupts a weekend getaway to meet with the Rev. Billy Graham in North Carolina.

25 April 2010: Oil spreads across the gulf and heads toward the Louisiana shoreline.

26 April 2010: President Obama appears in a "Vote 2010" video, distributed by his political action wing Organizing for America, which serves as a stark appeal to blacks and Latinos -- specifically -- for their votes in November.

26 April 2010: The Coast Guard warns that the spill could become one of the worst in United States history.

28 April 2010: The President holds a rare, impromptu press conference on Air Force One, addressing "questions on the Arizona immigration law, the financial regulation bill and other issues." Obama also prepared to make his second nomination to the Supreme Court and warns of a "'conservative' brand of judicial activism in which the courts are often not showing appropriate deference to the decisions of lawmakers."

28 April 2010: large pools of oil are spotted close to the Louisiana shore line.

29 April 2010: the White House Flickr Feed is updated with a photo of the President meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and senior administration officials, including National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones, which indicates that they are urgently working the issue of the oil spill.

29 April 2010: Meanwhile, local officials, the Coast Guard and private citizens continue their efforts to prevent damage to the Louisiana coastline.

Perhaps if the oil breached the Louisiana levees, then caught on fire, and then turned New Orleans into a Dresden-like inferno, the President would stop campaigning for a couple of days and actually pay attention to his own, personal Katrina. Even The New York Times has noticed, decrying the President's lackadaisical response. But I'm guessing that somehow, someway, it's all President Bush's fault.

EPA and the “National Contingency Plan”
Steve McIntyre, posted on Jun 2, 2010 at 10:27 AM

Did any of you know that the US supposedly has a National Contingency Plan for dealing with very large oil spills? And that EPA has legal responsibility for maintaining readiness for such an eventuality? Who knew? I’ve watched hours of coverage and this hasn’t been mentioned anywhere.

The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan Act was signed into law in 1994 (superceding previous legislation that went back to the 1969 Torrey Canyon oil spill.) Laws and regulations are collated here. The EPA has an online book describing the National Continency Plan. See for example (change the number to get other chapters.)

The EPA manual says:

WHEN A MAJOR oil spill occurs in the United States, coordinated teams of local, state, and national personnel are called upon to help contain the spill, clean it up, and ensure that damage to human health and the environment is minimized. Without careful planning and clear organization, efforts to deal with large oil spills could be slow, ineffective, and potentially harmful to response personnel and the environment. In the United States, the system for organizing responses to major oil spills is called the National Response System. One of the principles of the National Contingency Plan is that an effective and prompt response is a national priority. The chair and vice-chair of the National Response Team are to come from EPA and the Coast Guard. The EPA manual says:

AFTER THE PLAN is developed, it is important to test it to see if it works as anticipated. Testing usually takes the form of an exercise or drill to practice responding to a spill.

Also, in a first reading, the presumption of the legislation is that dealing with major problems is a national interest and the government will take charge. The idea behind the plan is that there will be national readiness to deal with oil spills and that EPA will lead the national readiness. Section 3.1.1 (h) states:

Direct planning and preparedness responsibilities of NRT [national Response team] include: (1) Maintaining national preparedness to respond to a major discharge of oil that is beyond regional capabilities.

MMS, who have borne the brunt of criticism of government activities, play little to no role in the National Contingency Plan – based on my initial reading – and definitely a very minor role relative to EPA. MMS does not appear to be a member of the National Response Team (though 300.175 notes that MMS may have useful information and can be called on through the Dept of Interior representative).

I’ve noticed EPA involvement in worrying about dispersant toxicity, but otherwise EPA seems to have been surprisingly invisible given the prominent role assigned to them in the National Contingency Plan.

I’ve only browsed the legislation and manuals and it’s not an area about which I speak authoritatively. I invite readers to look through the Act, regulations and manuals and comment on the degree to which EPA and other agencies have met their statutory obligations. Please do so in relatively technical terms and avoid the temptation to hyperventilate.

[Comments snipped]

bttt

And then it rained.

