In his two most recent appointments to his presidential commission on the BP oil spill, President Obama reveals that he’s got waaaay bigger fish to fry than finding out what went wrong of the Deepwater Horizon, and fixing it.
Obama’s Oil Panel May Tackle Energy, Environment
The new presidential commission investigating the Gulf oil spill will include two experts who have been active on the subject of global warming, including one who wrote just last month that the country should redouble efforts to lessen its dependence on oil, The Associated Press has learned.
The two will join former Florida Sen. Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly [also Chairman Emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund - ed.], whose roles as co-chairmen of the seven-member panel were previously announced.
Together, the backgrounds of the four panel members selected so far suggest the commission will look at more than just what went wrong, including the bigger picture of the country’s conflicting environmental and energy needs.
According to the AP, the commission’s new members will be Donald Boesch, president of the Center for Environmental Science at the University of Maryland, and former Alaska Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer, currently University of Alaska Anchorage chancellor.
Hold onto your wallets. Here comes $8.00/gallon gasoline.
President Obama’s stated his reason for forming the commission last Wednesday in Pittsburgh: “…so that the American people will have answers on exactly what happened.” That’s a goal that we can all heartily commend. But then he added a whopper that tips his hand: “We have to acknowledge that there are inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth, and these are risks that are bound to increase the harder oil extraction becomes. We also have to acknowledge that an America run solely on fossil fuels should not be the vision we have for our children and our grandchildren.”
The problem with controlling the Deepwater Horizon well has little or nothing to do with the fact that it’s 3-1/2 miles deep. It has everything to do with the fact that it’s in water a mile deep. With one facile sentence, the President has conflated deepwater oil drilling with all exploration for oil and gas.
Shallow water offshore wells are vastly different from BP’s operation. Divers can dive to all depths. Wellhead and blowout prevention equipment is at the surface. Relief wells (in the rare occasion that they’re needed) can be drilled in a matter of a couple of weeks, not three months.
Most significantly, gas predominates in the shallow water Gulf. Thirty percent of our oil production comes from the Gulf, but 80% of that is from deepwater.
The President has signaled his intention to use this crisis as an opportunity to put Cap and Trade legislation back on the table. Also in the crosshairs are certain oil industry-specific tax provisions that have long been on the Administration’s hit list. This is possible because in crisis mode there is little critical thinking.
The problem with that line of thinking, and the knee-jerk reaction to it, is that it ends up hurting domestic independents (who drill mostly gas wells) and sparing BP and the other multinationals, who lost these tax credits to the wrath of prior Congresses and Presidents.
To the extent that the multinationals are hurt, they can shift their operations to foreign countries, and all the oil we consume will be imported in tankers. Oil spill, anyone?
“You Don’t Even Know What a Write-Off Is!” | RedState 4/11/09
White House Declares Jihad on Domestic Oil and Gas | RedState 5/8/09
Obama’s Energy Tax Will Even Tax Strippers | RedState 2/2/10
Cross-posted at VladEnBlog.
Moe Lane
PG DeFreese
Victoria Coates
Daniel Horowitz
Dan Spencer
Suggest? More like a guarantee
RedBeard Thursday, June 3rd at 3:11PM EST (link)“Together, the backgrounds of the four panel members selected so far suggest the commission will look at more than just what went wrong,”
As soon as I saw that Bob “Bobble Head” Graham would be on the panel, I knew we were in trouble.
Well, at least in this case Obama gets the chance to put his Alinsky teachings to work, beginning with this: “Pick the target [big oil], freeze it [big oil always bad], personalize it [BP], and polarize it.[green energy=angels, oil=Satan].”
One transparent thing in this administration is the shameless behavior of Obama.
Standard-bearer for grouchy curmudgeonry since, oh, 1975 or so.
BHO is all about campaigning, not leadership
mdd1956 Friday, June 4th at 7:48AM EST (link)this oil spill will allow him to slip into campaign mode (which he confuses with leadership) where he is most comfortable.
Why use experts when Pols are so readily available?
utahrepublican Friday, June 4th at 3:42PM EST (link)What have Global Warming and Wildlife got to do with the causes of the mechanical failure of the well to contain the oil and gas in the well? Its like appointing a hairdresser to determine what went wrong in a brain surgery.
The failure to appoint engineering specialists to the panel clearly shows the purposes are purely political, and have NOTHING to do with learning what actually happened at the well or why. And sadly, but predictably, the MSM aren’t challenging either the motives or the personnel. Heaven help us (its clear the Government can’t and won’t).
The RNC
gwalt Thursday, June 3rd at 4:05PM EST (link)The RNC needs to start running ads that Obama is using this tragedy to further his Socialist agenda. There are so many opportunities to expose this Marxist-in-Chief.
Need to start taking them. Shutting down the rigs needs to be advertised as job killers and control control control by the Obamaoists.
