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 ...
That would be a good start - then throw in the Dems ...
“The Holder trip could signal that the environmental calamity might become the subject of a criminal investigation.”
Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!
Dumb!
I mean dumb. This shows more than anything else that Obama has never managed anything ever. At least wait until it’s fixed.
This will do nothing but delay the best solution from being implemented.
That's amazing alright since it's nowhere near the size of the Ixtoc spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Q: How many lawyers does it take to plug an undersea oil well?
A: How many ya got?
“Browner was only aping what the head Ape stated a few days earlier, monkey see monkey do.”
All the responsibility carries with it all the accolades and all the blame, not that the MSM will blame His Holiness. Browner, though, might get fired.
Hohoho. I wasn’t saying it would be worse (although since it is ongoing that possibility cannot be ruled out) I’m saying it will seem worse. Granted I wasn’t alive then but the information cycle was different then. Heck just think about how different your idea of world affairs was before the internet and FR.
More importantly there are agendas to be pursued stemming from this by powerful men. Soros is going to milk this thing for all it is worth and you can bet it will be invoked to help pass some kind of environmental legislation.
In that regard it is already worse than Ixtoc.
Yes he is.
.
Sue Baby Sue
I thought you were saying it wasn’t a media-hyped disaster. I was alive in ‘79 and 24 years old. I never heard of Ixtoc until a few weeks ago. I think that says a lot about how much this is media hype.
I don't want to think about it. I'll have nightmares.
Holder is on his way to the Gulf to devise a way to sue BP for more money than they are legally obligated to pay - except that BP will be able to say that they were under government orders every step of the way, thanks to Obama. Holder couldn’t close Gitmo, couldn’t prosecute KSM, and now won’t be able to get a dime more out of BP than is allowed by law. Idiots.
Ohhh, yeah, that one’s going out to the e-mail list. LOL
When he thought it was plugged he took credit for being in charge. Now that the plug failed its BP’s failure...
Pretty comical if the stakes weren’t so high.
Browner is lying. Check this out:
Gulf Of Mexico Relief Well Drilling To Start Soon: BP
April 27, 2010 (Day 7) - An off-shore oil drilling rig was scheduled to arrive Tuesday on scene near where another platform sank last week after an explosion and fire which led to the presumed deaths of 11 crewmembers, energy giant BP said.
Meanwhile, yet another platform is on the way, the company said. The plan is for the two rigs to drill what are called relief wells on either side of the existing well and to start producing oil in order to relieve the pressure in the existing well.
How can the administration “be in charge from Day One” and now fail to share the podium? This thing has the potential to get much worse. What worries me almost as much as the lack of leadership from BHO is the fact that the two most obvious approaches to fixing this in a short timeframe have failed. This despite a room full of the best engineers and geologists from the major oil companies, not just BP.
They were drilling two relief wells....
but with the recent failures they have allocated the BOP from the second (and less deep) relief well as back up BOP to fit on top of the failed one.
Thanks
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