IBD Editorials 06/02/2010
Obama Slips Up On Oil Spill Panel
By HENRY I. MILLER Posted 06:23 PM ET

I dislike President Obama's style and substance. A whiner and left-wing ideologue, he is remarkably slow-witted when out of range of speechwriters and teleprompters. I'll say one thing for him, though: He brings a sense of irony to government.

The latest example is the incomprehensible choice of William Reilly, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to co-chair the presidential commission to investigate the catastrophic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

During Reilly's tenure, the EPA implemented policies that prevented the development of a high-tech method to mitigate the effects of the oil washing onto the magnificent beaches along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida.

During the 1980s microorganisms genetically engineered to feed on spilled oil were developed in laboratories, but draconian federal regulations discouraged their testing and commercialization and ensured that the techniques available for responding to these disasters remain low-tech and marginally effective.

They include methods such as deploying booms to contain the oil, spraying chemicals to disperse it, burning it and spreading absorbent mats.

At the time of the catastrophic 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, there were great expectations for modern biotechnology applied to "bioremediation," the biological cleanup of toxic wastes, including oil. Reilly, who at that time headed the EPA, later recalled:

"When I saw the full scale of the disaster in Prince William Sound in Alaska ... my first thought was: Where are the exotic new technologies, the products of genetic engineering, that can help us clean this up?"

Reilly should have known: Innovation had been stymied by his agency's hostile policies toward the most sophisticated new genetic engineering techniques. The regulations ensured that biotech researchers in several industrial sectors, including bioremediation, would continue to be intimidated and inhibited by regulatory barriers. Those policies remain in place today, and the EPA's anti-technology zealots show no signs of changing them.

The best way to prevent such accidents is, of course, to obtain energy from sources other than fuel oil. Bio-fuels have been widely touted as a possibility, but solutions to technical difficulties, such as breaking down plant materials so that they can be metabolized into ethanol, have thus far eluded scientists.

Ironically, EPA regulation has also inhibited the development of the genetically engineered bacteria and fungi that are needed. Thus, EPA's policies have for decades stymied safe energy production in two ways: (1) by preventing innovation applied to industrial processes that could produce biofuel, and (2) by obstructing the development and commercialization of oil-eating organisms that could be used in a spill.

Plucky Louisiana governor takes on White House and wins

(Reuters) - Midway through a news conference to lambaste the Obama administration for dragging its heels on approving a plan to fight a massive oil spill on Wednesday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal chalked up a political victory.

Standing at a podium in Venice, Louisiana, an aide handed Jindal a piece of paper informing him that the White House had approved to a plan requiring BP Plc to spend $350 million to build five barrier islands. The sand islands hopefully will shield the state's fragile coastline from an onslaught of oil.

Over the past few weeks, the barrier islands have become a flash point between the White House and Jindal, the 38-year-old son of Indian immigrants with national political ambitions.

With criticism of President Barack Obama mounting, Jindal has buffed his political credentials by vilifying both London-based BP and the Obama administration, political analysts said.

"Our federal government does not need to be making excuses for BP," Jindal said during the news conference, only moments before he received word that the White House had approved his request. "Every day they make us wait, we're losing our battle to protect our coast."

After Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana in 2008, the Oxford-educated Republican governor proved his mettle as a savvy crisis manager who could reel off detailed information on the number of ice bags and power generators on hand.

Now the oil spill has allowed Jindal to display his grasp of fine details while portraying both BP and Obama as ineffectual, said Bernie Pinsonat of Southern Media and Opinion, a Baton Rouge polling firm.

"Jindal has clearly run circles around (Obama) in being out in front on the issue," Pinsonat said. "You can see the tread marks all over Obama, up and down his back."

THE POLITICS OF DISASTER

Hurricanes and other natural disasters have been the downfall of more than one U.S. politician. A fumbling response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has been cited as the political undoing of Jindal's Democratic predecessor, Kathleen Blanco. Former President George W. Bush also was roundly criticized for reacting too slowly to Katrina.

"I guess the only one who wasn't paying attention to that episode was Obama," Pinsonat said.

Political analysts mention Jindal as a possible presidential candidate in coming years and see him as the Republicans' answer to Obama: a smart politician who can appeal to younger voters.

But as he seeks to work with Washington now, critics are reminding him of a March 2009 address in which he said: "There has never been a challenge that the American people, with as little interference as possible by the federal government, cannot handle."