WITW is Michael Steele?
“A lot of briefing for a 2 hr. special with Dan Rather. Saw the show & wonder why we bothered”. –Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries (January 27, 1982)
amen. ObamaDems will try and use this spill to get cap and trade out of the senate - nt
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Thursday, June 3rd at 4:12PM EST (link)Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
Cloward-Piven strategy? Interesting article at AT
louisiana (Diary) Thursday, June 3rd at 4:59PM EST (link)by Tarlowe about O’s “incompetence”.
What, no link?
acat (Diary) Thursday, June 3rd at 5:17PM EST (link)srsly?
Mew
——
Caveat Suffragator
Obummer Will Get Answers? When Pigs Fly
gkendall (Diary) Thursday, June 3rd at 6:01PM EST (link)President Obama’s stated his reason for forming the commission last Wednesday in Pittsburgh: “…so that the American people will have answers on exactly what happened.”
http://www.marklevinshow.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/536045/201006021823/Obama-Slips-Up-On-Oil-Spill-Panel.aspx
The IBD article exposes how EPA blocked bio-tech that could’ve cleaned up spills. They don’t want that, of course. They love a crisis.
Obummer loves one so well he and/or admin put Wm. Reilly on board to “find answers.”
Reilly was once head of EPA, no less.
It's not a surprise to me...
HSMom Friday, June 4th at 9:25AM EST (link)I’ve been saying this all along. Obama and crew are masters of playing the emotion card to get what they want.
By the way, here is a live feed. http://apps.facebook.com/bplivevideo/?_fb_fromhash=1f67140ce6e721001516b31c3050ceb7
Because of a failure we should stop ...
southcoast Friday, June 4th at 9:34AM EST (link)0bama stated that because of an oil spill, we need to stop off-shore drilling.
Interesting concept, let’s take it a step further.
Because Medicare and Medicaid are screwed up, the government should get out of subsidizing healthcare.
Because the housing market is screwed up, the government should get out of subsidizing housing, goodbye HUD, section 8, FannieMae and FreddieMac.
Because the food stamp and welfare programs are ridden with fraud and corruption, the government should get out of subsidizing food programs, goodbye HHS, AFDC and WIC.
Because the social security program is broke due to waste, fraud and corruption, the government should get out of subsidizing retirement. Goodbye social security administration.
get rid of the department of education
lynnbo Friday, June 4th at 10:50AM EST (link)the department of education has stripped the joy and creativity from the teaching profession
Leftists again marching on Cap & Trade
danielbdp (Diary) Friday, June 4th at 10:39AM EST (link)Agree 100% with Vladimir’s analysis and blogger comments. The “American Power Act” was quietly reintroduced for consideration in the Senate on May 12th. See below links.
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/legislation/senate.asp?gclid=COLP__DRhqICFR7E3AodWEpTWA
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/the-american-power-act/
For true conservationists: nothing will make a real difference on pollution control till China and India are engaged. Till then, let’s not kill the US economy but promote safe & clean nuclear and natural gas production and exploration, which is the only real way to create jobs while protecting the environment and reducing reliance on foreign oil.
Let’s remain vigilant, and on the upcoming primaries week, let’s not forget who supported and opposed cap & trade the last time…
Cap & Trade and Amnesty
lynnbo Friday, June 4th at 10:52AM EST (link)Will President Obama be able to push thru cap & trade and immigration reform attached?
Lessee....
uselogic Friday, June 4th at 1:32PM EST (link)Reilly – lawyer & activist, no tech degree/experience. Graham- lawyer& politician, no tech degree/experience. Boesch- academic, has tech/science degree, only academic experience. (Major anti-drilling guy.) Ulmer- lawyer & politician, no tech degree/experience. All four are active Greenies.
Yeah, this commision’ll be useful in solving the leak/spill issue and contribute to a safer energy future….Not!
Bend over America.
A good crises?
uptraindispatcher Friday, June 4th at 5:55PM EST (link)I wonder what the possibility that BP, who has been in bed with the Demon-cratic party in general, and Obama campaign in particular, helped this whole mess to happen. That way the ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’ folks could (a) take peoples’ minds – oops, attention off the other atrocities, (b) have an excuse to more closely regulate the oil business so, and (c) have an excuse to have more environmental control all as a result? Hmmmmm.
Pres has lost
awunsch Sunday, June 6th at 1:37PM EST (link)credibility at this point. Any commission that pretends to be investigating the cause of the oil rig incident but is made up of environmentalists has no credibility in my book. Most people, no doubt, expect this commission to come up with the usual green arguement for getting off dependence on oil but with no acknowledgement of what the costs will be to us the consumer or us the Nation. Republicans will be smart to use their 41 votes to stop any climate bill disguised as an energy bill.