OFFSHORE DRILLING: Crist to call special session to seek constitutional ban on Fla. drilling (05/11/2010)

Alex Kaplun, E&E reporter

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said today he intends to call for a special legislative session so state lawmakers will take up a bill that would ban drilling in Florida’s coastal waters.

The session would address fallout from a ruptured oil well spewing thousands of gallons of crude a day into the Gulf of Mexico from the site of the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig 50 miles off Louisiana. Crist told reporters today that the session was all but a done deal.

“I think it’s important that we go ahead and have a special session,” Crist told reporters, according to the St. Petersburg Times. “I’m encouraged that the Legislature is of a mind to do so as well.”

The session, whose start date has not been announced, will focus on two main items — a state constitutional ban on drilling in Florida waters and new tax incentives for companies to develop alternative energy technologies.

The drilling ban would affect waters between 3 and 10 miles off the Florida coast and have no direct impact on federal drilling policy. Florida law already limits offshore drilling in state waters, but in the wake of the spill, a number of state politicians have called for a more permanent ban.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who has led the charge to halt new offshore drilling in federal waters, today also sent a letter to Crist urging him to hold the special session.

“Oil and gas drilling in these waters currently is not allowed under Florida law,” Nelson wrote. “But the scope of the still-unfolding crisis in the Gulf of Mexico should prompt all lawmakers to re-examine Big Oil’s public relations and safety claims, and to call for a more permanent halt on the industry’s push for drilling in state waters.”

A constitutional amendment would require the approval by both houses of the Florida Legislature as well as the approval of at least 60 percent of voters in November.

Crist said today that he believed the constitutional ban could clear both hurdles. “There’s no stronger place to put it. The Constitution is the bedrock of our democracy,” Crist told the St. Petersburg Times.

The special session is likely to have heavy political implications, as Crist is currently locked in three-way race for a U.S. Senate seat. The spill began on the heels of Crist’s announcement that he would leave the Republican Party to run for the Senate as an independent.

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OFFSHORE DRILLING: Salazar outlines MMS reorganization plan (05/11/2010)

Noelle Straub, E&E reporter

Saying the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling must avoid conflicts of interest especially in the wake of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today proposed a safety and environmental office separate from the leasing and royalty division.

The creation of a new safety and environmental enforcement entity will require the restructuring of the Minerals Management Service. The job of ensuring that oil companies follow the law should be independent from “revenue raising” activities, he said.

Currently, MMS collects billions of dollars in royalties each year. “It seems to me that separate and apart from that function, we ought to have the safety and environmental enforcement functions so there is no conflict, real or perceived, with respect to those functions,” Salazar said.

The new office will have about 300 employees and place inspectors that now work elsewhere into a centralized office, Salazar said. It may include creating an assistant secretary for environment and safety, he said. The details of the proposal remain to be fleshed out, he said, while many Interior officials are focused on the situation in the Gulf.

“What I don’t want to do in the reorganization is to take their eyes off the ball,” he said.
While Salazar will be able to carry out parts of the plan on his own through secretarial order, there are areas that may need congressional approval, he said. A legislative package is being worked on at the White House Office of Management and Budget and will be sent to Capitol Hill, he said. The “exact contours” of the legislation will be worked out by Congress, he said.

Senate Interior Appropriations Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said her subcommittee will hold a hearing on the proposal, which she said must receive approval from congressional funders. There has been no hearing date set, she said.

“I’ve always looked at MMS as a relatively weak agency with not much by way of enforcement teeth,” Feinstein said. “I think if separation develops a set of enforcement teeth and independence — now we know what is out there, in terms of catastrophe, and we have to respond and see that it never, ever happens again.”

House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) said his panel will delve into the proposal when Salazar testifies before his committee at the end of this month. “Given this disaster in the Gulf, one has to ask whether leasing and safety policing are like oil and water and simply do not mix,” he said in a statement.

As for a timetable, Salazar said, “We will move forward with all deliberate haste to get this done quickly.”

The change means there will be additional and more robust inspections of rigs and drilling activities, he said. Promising the new agency will have independence, Salazar said it will take the industry’s input when developing new safety rules, “but that doesn’t mean the oil and gas companies essentially should be in the driver’s seats of any of these rules and regulations.”

