Obama Officials Still Approving Flawed Gulf Drilling Plans
by Shashank Bengali
WASHINGTON – Despite President Barack Obama’s promises of better safeguards for offshore drilling, federal regulators continue to approve plans for oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico with minimal or no environmental analysis.
The Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service has signed off on at least five new offshore drilling projects since June 2, when the agency’s acting director announced tougher safety regulations for drilling in the Gulf, a McClatchy review of public records has discovered.
Three of the projects were approved with waivers exempting them from detailed studies of their environmental impact – the same waiver the MMS granted to BP for the ill-fated well that’s been fouling the Gulf with crude for two months.
In a May 14 speech in the Rose Garden, Obama said he was “closing the loophole that has allowed some oil companies to bypass some critical environmental reviews.”
Environmental groups, however, say the loophole is as wide as ever and that the administration is allowing oil companies to proceed with drilling plans that may be just as flawed as BP’s, which concluded that a major spill was “unlikely” and that the company was equipped to manage even the worst-case blowout.
“It’s just outrageous,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation organization. “The whole world is screaming and . . . they’re just continuing to move this stuff through the system.”
The Obama administration has said it’s cracking down on the oil industry with a six-month moratorium that prevents regulators from granting new permits for offshore wells deeper than 500 feet underwater in the Gulf of Mexico. That, however, hasn’t stopped oil companies from submitting new drilling plans, which, as McClatchy reported earlier this month, routinely underestimate environmental risks and overestimate the companies’ ability to respond to a disaster.
According to MMS records, since June 2 the agency has granted environmental exemptions – known as “categorical exclusions” – to three new drilling projects. Of those, an Exxon Mobil site at a water depth of 1,000 feet and a Marathon Oil site at 775 feet are classified as deepwater; the third is a shallow-water project by Houston-based Rooster Petroleum.
Environmentalists say these approvals fly in the face of the June 2 order by acting MMS director Bob Abbey that requires oil companies to submit additional safety information in their development plans. All three drilling plans were submitted to the MMS before Abbey’s order.
The MMS also approved two other deepwater drilling plans – for a Chevron site 6,730 feet underwater and for an Exxon site at a depth of 6,943 feet – after subjecting them to environmental reviews, the records show.
When Obama’s six-month ban is lifted, experts say these projects could form the basis for new, flawed wells unless the MMS submits them to tougher oversight.
“At no point did any of the moratoriums cease the use of (categorical exclusions),” Suckling said. “They’re cueing up all these drilling projects with no environmental review, so they’re just sitting at the starting line” until the ban ends.
A spokesman for the Interior Department said the policy on categorical exclusions “is still being studied” as part of a 30-day congressionally mandated review of U.S. drilling policy. The department issued a separate directive Friday that requires oil companies to submit information about the possibility of a blowout, which had been missing from many drilling plans, but made no mention of the waivers.
Suckling’s group filed a petition with the department this week to ban the waivers and charged that the MMS violated the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act when it approved a 2007 lease sale – including for BP’s blown-out Macondo well – saying it would have “no significant environmental impacts.”
The center also has filed suit in federal court in Louisiana to force the MMS to review all 49 exploration plans for the Gulf that were approved with categorical exclusions.
Other environmental groups have brought similar suits, with lawyers charging that the ongoing issuance of the waivers is part of a business-as-usual mentality among the oil industry and the Department of Interior.
Congressional investigators found that, 11 days before the April 20 explosion aboard BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig, the company sent a letter to federal officials urging them to continue issuing the waivers “to avoid unnecessary paperwork and time delays.”
“The fact that the agency continued to spit them out while oil was pouring into the Gulf is just ridiculous to the extreme,” said Mike Senatore, an attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit environmental group.
There are other signs that the BP spill hasn’t put the brakes on offshore drilling in the Gulf.
Last week, Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit in federal court in Alabama challenging the MMS’s approval of 198 new deepwater leases in the central Gulf since the BP spill began.
The lease sales – an earlier step, before oil companies submit drilling plans – create an incentive to continue offshore drilling despite the risks, attorneys argue. If federal regulators opt to cancel a lease once it’s issued, the government must repay the company the fair market value of the lease or compensate it for the cost of its bid plus interest, the lawyers said.
“It immediately puts the U.S. taxpayer on the hook financially,” Senatore said.
The lawsuit challenges Lease Sale 213, which covers 36 million acres in the central Gulf off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and drew $1.3 billion in bids at a March auction at the Superdome in New Orleans, according to MMS records. Of 198 deepwater leases sold, at least 10 are owned by BP and are located over a mile deep, the groups say.