Jindal's political career has not always been smooth sailing, although recent polls showed his support buoyant at over 60 percent. In 2009, Jindal's high-profile response to Obama's first State of the Union speech was panned as off-mark.

In taking a confrontational tone toward the White House, Jindal appeals to conservative voters who distrust Washington, said Robert Hogan, an associate professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

"He's been dogged with this (barrier island) issue and has utilized it to his advantage," Hogan said. "Now that the federal government has cried uncle, where does he go next?"

Jindal likely will shift his focus toward extracting funds and aid from BP, Hogan said.

The prediction seemed to bear true on Thursday when Jindal heaped criticism on BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward for making "idiotic statements" in various media about wanting "my life back."

Hayward has since apologized for the statements and on Thursday said BP will clean up "every drop" of oil.

Such apologies were little solace for Jindal, who used the word "idiotic" three times to describe BP during a news conference in Grand Isle.

"Let me just be blunt, they sound idiotic to us," he said. "I'm sorry for inconveniencing him. I don't know what he'd be doing. Maybe he'd be on a summer vacation."

For Louisiana residents, Jindal's strategy appears to be a winner.

"Everybody is rallying around the governor," said Mike Frenette, the head of the Venice Charter Boat and Guide Association. "His pleas and demands and concerns are about as truthful as you can get."

Rolling Stone: Deepwater blew and Obama knew

posted at 12:55 pm on June 9, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/09/rolling-stone-deepwater-blew-and-obama-knew/

So far, Barack Obama’s new Captain Kickass persona seems to be as big a flop as the movie itself. No one is buying Obama’s outrage, especially not the Left, where anger over his mismanagement and inaction has finally landed in the featured pages of the Rolling Stone, one of the magazines shouting hosannas to Obama in 2007-8. Tim Dickinson takes his shots at the Bush administration, but mainly hammers Obama and his laughable attempts to feign shock over the Deepwater Horizon blowout and Gulf disaster:

<//> “Like the attacks by Al Qaeda, the disaster in the Gulf was preceded by ample warnings – yet the administration had ignored them. Instead of cracking down on MMS, as he had vowed to do even before taking office, Obama left in place many of the top officials who oversaw the agency’s culture of corruption. He permitted it to rubber-stamp dangerous drilling operations by BP – a firm with the worst safety record of any oil company – with virtually no environmental safeguards, using industry-friendly regulations drafted during the Bush years. He calibrated his response to the Gulf spill based on flawed and misleading estimates from BP – and then deployed his top aides to lowball the flow rate at a laughable 5,000 barrels a day, long after the best science made clear this catastrophe would eclipse the Exxon Valdez.

“Even after the president’s press conference,Rolling Stone has learned, the administration knew the spill could be far worse than its “best estimate” acknowledged. That same day, the president’s Flow Rate Technical Group – a team of scientists charged with establishing the gusher’s output – announced a new estimate of 12,000 to 25,000 barrels, based on calculations from video of the plume. In fact, according to interviews with team members and scientists familiar with its work, that figure represents the plume group’s minimum estimate. The upper range was not included in their report because scientists analyzing the flow were unable to reach a consensus on how bad it could be. “The upper bound from the plume group, if it had come out, is very high,” says Timothy Crone, a marine geophysicist at Columbia University who has consulted with the government’s team. “That’s why they had resistance internally. We’re talking 100,000 barrels a day.” <//>

But what happened to Hope and Change? The MMS had been a known center of corruption for some time, which led Republican firebrand Rep. Darrell Issa to declare that “Bush owns eight years of the mess” in a statement to Rolling Stone, but that “after more than a year on the job, Salazar owns it too.” Obama appointed Ken Salazar to run Interior at the beginning of his presidency, and Dickinson reports that he initially made some moves to clean up MMS. However, those got quickly forgotten — even though Obama had made MMS an issue during his presidential campaign. If Obama has failed to make a go of “Captain Kickass,” Salazar might be believable as Commander Passbuck:

<//>”Salazar himself has worked hard to foster the impression that the “prior administration” is to blame for the catastrophe. In reality, though, the Obama administration was fully aware from the outset of the need to correct the lapses at MMS that led directly to the disaster in the Gulf. In fact, Obama specifically nominated Salazar – his “great” and “dear” friend – to force the department to “clean up its act.” For too long, Obama declared, Interior has been “seen as an appendage of commercial interests” rather than serving the people. “That’s going to change under Ken Salazar.” —
Salazar did little to tamp down on the lawlessness at MMS, beyond referring a few employees for criminal prosecution and ending a Bush-era program that allowed oil companies to make their “royalty” payments — the amount they owe taxpayers for extracting a scarce public resource — not in cash but in crude. And instead of putting the brakes on new offshore drilling, Salazar immediately throttled it up to record levels. Even though he had scrapped the Bush plan, Salazar put 53 million offshore acres up for lease in the Gulf in his first year alone -– an all-time high. The aggressive leasing came as no surprise, given Salazar’s track record. “This guy has a long, long history of promoting offshore oil drilling – that’s his thing,” says Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “He’s got a highly specific soft spot for offshore oil drilling.” As a senator, Salazar not only steered passage of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which opened 8 million acres in the Gulf to drilling, he even criticized President Bush for not forcing oil companies to develop existing leases faster.
Salazar was far less aggressive, however, when it came to making good on his promise to fix MMS. Though he criticized the actions of “a few rotten apples” at the agency, he left long-serving lackeys of the oil industry in charge. “The people that are ethically challenged are the career managers, the people who come up through the ranks,” says a marine biologist who left the agency over the way science was tampered with by top officials. “In order to get promoted at MMS, you better get invested in this pro-development oil culture.” One of the Bush-era managers whom Salazar left in place was John Goll, the agency’s director for Alaska. Shortly after, the Interior secretary announced a reorganization of MMS in the wake of the Gulf disaster, Goll called a staff meeting and served cake decorated with the words “Drill, baby, drill.” <//>

And after the crisis began?

<//>”The president himself was occupied elsewhere. After returning from his vacation, Obama spent Monday, April 26th palling around with Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees, congratulating them on their World Series victory. He later took time to chat with the president of Honduras. When he put in a call to Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, it was to talk about tornadoes that had caused damage in that state, with only a brief mention of the oil spill. On Tuesday the 27th, Obama visited a wind-turbine plant in Iowa. Wednesday the 28th, he toured a biofuels refinery in Missouri and talked up financial reform in Quincy, Illinois. He didn’t mention the oil spill or the Gulf.
That evening, administration officials received news that – to judge from their subsequent response – scared the shit out of them. “The following is not public,” a confidential NOAA advisory stressed. “Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked, resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought. There is no official change in the volume released but the [Coast Guard] is no longer stating that the release rate is 1,000 barrels a day. Instead they are saying that they are preparing for a worst-case release and bringing all assets to bear.” …
After he was briefed that evening, Obama told his deputies to contact the Pentagon. The following day, Napolitano declared the BP disaster, which was now approaching the size of Puerto Rico, an “Oil Spill of National Significance” – the designation required to draw on regional resources and to appoint an incident commander to coordinate a federal response. It had taken a full week after Deepwater Horizon exploded for the government to become fully engaged – a critical lapse that allowed the crisis to spiral out of control.” <//>

There is more — much more — in Dickinson’s report, which should be read in full. It indicts both administrations on negligence and incompetence, as well as BP and the regulators that allowed it to operate without hardly any safeguards at all. While the details may be surfacing in the Rolling Stone report for the first time for some people, the narrative itself is in line with the assumptions from the last couple of weeks about what led to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, the spill, and the bungled response.

This is more interesting for Rolling Stone’s comfort in damning the Obama administration and flat-out rejecting the Captain Kickass/Commander Passbuck spin coming from the White House.

Not only did they know all about the problems at MMS, none of them had much interest in fixing it. When disaster struck, they spent more time trying to silence scientists at NOAA about the extent of the spill than they did in getting BP to act.

It’s as if they won the election and decided mainly to rest on their laurel. It speaks to a profound disinterest in doing the jobs for which they got elected, and a complete lack of leadership from the beginning of the spill and lasting until the moment Rolling Stone published their analysis today.

bttt

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