Other regulatory reforms

Salazar also said he is submitting a proposal to Congress to increase to 90 days or more the amount of time MMS has to complete an environmental review of exploration plans. Under current law, the agency must review and make decisions about exploration plans within 30 days of when companies submit them.

“There is no way an agency can do an adequate environmental assessment within 30 days,” Salazar said.

The change will supplement the current environmental reviews that are already conducted at earlier stages in the leasing process, Salazar said, noting that there are environmental reviews at the planning and lease sale stages.

Salazar also announced he will be submitting a request to Congress for $29 million to strengthen and increase offshore inspections and enforcement and to study policy changes or actions that may be needed in the wake of the spill. Other changes are in the works, he added.

“These reforms will not be the last we will undertake,” Salazar said.

The reforms are meant to give Interior officials greater tools, independence and authority to enforce regulations, Salazar said. MMS was created administratively in the 1980s, but Salazar favors “organic legislation” that would establish the agency via an act of Congress and require that the head of MMS be confirmed by the Senate, which is not the case now.

Noting that he has spoken in favor of reforming the agency since early last year, Salazar said the fact Congress has not approved comprehensive climate and energy legislation is “probably what has impeded” the reforms from being enacted yet. But the ongoing Gulf disaster may spark a new effort on the issue, he said.

Salazar also announced that the National Academy of Engineering will conduct an independent technical investigation into the oil spill. That will be in addition to a joint investigation being carried out by MMS and the Coast Guard, a 30-day review by Interior of offshore safety, and a new safety oversight board to handle broader questions about management, oversight and safety.

Reactions

House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said the proposal to split up MMS merits consideration. But Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said it is too early for decisions.

“I think we need a little time to figure it out,” Dorgan said. “We should think through what we want to do with the right regulatory framework, but I think it is too early to make judgments about it.”
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) said he needs to study the proposal, but added, “It certainly makes sense to me, though, at first blush, that you would separate out the regulatory responsibilities from the royalty collection responsibilities.”

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) praised the move, saying it “will provide the additional oversight of offshore oil and gas activities our country needs.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also expressed support, saying he thinks “it’s a good thing.” The Union of Concerned Scientists also favors the proposal, saying it is “long overdue.”

But Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter said the proposed split “is insufficient to address the long-standing lack of regulatory oversight by the agency of the oil industry.”

“After the immediate danger of operating rigs is addressed comprehensively, it is time for a complete overhaul of the regulatory framework for overseeing the industry,” Hauter said in a statement. “Oil companies are going deeper into the depths of the ocean, and the risks to workers and the environment have dramatically increased. We need more than window dressing to make sure that another devastating spill doesn’t occur.”

Reporters Robin Bravender, Allison Winter, Kate Ling and Alex Kaplun contributed.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37074.html

By ANDY BARR | 5/11/10 4:35 PM EDT
Liberals are now significantly less likely to support offshore drilling, with 67 percent saying the spill skewed their opinions against future drilling.

In the wake of a massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast, 55 percent of Americans say they still support offshore drilling, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling.

Thirty percent of the 707 registered voters polled nationwide opposed offshore drilling while 15 percent weren’t sure.

While a majority still back offshore drilling, the oil spill that has started to hit beaches along Louisiana has made 43 percent less likely to support further drilling off American coasts. Thirty-six percent said the spill has not changed their opinion while 21 percent are now more likely to support offshore drilling.

Liberals are now significantly less likely to support offshore drilling, with 67 percent saying the spill skewed their opinions against future drilling.

More conservatives actually said that the spill increased the likelihood that they would support offshore drilling, with 29 percent saying they are more likely to support future drilling since the spill compared to 23 percent who are less likely. Forty-eight percent of conservatives said the spill makes no difference on their opinions.

But while conservative views on offshore drilling have not been changed by the oil spill, very few said they are adopting a theory floated by Rush Limbaugh last week that environmental activists may be responsible for the incident that caused the spill.

Only 9 percent of conservatives said they believe environmentalists may have been responsible for the spill, compared with 22 percent who weren’t sure and 69 percent who didn’t think activists were responsible.

