White House Declares Halt on New Offshore Drilling

Aol News ^ | 30/4/10 | Doug Simpson, Lauren Frayer

[Eleutheria5]

The White House said today it is halting all new offshore drilling in U.S. waters until there's an "adequate review" of a massive 600-mile wide oil slick that has begun to lap up on Louisiana's coast.

The federal government is defending its response to the spill, which began with an April 20 blast on one of British Petroleum's offshore rigs that burned for two days before sinking. Rescuers saved 115 workers but 11 are presumed dead. BP is responsible for the cleanup, and it wasn't until Thursday -- nine days after the explosion -- that the White House declared it "a leak of national significance."

White House senior adviser David Axelrod told ABC's "Good Morning America" today that President Barack Obama has decided that there will be no new domestic offshore drilling until an investigation of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill incident is complete.

"All he has said is that he is not going to continue the moratorium on drilling but ... no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here," Axelrod said, defending the administration's policy.

[OafOfOffice]

On twitter many are saying that the blast in this oil rig, the blast at the refinery and the Mine, is terrorist or Obama’s Alinksy tactics. Think about it? These are Obama’s targets. Coal and domestic oil. Isn’t it too coincidental? We have another crisis too.

You know Saudi’s don’t want us to drill, baby drill and become independent. They already said if we cut our oil needs they want reparations. Prince too many weeds said his wealth has gone down. Saudi’s being muslim could have called in Al Qaeda operatives. Liberals are already mocking Palin’s drill baby drill.

Drilling was suppose to be safe now. This was never suppose to happen. I don’t want our beaches mucked up and our sea life killed. WTH happened?

My husband has been in the oil business for 36 years. (We know Saudi’s and they are very nice people. The only problem with them is they like to buy their contracts through bribes and in America we don’t do business that way.) I asked my husband about the terrorist plot being a possibility. He said it would have to be a REAL insider. I said like the Fort Hood shooter? He said security is so tight in refinery and rigs it would be tough. He also said refinery fires and blast happen and I do know that. After 9/11 in refineries’ they can search the trunk of your car and no alcohol allowed. Not even delivered as a gift to your office.

Everyone is saying this is BP but this was a contractor. BP will take the hit for it for sure. There is something else about why Obama or another terrorist would want BP to take a hit and I can’t remember it right now. The rig blast is not a spill, it is a geyser.

Yeah, yeah, this sounds like a TRUTHER argument with GVMT involvement but this one could end up for real. Time will tell and all I am saying is keep your ears open.

[houeto]

And now the blame game gets a new player.

Halliburton? Wow! Another very deep set of pockets. I believe it will literally take a decade to legally sort this mess out.

[b4its2late]

That didn’t take long, just like Rush suggested.

[pillut48]

[metmom]

I’m sure it will.

There are plenty of places to drill for oil on land.

Do it there.

[poobear]

Off ping list please

[Nachum]

Done.

[TexasFreeper2009]

lol

if you think the press is going to pass up an opportunity to show little fuzzy animals covered with oil... you haven’t been watching the news in the last 20 years.

[dfwgator]

Agreed, but blame Obama? It will all be Bush’s Fault, you can count on that.

[pillut48]

Right after this happened, the local radio station dj and news reporter were talking about the 'miracle' that it had been learned that NOTHING was leaking from the well despite the rig sinking...NOTHING.

Gulf Oil Rig 'Not Leaking'
Coast Guard: No Leaks From Sunken Oil Rig
Sunken rig not leaking crude oil, Coast Guard official says
Update with video: Exploded, sunken Gulf rig not leaking oil, Coast Guard says"

Uh-huh. Things that make you go 'hmmmmmmm....'

[TexasFreeper2009]

It has been 10 days... TEN DAYS!! and what has Obama done? played golf? Done a few fund raisers?

It took Bush only 3 days to respond to Katrina.

[proud_yank]

I think they call it a “Sub-Sea Safety Valve (SSSV)”, or something similar, but I’ve heard that they are not required, and perhaps BP didn’t put one on this well.

My understanding is that SSSVs are placed on a well after it has been completed. There would have been a blow-out preventer (BOP) on this well, obviously, it did not function properly. A BOP is a very large piece of steel and when activated it shears the well tubing, stopping flow. Why it did not function is the big question I have. I don't know if it was because controls were damaged with the rig explosion, and why it would not function as a fail-safe when the well failed.

[Voter62vb]

Running, operating has additional cost added to the fixed lease:

“The full drilling spread, with helicopters and support vessels and other services, will cost closer to $1 million per day to operate in the course of drilling for oil and gas”

http://www.bairdmaritime.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6487:picture-special-the-sinking-of-the-deepwater-horizon-&catid=114:workboats&Itemid=209

Info on time gap.

http://www.innopress.us/2010/04/23/ap-oil-rig-reported-explosion-3-hours-before-fire/

[gathersnomoss]

It’s all good. Have a Good Humor ice cream.

[proud_yank]

That proved not to be the case. As far as I can see, there are only two other possibilities, one sabotage, the other is bad Chinese steel with uneven tensile strength.

I wouldn't rule out sabotage, it is a concern of the industry, but for this incident, my opinion is it is a very long shot as a cause of failure.

Materials could be a factor as well. I think the big question is why the blow out preventer failed. The investigation is nowhere near complete, and people are quick to rush to a conclusion which is not good.

[pillut48]

Ah, but they are! :-)
Check out this google news search page:
Obama's Katrina: Results 1 – 10 of about 530 for Obama's Katrina. (0.09 seconds)

Here's a google web search page:
Obama's Katrina: Results 1 - 10 of about 1,420,000 for Obama's Katrina. (0.11 seconds)

The ball is rolling!

[TexasFreeper2009]

I’m sorry but I have lived near the Gulf my entire life, and to me this is potentially 10 times worse than Katrina.

[gathersnomoss]

I apologize for being insensitive.

I have had enough of this crowd, and I spouted off.

Sorry.

[gathersnomoss]

I apologize for being insensitive.

I have had enough of this crowd, and I spouted off.

Sorry.

[XenaLee]

"Amazing how all these things are happening just as Obama is pushing his agenda..."

Isn't it, though? I wonder what ever happened to that Swine Flu "National Emergency" that Zero announced (10/25/09) right before they rammed the Obama Deathcare through (11/8/09). Hmmm....