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Obama Administration Moves To Distance Itself From BP On Oil Spill Response
Washington Post ^ | May 31, 2010 | Joel Achenbach and Jerry Markon

Posted on 05/31/2010 8:32:26 PM PDT by Steelfish

Obama Administration Moves To Distance Itself From BP On Oil Spill Response

Joel Achenbach and Jerry Markon June 1, 2010

Struggling to convey command of the worsening Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Obama administration is taking steps to distance itself from BP and is dispatching Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to the Gulf Coast to meet with federal and state prosecutors. The Holder trip could signal that the environmental calamity might become the subject of a criminal investigation.

Holder has said Justice Department lawyers are examining whether there was any "malfeasance" related to the leaking oil well, and investigators, who have already been on the coast for a month, have sent letters to BP instructing the company to preserve internal records related to the spill. But federal officials indicated that Holder's trip, which will include a news conference in New Orleans on Tuesday afternoon, will focus on enforcement of environmental laws and holding BP accountable.

The opening of a criminal investigation or civil action against BP, if either were to happen, would create the unusual situation of the federal government weighing charges against a company that it is simultaneously depending on for the most critical elements of the response to the record oil spill.

"We're cooperating fully with all inquiries, and we're doing everything we need to do and more in terms of preserving records," BP spokesman Andrew Gowers said Monday.

The relationship between the federal government and the oil company has been an awkward collaboration all along --

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bpoilspillresponse
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To: Steelfish

This is how the lawyer party deals with problems. Start trying to fix blame, and send in the lawyers. And this is going to stop the leak, minimize the damage and/or cleanup the mess, how?


21 posted on 05/31/2010 8:52:17 PM PDT by MCH
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To: Steelfish

Then there was Browner on TV today crowing “They were going to drill one relief well, but we told them to drill two” - what a nauseating bunch, ready to take credit for the least little thing that works out, and blame anybody else for what ever goes wrong, all the while trying to sound as though they’re masterminding the whole show - a real farce.....


22 posted on 05/31/2010 8:54:49 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: bigbob

Seems like Axelrod, or one of his kids would tell him: “dude, you’re the f%&$@#% PRESIDENT! You lead the country through EVERYTHING significant. You can’t pick and choose”


23 posted on 05/31/2010 8:57:14 PM PDT by RepublicanMeansAmerican
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To: Steelfish

This disaster is not only a humongous technical challenge for engineers it is also, in my opinion, the biggest PR challenge in our nations history.

This is a disaster that defies the news cycle. This is a disaster whose scope, both in terms of damage (enviromental and fiscal) and geographic area (this stuff might even hit Cuba), will only grow adding more people into the mix.

This is also all taking place in the social media era. Oh did I mention this an election year with a very discontent electorate?

This is going to sink almost everyone involved BP, DOJ, DOI (MMS in particular), Obama, DHS, FEMA everyone. The only people in power who might come out looking better are local and state officials who move mountains to help (Jindal I’m looking at you) alleviate the damage.

I look forward to seeing the ads this fall of Obama joking with leno and playing golf whilst the spill goes on.


24 posted on 05/31/2010 8:57:47 PM PDT by Eyes Unclouded ("The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out." -George Carlin)
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To: Steelfish; bushwon; Jim Robinson

“the Obama administration is taking steps to distance itself from BP and is dispatching Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to the Gulf Coast to meet with federal and state prosecutors.”

They finally found the solution to the oil leak. SEND IN THE LAWYERS.


25 posted on 05/31/2010 9:00:20 PM PDT by aquila48
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To: Eyes Unclouded

Don’t bet on it. We have a lame RNC!


26 posted on 05/31/2010 9:01:17 PM PDT by Steelfish (ui)
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To: Eyes Unclouded
This is a disaster that defies the news cycle. This is a disaster whose scope, both in terms of damage (enviromental and fiscal) and geographic area (this stuff might even hit Cuba), will only grow adding more people into the mix.

How does it stack up with the Bhopal disaster of 1984?

27 posted on 05/31/2010 9:01:26 PM PDT by thecodont
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To: Steelfish

Yesterday on Sunday Talk Shows Carol Browner said ALL decisions are being made by administration.. that the stopping the mud was a call by their “resident genius” Choo... etc., she took full responsibility for everything... so which is it???????


28 posted on 05/31/2010 9:01:35 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Steelfish

It is my hope that several unbiased groups are charged with independently investigating the cause of the problem so that a cover up doesn’t happen.

In short, was it an accident or wasn’t it?


29 posted on 05/31/2010 9:02:53 PM PDT by OldNavyVet (One trillion days, at 365 days per year, is 2,739,726,027 years ... almost 3 billion years.)
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To: Eyes Unclouded

Wow! Can you imagine how this administration would handle another 911?


30 posted on 05/31/2010 9:06:02 PM PDT by classified
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To: Steelfish

We could use the lawyers to plug the hole.


31 posted on 05/31/2010 9:06:07 PM PDT by The Good Doctor (Democracy is the only system where you can vote for a tax that you can avoid the obligation to pay.)
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To: Steelfish

A blow up doll would manage this disaster better than the current occupant of the White House.

So far he’s accomplished a big zero.


32 posted on 05/31/2010 9:07:20 PM PDT by kamikaze2000 (You can lead a liberal to truth, but you can't make him think.)
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To: Steelfish

Just last week, Obama said every move BP made was approved by his administration first. Of course, that was the morning it looked like the “hole would be plugged”.


33 posted on 05/31/2010 9:09:55 PM PDT by upsdriver (ret.)
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To: Steelfish

Carol Browner has stated that BP can’t do anything, ANYTHING, without Federal approval; no doubt that means her approval and/or His Holiness’ approval.


34 posted on 05/31/2010 9:11:24 PM PDT by Rembrandt (.. AND the donkey you rode in on.)
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To: Steelfish
Salazar has had his boot on BP's neck "since day 1". Maybe if he'd let them up, they could get this mess fixed.

"We're from the government and we're here to help you."

35 posted on 05/31/2010 9:16:24 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer ("A Republic, If You Can Keep It" - Benjamin Franklin)
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To: thecodont

“How does it stack up with the Bhopal disaster of 1984?”

It stacks up about 12,000 miles closer to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.!


36 posted on 05/31/2010 9:17:45 PM PDT by Rembrandt (.. AND the donkey you rode in on.)
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To: Rembrandt

Browner was only aping what the head Ape stated a few days earlier, monkey see monkey do.


37 posted on 05/31/2010 9:19:12 PM PDT by upsdriver (ret.)
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To: Steelfish

This is so petty and amateurish it’s beyond belief. Eighteen months in and this administration still outdoes itself in stupidity every day.


38 posted on 05/31/2010 9:21:16 PM PDT by TigersEye (0basma's father was a British subject. He can't be a "natural-born" citizen.)
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To: Steelfish

BP forged an alliance with Obama’s inner circle and got some relief from some safety rules. Accidents do happen and now Obama wants to make BP the enemy after he tried to let the government take control of the clean up and when that failed he is turning on his old friends. I won’t necessarily go out of my way to boycott BP.


39 posted on 05/31/2010 9:21:55 PM PDT by TennTuxedo
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To: bushwon

Why spend the money on an investigation,jut blame Bush and be done with it. Idiots


40 posted on 05/31/2010 9:22:51 PM PDT by gunner03
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