“It’s good to know that even if some Republicans think oil spills are a good thing, they at least don’t think environmentalists intentionally cause them,” PPP pollster Tom Jenson wrote on the firm’s blog.

special thanks to Richard Charter

Debris made up of golf balls and rubber tyres may be used
to try to stem the Gulf of Mexico oil slick, BP officials say.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/8672181.stm
BP ‘may stem oil with golf balls and tyres’
Hundreds of miles of booms are being
laid along the coastline

BP officials desperate to stem a huge oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico are considering stuffing the well with golf balls and
tyres, it was revealed.

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the so-called “junk
shot” of debris was one option after previous attempts to stem
the flow failed.

A growing slick from the BP-leased rig is threatening an
environmental disaster along US coasts.

Some 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil a day are flowing
into the sea.

Mr Suttles said it may be possible to stem the flow by blocking
the well’s failed blowout preventer.

“We have some pipe work on the blowout preventer, and if we can
open certain valves on that we could inject basically just rubber
and other type of material into [it] to plug it up, not much
different to the way you might plug up a toilet,” he said.

Admiral Thad Allen of the US Coast Guard said it could plug the
main leak.

“They’re going to take a bunch of debris, shredded up tyres, golf
balls and things like that, and under very high pressure shoot it
into the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop
the leak,” he told CBS television.
   
ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL SLICK
– Booms have been partly successful although rough
     seas have washed oil over them
– Some controlled burning of oil has taken place,
but it causes serious air pollution
– About 325,000 gallons of dispersant have been used,
        although scientists warn it may kill marine life
– A relief well is being drilled but could many weeks
– A huge steel funnel suffered a build-up of ice-like
      crystals and had to be put aside

However, experts have warned that any further damage to the blowout
preventer – a huge valve system meant to turn the oil off – could
see it shooting out at 12 times the current rate.

The Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and sank following an explosion
last month.

The resulting slick has so far thwarted all efforts by BP and US
officials to bring it under control.

A 98-tonne concrete-and-steel funnel lowered 5,000ft (1,500m) to the
seabed had been BP’s best hope to contain the main leak while it
tried to stop it altogether by drilling relief wells nearby.
But a build-up of gas hydrates – crystalline water-based solids
resembling ice – inside the funnel blocked the exit at the top,
and it had to be put aside on Saturday.

Mr Suttles said other options being discussed were to make a smaller
containment dome or to tap into the broken riser pipe and take the
oil directly to the surface.
The broken pipe is almost a mile (1.6 km) down on the ocean floor with
little visibility for engineers using remotely controlled vehicles.
Wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico is
already suffering

Although the Deepwater Horizon was operated by Transocean, BP is
responsible for the clean-up.

The slick has so far covered about 2,000 sq miles (5,200 sq km).
US President Barack Obama is due to meet senior officials at the
White House on Monday to review BP’s efforts.

A sheen from the edge of the slick is surrounding island nature
reserves off Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the
Alabama coast.

The low-lying region contains vital spawning grounds for fish,
shrimp and crabs and is an important migratory stop for many species
of rare birds.

Louisiana’s fishing industry has ground to a halt in certain areas
due to health concerns about polluted fish.

Booms and bundles of absorbent material have been laid along
shorelines to try to protect them.

Teams are also filling sandbags which the Louisiana National Guard
will airlift on Monday to five spots along a threatened stretch of
coastline.

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/13857-1
Florida Public News Service               
May 10, 2010
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Government leaders, emergency personnel and cleanup experts are meeting in Tallahassee today to discuss the best ways to respond if, and when, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill strikes Florida beaches. A new poll shows the spill may have swayed many Florida voters. Fifty-five percent now oppose drilling off Florida’s coast, while 35 percent support it – almost a complete reversal from polling results one year ago.

Even some politicians are singing a different tune. Steve Bousquet, Capitol Bureau Chief for the St. Petersburg “Times,” reports that both the incoming speaker of the Florida House, Dean Cannon, and the next Senate president, Mike Haridopolos, have backed off from their efforts to bring drilling closer to Florida’s shores.

“Any likelihood of drilling, the bottom has fallen completely out. And that’s to be expected. They’re now hands-off drilling, and they will be for a very long time.”

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, says this threat of economic and environmental disaster should convince politicians to consider clean energy alternatives like greater fuel efficiency, hybrid and electric cars, and bio-diesel.

