Buffalo Boy's Blog
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Spill Linked to Cheney
Anyone who argues the fact that the previous Bush/Cheney administration had their heads up the collective asses of big oil companies needs to check their facts. There is no denying it and the evidence is building that Cheney may in fact be the one who made the decision to make the acoustic shut off switches optional because of their HUGE price tag of $500,000
$500,000 could have saved this thing from ever happening and it was Cheney who called the shot. Read the excerpt below from this article:
"As the Wall Street Journal, reports, after a spill in 2000, the [Minerals Management Service] issued a safety notice saying that such a back-up device is "an essential component of a deepwater drilling system." The industry pushed back in 2001, citing alleged doubts about the capacity of this type of system to provide a reliable emergency backup. By 2003, government regulators decided that the matter needed more study after commissioning a report that offered another, more honest reason: "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly." I guess that depends on what they're compared to.
The system costs about $500,000 per rig. BP is spending at least $5 million per day battling the spill, the well destroyed by the explosion is valued at $560 million, and estimated damages to fishing, tourism, and the environment already run into the billions.
The Minerals Management Service is the part of the Interior Department responsible for offshore drilling. Towards the end of the Clinton administration, MMS officials wanted rigs to have the acoustic shutoff switches, but by 2003, the agency had changed direction.
What happened in those three years? Well, for one thing, the MMS in the Bush/Cheney era became one of the most corrupt government agencies in American history. The Minerals Management Service proudly embraced an anything-goes atmosphere that led to literally Caligula-like corruption and debauchery -- federal officials traded cocaine and sex for lucrative oil contracts, for example.
For another, Dick Cheney's secretive energy task force concluded that $500,000 for remote shutoff was simply too great a burden, and the former V.P. and his team didn't want to force BP and other oil companies to spend the money."
Well, I know the president is a little busy right now but if the above is true this is definitely worth the tax dollars to investigate and hopefully slap a pair of cuffs around Cheney's wrists. Yet another in the list of long messes that Barack Obama was handed by the previous administration.BP Still Concerned About Shareholders
I couldn't believe the report yesterday that BP had to assure investors of their ability to pay for the mess in the gulf and that BP would have money for dividends.
Stop right there. I don't think BP really realizes how much they are on the line for here. They not only have years if not decades of clean up costs ahead of them, they also have years, if not decades of covering losses suffered by tourism and fishing industries as well as any other related losses incurred by gulf coast residents.
And why are they worried about profits for their investors and themselves for that matter? The biggest environmental disaster probably in human history at this point and their investors are worried about profit?
BP cheif executive Tony Hayward needs to get his head out of his ass and stop worrying about investors, profit and getting his life back and focus more on the clean up of the mess that his company caused.
It was greed and want to save the almighty dollar that led to the lack of safety measures that caused this mess, so to see this trend continue is disturbing
At this point BP shouldn't be worried about profiting their investors, their investors should be worried about BP surviving this mess.
Category: News | environment | money | oil/gas
BP Wants Their Profit
I saw an interesting take on the whole mess in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday and it got me thinking that there may be more truth to this than not.
Why hasn't BP just blown this well up yet and shut this leak down? They could have done it weeks ago but they didn't.
The fact is the greedy bastards at BP and all these stinking oil companies involved want their profit that is leaking up from the ocean floor. They don't want this thing shut down.
Right now BP is sitting there with a pipe going to the well sucking up whatever it can and its going into a tanker. Has it stopped the leak? No, but BP is going to get every drop they can before they absolutely have to.
They are greedy bastards, every last one of these oil companies. They are risking killing the entire ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico for a few dollars in profit and for that I hope they go bankrupt cleaning this thing up. Who needs this company doing business if they are going to blatantly disregard safety for profit.
When does President Obama step in and say look, you guys simply are not getting the job done, therefore we are going to make the decisions based on my scientific advisors/engineers and you guys will do what we say, not what you feel will stop this thing.
Furthermore, what are we doing leasing a rig in American waters to a British company who would have taken OUR oil. Does anyone find that fishy? Sounds like a Bush/Cheney deal, lets face it BP didn't find themselves on that rig overnight they have probably been there for some time setting it up and drilling.
Category: News | Politics | environment | oil/gas
Ha! Oil Execs Tell The Truth! Yeah Right!
It took 5 seconds for me to fall out of my chair laughing when I saw the swearing in of the oil executives at the congressional hearings on the oil spill. Did you catch that? The Truth? They really expect these guys to tell the truth? If you watched the whole thing you will notice that when they grilled the BP exec he delicately blamed Trans Ocean and Halliburton and the merry go round went round and round as each one delicately passed the blame to the other two with no one of them sitting there and saying yeah we screwed the pooch. All three parties are guilty as sin and ultimately the blame goes deeper than them, it goes to our former president George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who basically bedded themselves with big oil and gave big oil free reign over all that they suveyed. They lifted restrictions, looked the other way at environmental regulations and basically said do what you need to do to pull your profit out of the ground. I wish Al Gore or someone of his stature in the environmentalist camp was in there, I wish they would have asked some tougher questions. Big oil is getting off easy even with the semi tough questions they were asked. This whole incident is going to be with us and the Gulf Coast states for decades and these three companies need to pay up, they can never right their wrongs, the damage has been done and until the oil is completely gone which takes well over 20 years looking at Alaska, but they can pay out their huge profits and at least reimburse every single citizen who has been wronged by this.Category: environment | oil/gas
Drill Baby, Spill....Oops....
