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Ear to the Ground

Administration Says Yes to New Oil Well in Gulf

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Posted on Jun 2, 2010
Flickr / mikebaird (CC-BY)

With atrocious timing, the Minerals Management Service has approved a new oil well to be drilled off the coast of Louisiana. As decisions go, this one seems dumber than a bag of nails. Why not just build an offshore bucket? There’s plenty of oil in the water these days. You can thank Team Obama, which let a ban on shallow drilling expire, for this bizarre development.  —PZS

AP via Google:

The Minerals Management Service granted a new drilling permit sought by Bandon Oil and Gas for a site about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana and 115 feet below the ocean’s surface. It’s south of Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge and Game Preserve, far to the west of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the BP spill.

Obama last week extended a moratorium on wells in deep water like the BP one that blew out a mile below the surface in April and is gushing millions of gallons of oil. But at the same time, the president quietly allowed a three-week-old ban on drilling in shallow water to expire.

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drbhelthi's avatar

By drbhelthi, June 5, 2010 at 5:35 am Link to this comment

You think that is bad?
Wait until one of the few wide-awake Congresspersons discovers a
bill the kenyan tries to sneak thru, using US Taxpayer money to
cover the “oil revenue losses” caused by the BP sabotage. Just wait,
the queen and her Bilbderberger associates will order it in the next
few days.

Even worse, will be when his string-pullers, the israeli-dictator-types
who steered him into office and committed the piracy on the high
seas a few days ago, tell him they want the cost of their piracy
action to be paid by US Taxpayers. . . .

Report this

By felicity, June 4, 2010 at 6:57 am Link to this comment

SteveL - the most cogent comment of the bunch.

Report this

By gerard, June 3, 2010 at 8:37 am Link to this comment

oNooo’s comment is a masterpiece of ambiguity!

Example:  What does “this” mean in this context?
Example:  What does “long term” mean?
Example:  What does “solution” mean?
Example:  What does “available” mean?
And of course, what does “think” mean in this context?

Report this

By WendyI, June 3, 2010 at 2:04 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

The only long term solution is that each of us
decreases his oil consumption on a regular basis until
none of us is using petroleum any more. Is it possible?
There was a time, not too long ago, when humans
survived on this planet without using any petroleum at
all.

Report this
Ohnooo's avatar

By Ohnooo, June 2, 2010 at 9:43 pm Link to this comment

I think this is the only long term solution available.

Report this

By Xntrk, June 2, 2010 at 8:41 pm Link to this comment

Come on guys. Don’t you feel better knowing that there will be ‘increased inspections’? Maybe they will hire those same incompetents who inspect our food supply. Just think of all the infections from spinach, lettuce, and peanut butter they prevent.

Better yet, they could grab a few of the Homeland Security experts who keep our borders safe from guys with bombs in their panties, waving 3 or 4 red flags as they board the plane. Yep, the whole idea that the bureaucracy will grow while the multitude of species living in the Gulf of Mexico die, has a certain symmetry to it.

Poetry thru ineptitude and incompetency: enhanced by greed and moral turpitude. The Government ‘of the people, by the the people, etc’, just gets better and better. It helps that the Supreme Court of Capitalistic Bastards defined corporations as persons, otherwise the ‘people’ might decide they are getting screwed - AGAIN!

Report this

By Tim, June 2, 2010 at 7:43 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

And the beat goes on! la da da da da da da. And the beat goes on!

The only great movement nowdays is the one to the malls on Black Friday.

Report this

By gerard, June 2, 2010 at 7:04 pm Link to this comment

Say it isn’t so!  Incredible!  Goes against all reason—or is it that the government of the U.S.  thinks they are “too big to fail” and “public relations” is an unnecessary evil?  I’d like to think that it’s just bureaucratic muddling—but no.  Can’t be.  The only logical explanation is—they simply don’t care.
  No doubt the explanation will be that it’s “in order to increase the future supply and keep the price of gas down within reason during the coming year or two or three, because, due to the BP “accident”, the price of gas is bound to rise sky high. It’s just a step to “protect the consumer” and (oh yes, of course) to “make us less dependent on foreign oil” and “keep our nation secure.” 
  When will this outrageous nonsense cease?  More is being spilled than just oil.

Report this

By SteveL, June 2, 2010 at 6:56 pm Link to this comment

What’s you are seeing here is where corporations run the show no matter who is
in office.

Report this
skulz fontaine's avatar

By skulz fontaine, June 2, 2010 at 6:35 pm Link to this comment

Judas H. Priest! The Obama is one colossal and bitter disappointment. More
drilling offshore in the Gulf? Are they freaking barking mad?

Report this

By SteveL, June 2, 2010 at 6:26 pm Link to this comment

A working shut off valve and a relief well this time?  Doubt it that would make too
much sense.

Report this

By Blake Chiszar, June 2, 2010 at 5:22 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Before anything is done it is approved by the
administration. The same administration that took
several months of deliberation to increase forces in
Afghanistan, six months to pick a dog and has zero
experience managing anything. Even his supporters are
starting to realize he’s incompetent. So he’s approving
everything BP is doing. What a joke!  Believe that and
I have some ocean front property in Arizona we need to
take about. Check out this cool little clip from
VoteDemocraticParty http://digg.com/political_opinion/Oil_Spill_The_Obama_Press_Conference

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