“It should be an absolute wake-up call that we need to get serious about ending our addiction to fossil fuels. What’s important to our national security and our future is that we develop the alternatives, not that we stay locked into high-risk energy choices like offshore drilling.”

Bousquet says Florida legislators, particularly in the business-oriented Florida House, considered bills the last two sessions that would have expanded offshore drilling. Now, Gov. Crist may call a special session to consider a constitutional amendment to prohibit drilling, because he says the Deepwater Horizon spill has put the “kibosh on drilling off the Florida coast.”

Gina Presson , Public News Service – FL

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/opinion/10krugman.html

Sex & Drugs & the Spill

By Paul Krugman
Published: May 9, 2010
“Obama’s Katrina”: that was the line from some pundits and news sources, as they tried to blame the current administration for the gulf oil spill. It was nonsense, of course. An Associated Press review of the Obama administration’s actions and statements as the disaster unfolded found “little resemblance” to the shambolic response to Katrina – and there has been nothing like those awful days when everyone in the world except the Bush inner circle seemed aware of the human catastrophe in New Orleans.
Yet there is a common thread running through Katrina and the gulf spill – namely, the collapse in government competence and effectiveness that took place during the Bush years.

The full story of the Deepwater Horizon blowout is still emerging. But it’s already obvious both that BP failed to take adequate precautions, and that federal regulators made no effort to ensure that such precautions were taken.

For years, the Minerals Management Service, the arm of the Interior Department that oversees drilling in the gulf, minimized the environmental risks of drilling. It failed to require a backup shutdown system that is standard in much of the rest of the world, even though its own staff declared such a system necessary. It exempted many offshore drillers from the requirement that they file plans to deal with major oil spills. And it specifically allowed BP to drill Deepwater Horizon without a detailed environmental analysis.

Surely, however, none of this – except, possibly, that last exemption, granted early in the Obama administration – surprises anyone who followed the history of the Interior Department during the Bush years.

For the Bush administration was, to a large degree, run by and for the extractive industries – and I’m not just talking about Dick Cheney’s energy task force. Crucially, management of Interior was turned over to lobbyists, most notably J. Steven Griles, a coal-industry lobbyist who became deputy secretary and effectively ran the department. (In 2007 Mr. Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his ties to Jack Abramoff.)

Given this history, it’s not surprising that the Minerals Management Service became subservient to the oil industry – although what actually happened is almost too lurid to believe. According to reports by Interior’s inspector general, abuses at the agency went beyond undue influence: there was “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” – cocaine, sexual relationships with industry representatives, and more. Protecting the environment was presumably the last thing on these government employees’ minds.

Now, President Obama isn’t completely innocent of blame in the current spill. As I said, BP received an environmental waiver for Deepwater Horizon after Mr. Obama took office. It’s true that he’d only been in the White House for two and half months, and the Senate wouldn’t confirm the new head of the Minerals Management Service until four months later. But the fact that the administration hadn’t yet had time to put its stamp on the agency should have led to extra caution about giving the go-ahead to projects with possible environmental risks.

And it’s worth noting that environmentalists were bitterly disappointed when Mr. Obama chose Ken Salazar as secretary of the interior. They feared that he would be too friendly to mineral and agricultural interests, that his appointment meant that there wouldn’t be a sharp break with Bush-era policies – and in this one instance at least, they seem to have been right.
In any case, now is the time to make that break – and I don’t just mean by cleaning house at the Minerals Management Service. What really needs to change is our whole attitude toward government. For the troubles at Interior weren’t unique: they were part of a broader pattern that includes the failure of banking regulation and the transformation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a much-admired organization during the Clinton years, into a cruel joke. And the common theme in all these stories is the degradation of effective government by antigovernment ideology.

Mr. Obama understands this: he gave an especially eloquent defense of government at the University of Michigan’s commencement, declaring among other things that “government is what ensures that mines adhere to safety standards and that oil spills are cleaned up by the companies that caused them.”
Yet antigovernment ideology remains all too prevalent, despite the havoc it has wrought. In fact, it has been making a comeback with the rise of the Tea Party movement. If there’s any silver lining to the disaster in the gulf, it is that it may serve as a wake-up call, a reminder that we need politicians who believe in good government, because there are some jobs only the government can do.

Special thanks to Richard Charter