IT HAS BEEN MORE THAN A MONTH
It has been more than a month since BP’s oil rig exploded and started an underwater volcano of oil. Ever since then, it has been a daily disaster, and no one seems to really be noticing.
On Sunday, a new eruption of oil began. When will the government take control away from BP, a foreign company which is way more interested in salvaging its well than protecting our country’s natural resources?
For that matter, when will someone “get on the teevee and point out that no, it is not ok for any actor – state, big corporation, or terrorist – to destroy the coastlines and economies of several states? Because all I’ve seen is a bunch of self-serving cover your ass bullshit:
Schieffer noted that both Democrats and Repubicans have suggested BP is “lying,” “covering up” and “shouldn’t be trusted.” He asked Gibbs if the federal government trusts the company and what it is telling them.
“Well, Bob, BP is the responsible party, they own the well, they’re responsible for capping it,” he said. “That effort is overseen by and directed by Admiral Thad Allen, and our commanders on the ground in Louisiana.”
Gibbs said that if Admiral Allen has a concern with BP’s actions he “calls their CEO on his cell phone.”
He acknowledged that “we’ve had some problems with BP’s lack of transparency,” noting that it took ten days for a video feed of the leak to be made public.
Gibbs goes on to insist that this isn’t the administration’s Katrina, but I disagree: when you’ve already “allowed BP to hide its video feed of a gushing oil pipe in the Gulf of Mexico from the public for three weeks, all the while that same video played live in the White House Situation Room” you don’t get to say that anymore. When you’re staging “I’m really angry now” moments while letting the same company that CAUSED THE DISASTER control the site cleanup, you don’t get to say that anymore.
Also, this is rich
“I will tell this to Rand Paul and anybody else that is listening: Laws that were passed after the Exxon Valdez ensured that the taxpayers don’t get a bill for this,” Gibbs replied. “BP will pay for every bit of this … we have to regulate this industry, we have to make sure that their safety standards are up to the very latest and highest standards whenever they do something like this, drilling in such a precious ecosystem as the Gulf of Mexico.”
Are you kidding me Bob Gibbs? ARE YOU FUCKIN’ KIDDING ME??
“Laws were passed after the Exxon Valdez”: yeah, how’d THAT work out, Bob?
In a decision issued June 25, 2008, Justice David Souter issued the judgment of the court, vacating the $2.5 billion award and remanding the case back to a lower court, finding that the damages were excessive with respect to maritime common law. Exxon’s actions were deemed “worse than negligent but less than malicious.” The judgment limits punitive damages to the compensatory damages, which for this case were calculated as $507.5 million. Some lawmakers, such as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, have decried the ruling as “another in a line of cases where this Supreme Court has misconstrued congressional intent to benefit large corporations.”
“BP will pay for every bit of this” is a nice thought Bob, but some things are worth more than money. Like fresh water for example, or fisheries and an abundant source of FOOD. You can’t eat money.
“We have to regulate this industry, we have to make sure that their safety standards are up to the very latest and highest standards whenever they do something like this”. You’re telling me you’re gonna regulate the industry with Ken Salazar running the department of the Interior?
Oil and mining interests praised Mr. Salazar’s performance as a state official and as a senator, saying that he was not doctrinaire about the use of public lands. “Nothing in his record suggests he’s an ideologue,” said Luke Popovich, spokesman for the National Mining Association. “Here’s a man who understands the issues, is open-minded and can see at least two sides of an issue.”
Mr. Popovich noted approvingly that Mr. Salazar had tried to engineer a deal in the Senate allowing mining companies and others to reclaim abandoned mines without fear of lawsuits. (The legislation is pending.) He has also supported robust research on technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants, something the coal industry favors.
He also backed a compromise that would let oil companies drill for natural gas in limited parts of the Roan Plateau in northwestern Colorado, a plan that most environmental advocates opposed.
You’re gonna tell me about regulation while “In the days since President Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new permits for various types of drilling and five environmental waivers have been granted”? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, BOB GIBBS?
Bob, you know what you need to do? You need to shut the fuck up RIGHT NOW, go down to the Gulf Coast and get on a boom crew.
