Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS The only thing keeping millions more gallons of oil out of the Gulf of Mexico right now is a rush job: an experimental cap that has held for more than two weeks but was never meant to be permanent. As soon as this week, crews will be pumping in some insurance. Engineers are preparing to launch a so-called static kill as early as Monday evening, shoving mud and perhaps cement into the blown-out well to make it easier to plug the gusher up forever and end the Summer of the Spill. The effort carries no certainty, and BP...

The current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is, of course, a first degree public relations nightmare for beleaguered British multinational BP. Many pundits and financial analysts have debated whether or not the company will be able to survive this environmental disaster. Whether BP can and does survive this ordeal financially remains to be seen. Certainly their financial survival will depend on how many claims are filed, the aggregate value of those claims, the legitimacy of the claims, and how long the claim filing goes on. All of which remains uncertain. But what seems to me to be more...

NEW ORLEANS, LA –– New blogger Stuart H. Smith, a New Orleans-based attorney representing Gulf Coast fishermen, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and an array of major commercial interests, announced the launch of his backroom, no-punches-pulled blog focused exclusively on the spill (www.oilspillaction.com). Smith, a much-loathed legal heavy-weight in the world of Big Oil, is well known for his role as lead counsel in an oilfield radiation case that delivered a verdict of more than $1 billion against ExxonMobil....

Here is video of former President Bill Clinton saying that the 1st priority of the U.S. Government in the Gulf Crisis is to “fix the leak.” Looking for someone to blame should be put off until the leak is fixed, most of the oil is prevented from reaching shore, and until the oil that reaches shore is cleaned up. Only then, he said, should the focus be on holding people accountable. Clinton also said it may become necessary for the U.S. Navy to “blow up the well” to stop the leak on the floor of the Gulf. He said that...

The AP reports that President Barack Obama's point man charting a new future for the oil-poisoned Gulf Coast will do the job part-time. Well, that seems right, his boss only works part time. For which we can be glad because if he worked full time THIS could happen a lot more often.

FReepers, please create a FreeRepublic photo record here of what happens when a community organizer thug is given the most important job in the world. The empty suit, who currently occupies the Oval Office, has no ability whatsoever to lead in a crisis. God help our republic.

BP said Wednesday that it has drilled the world's deepest oil well in the Gulf of Mexico and found a giant pool of crude, a discovery that promises to make an indelible mark on the south Louisiana economy. The Tiber Prospect is expected to rank among the largest petroleum discoveries in the United States, potentially producing half as much crude in a day as Alaska's famous North Slope oil field. Louisiana energy circles were abuzz with news of the discovery Wednesday. "Any incremental business in the Gulf of Mexico is going to be a net positive for us one way...

CARSON CITY, NV – Personhood Nevada, through many legal battles, has been denied the right to circulate their prolife petition in the state. The ACLU joined forces with Planned Parenthood, tying the petition up in court and disallowing the many ready and willing Nevada volunteers their right to circulate the petition. “We have several issues at the heart of this matter,” explained Keith Mason, co-founder of Personhood USA. “First, we have judicial activists ruling against the petition, despite the fact that nearly similar language has been approved in other states. Second, we have the anti-personhood media reporting that we failed...

So how bad was Obama's speech last night about the Gulf oil crises? So bad that the DUmmies AND the KOmmies AND Chris Matthews AND Keith Olbermann judged it to be an EPIC FAILURE. The DUmmies found Obama to be extremely wanting in this THREAD, "Well... That Was Dissappointing..." and this THREAD, "Why Obamas Words Are Empty." Meanwhile the attitude of the KOmmies can be summed up in the very title of this THREAD, "sigh, he did not say anything." So let us now watch extreme DUmmie and KOmmie disappointment in The One in Bolshevik Red while the commentary...

Am I the only one who wonders what could possibly be the agenda of any politician who would thwart our drive toward energy independence? Continuing to lock up America’s domestic energy reserves, including the energy-rich Last Frontier of Alaska, only equips dangerous foreign regimes as they fund terrorist organizations to harm us and our allies. I’m going to keep speaking and writing about this in the simplest of terms until someone can provide a simple answer as to why liberal Democrats don’t understand that we have safe, warehoused onshore and shallow water reserves waiting for permission to be extracted. They...

Recent attention has been focused on the Jones Act—a 1920 maritime protectionist provision—as it relates to the possible involvement of international ships and equipment being brought in to clean up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Jones Act was introduced to protect the merchant marine, at the time, by stipulating that only American-owned and flagged ships with primarily American crews could transport goods between U.S. ports. A dispute has arisen among politicians regarding interpretation of the Jones Act and whether it means that the U.S. is not accepting offers to help with the cleanup. An article...

Obama's failure in the gulf oil crisis grows daily...Kudos to Kevin Kristy at PolitiPage, who has done a beautiful job illustrating exactly what President has been doing since the time of th oil rig explosion through the last holiday weekend.

Here is video of Rudy Giuliani talking with Sean Hannity about a “crisis of competence” in the White House. Giuliani said both the Sestak Job Offer and the offer of jobs to Democrat Andrew Romanoff in Colorado to get him to drop a primary bid against incumbent Democrat Sen. Michael Bennett, should be investigated. On Obama’s handling of the Gulf Crisis, Giuliani said, “It couldn’t be worse.” “This would be an example – if you taught Leadership 101 – of exactly what not to do: Minimize it at first; then a few days after it happens – go on vacation….He...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A team of scientists and engineers, including Purdue University mechanical engineering professor Steven Wereley, released figures Thursday (May 27) showing that at least 12,000-19,000 barrels of oil are flowing daily into the Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of an April 20 oil rig explosion. That means the BP PLC oil spill off the coast of Louisiana has already surpassed the Exxon Valdez as the worst in U.S. history, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Using the most conservative estimate, 450,000 barrels of oil, or 19 million gallons, have leaked into the Gulf since the...

Energy: An administration never enthusiastic about offshore drilling is using the Gulf oil spill as an excuse to suspend Arctic exploration. Who could've seen that coming? Now we'll be more dependent on foreign oil. Suspicions in some quarters that the administration was being deliberately lax in its response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in order to pursue a larger, anti-domestic energy agenda were met with derision. But if not deliberate, the effect is the same as the administration prepares to shut down our search for new oil. President Obama on Thursday announced a suspension...

It's been a big week for Coast Guard Cmdr. Thad Allen, who is in charge of overseeing the federal response to the BP oil leak. This morning, he announced that BP's "top kill" is working, halting the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico since last month's Deepwater Horizon explosion. But earlier in the week, with far less media attention, Allen, 61, stepped down from his position as Commandant of the Coast Guard, the highest position in that branch of the military. He had plans to retire soon after being relieved of command, but was instead tapped to run...

A week and a half after the Deepwater Horizon rig sank beneath the Gulf of Mexico, triggering a massive oil spill that was just beginning to reach the Gulf coastline, President Barack Obama visited the town of Venice, La., on Sunday afternoon to check out the damage

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- In the two years since oil reservoirs were discovered off Cuba's coast, Canadian, Chinese, Indian and Norwegian companies have lined up to explore the potentially lucrative Caribbean waters. U.S. corporations have watched the activity less than 60 miles south of Florida's coastline with their hands tied. U.S. oil exploration in Cuban waters -- along with most U.S. trade -- is prohibited under a 45-year-old U.S. embargo designed to undermine Fidel Castro's communist government. "Right on our own border, there is going to be substantial activity in what is probably the last unexplored deposits in the world,"...