“The moratorium does not stop this process,” Senatore said.
© 2010 McClatchy Newspapers
I am trying to treat President Obama the way that I want to be treated. It is not easy when I hear that he is lying. Our gov. here in AZ says that President Obama lied to her when he told her he would send troops to AZ to protect our border within two weeks and that he would call her personally and let her know if the federal government was going to go after AZ. She feels betrayed. How did she hear about the feds suing AZ, by the tv. How can anyone trust what he is saying. How can other govs. from other states believe the President when he gives his word, if he doesn’t keep his word? How can other heads of state believe a word our President says if he continues to lie?
It was very upsetting to me to think that the President of the United States lies. I have always tried to respect the office of President. Honesty should be the basic requirment for the job, but it seems that we now have a President who thinks nothing of lying to the gov. of AZ. I oppose this new law as does the Catholic Church, but I expected our President to be an honorable man and I expected him to be honest when he met with our gov. I didn’t vote for her as our old gov. moved on to homeland security director, but as the gov. of AZ she should have been treated the respect of being told the truth and not lied to. If he had been honest with our gov. she might have listen to reason, but to be lied to and feel like a stupid idiot for believing him is only going to make matters worst. I don’t know what to think.
Some people don’t understand why Progressives do not like President Obama. I think one of the main reason that Progressives and Conservatives alike are unhappy is because they have been lied to. We have a President who thinks nothing of lying to get what he wants or to look good. Yes, he got his photo taken with our gov., but he lied to her so any future meeting between the President and our gov. will never achieve any good or lasting results because she now knows our President of the United States lied to her. The progressives feel lied to, because of items like this article talks about. His record on the environment is a c at best and that is being kind on my part. He has approved more nuclear power plants to be built, believes in the lie of clean coal and has not stopped mountaintop removal mining, and he is approving more drilling in deep water when we haven’t stopped the disaster that is unfolding before our eyes.
I really don’t understand him. We haven’t solved the environmental, economic, and suffering due to the volcano of oil in the gulf of Mexico and he is still playing russian roulette with our waters. I hope that the enviornmental groups win. For the future of mankind and the world I hope they win and can stop this crazy game we are playing and not caring what effect our actions have on the planet or our fellow mankind.
This situation is dire and we have a man at the helm, who can’t seem to be honest. It is the same ole same ole and no matter how Democrats try and spin their actions it is always the same result. We have two corporate parties who serve the same master. They are two sides of the same coin. Progressives, now is the time to work really hard to get Green Candidates on the ballot. We in AZ are working really hard and we have more Green Candidates on the ballot this year and we have a Green Candidate who is running for US Senate against John McCain if he wins the Republican Primary. Now is the time for real Progressives to join the real Progressive party and that is the Green Party. How many Progressives will be fooled into voting for the Democrat because he is the least of two evils?
I feel very disappointed because everytime I give President Obama another chance he lies and gets me angry at him again. How can I respect a President who lies to my own gov.? How can I respect a President who lies to the American people and tells us he is going to stop the corruption but continues on like nothing happen? How can I respect a President who doesn’t have a clue about how much damage is being caused and is still be caused because man has not been able to find a way to stop that volcano of oil in the gulf?
Instead of approving new permits to drill in deepwater for oil, maybe he should declare a national day of prayer and meditation so Americans can pray that God will give man the wisdom to know how to stop that volcano. Instead of telling people that 90% is going to be contained in a couple of weeks and giving Americans a false sense of hope, he is opening them up to a big disappointment which will lead to more discontent. For the short term he won a victory with his speech, but long term when people see that volcano spewing out oil and other gases which are dangerous to human health and killing all the life in the ocean; they will feel lied to again and get angry.
I know some people would think it is silly to call a national day of prayer to pray about this environemtnal disaster, but I know people of all religous paths who love the environment and would want to pray, meditate, or like my Pagan friend do a spiritual healing of the environment. I think if the wording was inclusive of all religious paths that no one would be offended. We are facing a national disaster that is only getting worst by the second. Native Americans might have a ritual that they might want to do. I know as a Catholic I have been praying to God and prayed a novena to St. Jude the saint for lost causes. I know some people might be offended at the idea of including all spiritual paths but I think America has people of all different faiths and we should reflect that when we call for a National Day of prayer.
Yes, I believe in seperation between church and state, but I don’t believe that our spiritual and religious path should be denied a place in the public square. The environment is important to all of us, but many religious paths hold the environment scared. Why should we be ashamed to call for a national day of prayer and meditation to pray for this situation we are having to deal with?
I am sorry for venting, but I get so angry when I feel that we have a President whose word means nothing?