I haven't been writing alot recently because my computer crashed and I had to invest in a new one, so I have been sitting back watching the news and the oil rig accident off the coast of Louisiana should be a big reason why the Drill Baby Drill right wing folks need to stick a sock in it and get on board with renewable energy and making this country not just less dependent on foreign oil but less dependent on oil period.
One accident in the Gulf of Mexico threatens hundreds of miles of coastline and believe me tourists don't travel there to see oil slicks and oil covered wildlife/beaches. Not to mention the fishing industry, yeah they want to burn this off but that is a last ditch effort and lets face it, lighting water on fire propbably isn't going to help the wildlife in that part of the gulf much.
All reports I have seen have this well leaking for weeks if not months before its finally shut off, that can't be a good sign for the entire gulf coast. They should probably make sure this thing is taken care of before hurrican season because get one good hurricane through there and you'll have a real mess. If we don't take a lesson from another environmentally catastrophic oil spill then maybe this will get us thinking again:
Gas prices are now averaging over $3 per gallon again for ALL grades in Western New York. Where is the electric car?
Category: News | environment | oil/gas
Someone is Getting Hosed
The news today is that oil prices have dropped to $35 a barrel due to a big jump in inventories and some other bull crap.
Meanwhile, myself and many of you are driving around Western New York watching gas prices spike upwards. Mobil on the corner of Forest and Elmwood is $2.19 a gallon, do not go there. boycott them. They are a good 18 cents higher than the others. There is another Mobil on Pine Ave. in Niagara Falls that is also $2.19. Boycott that station too. Besides those two, other stations are running in the low $2 range which seems awfully high considering oil prices are at "multi-year" lows. People need to question the gas station owners and the oil companies just a little more here and get answers. I know there are other variables but when oil goes up, gas goes for the ride, when oil goes down, conventional wisdom would say that gas should follow it down. The fact that oil inventories are going up means we are using less, this all despite the fact that OPEC has cut output by millions of barrels. We use less, there is more supply, price should go down.......I'm starting by boycotting Mobil because they seem to be the worst ones out there.Category: oil/gas
Oil Prices Dropped?
The bastards in OPEC did not get the desired results after cutting a record 2.2 million barrels. So either the markets during the summer were full of crap and was all spectator driven BS or the economy is so weak that it just doesn't matter anymore what OPEC does.
Oil fell below $40 a barrel today which as long as we are on the subject, why are prices around here not yet in the $1.50 range? I have asked why before and I really think its time for New York State or the Feds to step in around here and put a cap on how much gas station owners can charge for profit on a gallon of gas if that is in fact the problem.
It will be interesting to see what happens for a full day of trading after this news. Today may not have been the best day for them to do it market wise. However, the US dollar also fell in value today which also has traditionally coincided with a rise in oil prices.
Maybe, the markets are not ready to over react to bad news and instead have a wait and see approach on what it does to world supplies.
Category: oil/gas
Why are Gas Prices Rising?
Gas is going up despite oil going down. Please explain that one to me. By my estimates, gas should be around $3.40-3.60 a gallon at the $92 per barrel of oil range so what gives?
Everyone is blaming the spike in gas on Ike but shouldn't oil be the first to go up? Instead its going on a nose dive and gas seems to be ignoring that.
I think its all out gouging and its pathetic. Its an excuse by the oil companies to keep gas prices artificially high. And what can we do about it? Sit here and take it up our tail pipes. We are powerless. The only power we have is to not drive or use any fossil fuels.....good luck.
Category: oil/gas
Thus The Reason For Government Intervention
This news piece only confirms the need for the federal government to step in and roll back any tax breaks the oil companies are getting from the Bush administration. Its a bunch of crap and they know it. A windfall profits tax is exactly what is needed and it can't come too soon.
The fact that they are not putting their profits into finding new oil or any new sources of energy should surprise no one. They are the epitome of greed. Instead of investing in new oil or new sources of alternative energy they are buying back stocks and dividends. Why? because they are greedy money hungry pigs who are okay with sucking every last dollar that they can out of us before the oil markets crash either by the price becoming so ridiculous the market forces new alternatives from new companies willing to do the research and invest or when the price drops because of new oil deposits and reserves. Personally, for the environment I hope its the first, but either way the oil companies need government intervention to roll back their tax breaks. If the oil companies are not going to reinvest their astromnomical profits in alternative energies and new oil, then maybe the American tax payers can do it for them and put them out of business in the process. The percentage of their profits that they have invested has remained the same for years while the money they invest on stock buybacks and dividends has gone from 1% in 1993 to 55% last year. Thats crazy. There is no defending big oil folks. They deserve what ever heat they get and what ever consequences the new democratic regime doles out to them. The gravy train will be over when the next president takes over. No more tax breaks, no more ignoring pollution laws. Either invest it back into the energy market and produce more and new energy or give it back to the American public in the form of tax dollars. Of course, they confirm from the big oil companies exactly what I have been reading and researching, the easy oil is gone. What ever is left is going to be via expensive projects in deep water. Either way, its time for some action and for that money to be redirected toward the energies of the future.What An Idiot
Listen to our President in todays news conference. He is such an idiot. As he talked about oil and the economy today, the stock market plunged, GM is coming out with bad news and the banks are screaming for the feds to bail them out. The man just doesn't get it. Every answer he gave was a line of BULLSHIT.
He and his administration do not care about you and me. The smartest thing to do would be to release oil out of the strategic petroleum reserves, that would lower oil prices right away by about $8 a barrel. Then they have to use the 60+ million acres that are already there waiting to be tapped, not open up new lands like ANWAR. Use what ya got first. Why aren't they using those 60 million acres? Because they don't even have the rigs available to drill with.
Here ladies and gentleman is the leader of our nation, George W. talking about a magic wand:
