People keep blaming Bush/Cheney...
Deep water drilling legislation was passed under CLINTON. Essentially companies have to pay a 17% royalty on oil but that is waived if the drilling rig is a deep water one.
So lets drop the past partisan BS and focus on what Obama is actually doing to assist in the containment of the hole and the spill. Blaming Bush really wont solve anything.
Sometimes you must remember how you got there in order not to return again
Facts you can check
Bush MMS adopted regulation stating drillers are "in the best position to determine the environmental effects of its proposed activity." The Washington Post on May 25 states that the actions taken by MMS, "are shaped in part by a
2005 regulation it adopted that assumes oil and gas companies can best evaluate the environmental effects of their operations.
In April 2008, Bush MMS loosened rules requiring blowout plan. The Associated Press
reported on May 5 that a "rule change two years ago by the federal agency that regulates offshore oil rigs allowed BP to avoid filing a plan specifically for handling a major spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project." AP further reported: "The MMS rule change, made in April 2008, says that Gulf rig operators are required to file a blowout scenario only if one of five conditions applies.
Bush MMS failed to respond to 2004 warning about vital piece of blowout preventer. The Wall Street Journal reported on May 3 that "[f]ederal regulators learned in a 2004 study that a vital piece of oil-drilling safety equipment may not function in deep-water seas but did nothing to bolster industry requirements. The equipment, called shear rams, is supposed to seal off out-of-control oil and gas wells by pinching the pipe closed and cutting it." The
Journal further reported that "[e]xperts theorize the rams may have failed to work as expected in the Deepwater Horizon disaster."
Bush MMS ignored warnings about faulty cementing in wells. The Associated Press
reported on May 24 that numerous MMS reports identified "poor cement job" as the cause of offshore accidents, including incidents that took place in 2005 and 2007, "[y]et federal regulators give drillers a free hand in this crucial safety step." AP noted that rig owner Transocean and "independent experts" have pointed to "faulty cement work" as a possible cause of the blowout, and that new rules "in the works long before the Deepwater Horizon" took effect June 3, which "take a conservative watch-and-wait approach and demand only routines already carried out around the industry: a management program with monitoring and diagnostic testing."
WSJ: In 2003, Bush MMS decided not to require last-resort shut-off device. ABC News
reported on April 30 that in 2000 MMS "issued a safety alert that called added layers of backup 'an essential component of a deepwater drilling system.'" However,
according to the
Wall Street Journal, "The industry argued against" mandating a remote-control shut-off switch that serves as "last-resort protection against underwater spills," and "
y 2003, U.S. regulators decided remote-controlled safeguards needed more study. A report commissioned by the Minerals Management Service said 'acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly.'" The Journal noted that the Deepwater Horizon rig did not have a remote-control device, which is required "in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil
Bush issued executive order to end ban on offshore drilling. In a June 14, 2008, President Bush announced the executive order he had issued to end the prohibition on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf: "So today, I've issued a memorandum to lift the executive prohibition on oil exploration in the OCS. With this action, the executive branch's restrictions on this exploration have been cleared away." Bush's executive order was meant to prompt congressional action needed to fully rescind the ban, and he noted, "This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress
Bush asked Congress to ease ban on offshore drilling. In a June 18, 2008, President Bush said "First, we should expand American oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS. Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil." In the September 6, 2008, presidential Bush said: "Congress should open the way for environmentally responsible offshore exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf. Experts believe that these areas could eventually produce nearly 10 years' worth of America's current annual oil production.
Yes Obama has and is going to make mistakes....One of the biggest was running for POTUS after Bush phuck this country so bad...
