A “new and improved” version of Secretary Salazar’s Deepwater offshore drilling ban was unveiled today. There seems to be little practical difference between this ban and the one that has been stayed by the courts as “arbitrary and capricious”.
That hasn’t deterred Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) from opening his yap and exposing his utter lack of a grasp on the issue, quite a gaffe for the #2 Dem on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Administration allies hailed the reinstatement of the ban Monday and said that it would not harm the Gulf’s economy. “This moratorium will reduce oil spill risk while the Gulf will continue to produce oil,” said Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who chairs the House Energy panel’s subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. “As new laws and safety measures are put into place on these few dozen rigs, 97 percent of the manned rigs in the Gulf will still be allowed to work,” he said.
Rep. Markey has apparently succumbed to the common layman’s mistake of confusing “rigs” with “platforms”. For a man in his position of responsibility, it is shameful that he doesn’t know the difference.
Rigs drill wells. There are exactly 123 rigsable to work right now in the Gulf. According to Baker Hughes, 16 are working at the present time.
Rigs, especially Deepwater rigs, are where the bulk of the money is spent. Idling 33 rigs by executive fiat has a disastrous effect on the economy and the job outlook for Louisiana and every other Gulf state.
Markey’s 97% is a cruel joke. I don’t know the figures off the top of my head, but I would be surprised if there were anywhere close to 1,100 manned platforms (permanent producing structures), the number needed to make Rep. Markey’s comment semi-coherent.
Sleep well tonight, Rep. Markey, and know that your willful ignorance of the issues and gross misrepresentation of the facts might costs thousands of hardworking people their livelihoods.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
"...willful ignorance..."
eastbaylarry (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 7:06PM EST (link)And these are our ‘leaders’?
But, of course, he is no more ignorant of these facts than Obama is. They *want* to cause economic devastation in the gulf to maximize the ‘emergency’ that has so conveniently presented itself.
2+2=4 dammit!
A lot of these people are just stupid
renny (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 4:04PM EST (link)How about the guy who thought if we sent more troops to Guam, the island would tip? Then he said he was joking. He’s a joke.
The Dems. got all twitted about the S. Carolina Dem. sen. candidate Green because they said he was a Republican plant. Then Green said he saved up his own money and filed for himself. That he won without any campaigning or the national Dems. having any idea he was on the ballot attests to massive stupidity.
Schumer, always a senator for the little guy, called a stewardess a “b*tch.”
Biden had FDR giving a speech on tv, in the 1930s. Biden also wanted Iraq broken up into 3 sections.
Reid declared Iraq “lost:” as the surge was working.
Many alleged US representatives swore they heard racial epithets and saw spit hurled at them (that’s why they need healthcare reform; they need hearing aids and eye glasses) by tea partiers in DC, but none would produce one corroboration.
Then there’s always little o’s 57 states, America is the world’s largest Muslim nation, and he was “on” the oil leak from day one, when he was actually probably golfing. He’s golfing now. Since the BP oil disaster, the Obamas have taken three vacations. And what is it exactly that they do?
This is a slap in the face to the courts
manfred (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 7:21PM EST (link)They were told this would be viewed as contempt of the court and they did it anyway. If this is not struck down immediately then we truly are a nation of men instead of a nation of laws.
[img]http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs023.snc1/3087_67179958349_510843349_1545529_4111206_s.jpg[img]
Obama and his people ...
DavidS1787 (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 7:48PM EST (link)want to distroy our economy !
No, just destroy the economy of red states
civil truth (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 8:05PM EST (link)And they think if they can steal enough money from taxpayers that they can shovel enough money into blue states to save their skins.
After all, Obama doesn’t view himself the President of the American people as a whole, but rather fancies himself a general at war with his opponents.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
Except when we're talking Islamic extremists.
uselogic Tuesday, July 13th at 3:57PM EST (link)Oh, sorry..,, you said at war with OPPONENTS. My bad!
He doesn't have to destroy blue states.
eastbaylarry (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 8:02PM EST (link)They do it to themselves. (Yes, I live in California and, therefore, know of what I speak).
2+2=4 dammit!
A pattern is emerging (again) with this
throwback59 Monday, July 12th at 7:33PM EST (link)administration. If you try to put something in place and the courts strike it down just keep throwing more “stuff” against the wall till something sticks.
A.G. Holder said as much Sunday regarding the Arizona immigration lawsuit; if the court strikes down the challenge Holder will sue on different grounds.
Will of the courts (and people) be damned, Lord Obama knows best.
If you aren't familiar with injunctions,
cactusjack Monday, July 12th at 8:04PM EST (link)it was rather extraordinary the finding of the federal courts so far. I won’t get into the legalese, but basically, to have denied the feds the way both the district and appeals courts did, the judges essentially had to find the government’s case was without evidence – to the point of sloppy and ham handed lawyering; that it could show no harm occurring to itself, and meanwhile, there was actual harm occurring to the taxpayers (which is very easy to prove here – in the millions of $$$) . You don’t see a complete slap down of the government this often. Yes the feds will just keep coming back. But there comes a time in this kind of litigation when, after you have knocked down the enemy two or three times and they keep coming back, not because they have a case, but because they just want to abuse the system, you give them” the speech” – it contains all kinds of interesting phrases that tend to get the attention of lawyers on the other side like “sanctions and damages for malicious prosecution…wrongful injunction…let’s go see the judge in chambers…[and] this will be going to the Bar…” This may sound simplistic to laymen but believe me in the heat of advocacy, it really tends to focus the minds of federal attorneys who would like to keep their licenses – it is not invoked lightly. They can hog tie us down, but we can cause them to start worrying their boss that he might actually start losing big time down in the trenches, and thus his whole policy… but it’s going to take deep pockets to fund the good side’s lawyers.
kowalski
cactusjack Monday, July 12th at 8:06PM EST (link)the above specifically referencing the Gulf platforms cases but generic enough given the rascals we are dealing with to apply to AZ and whereever else they let loose their pestilence upon.
So are you saying that the feds are going to be told to "cool it"?
Teresa in Fort Worth, TX (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 8:20PM EST (link)If so, how long before that happens? Every time we get good news, BamBam has another temper tantrum. At what point will he be told “No more”? And will he listen?
I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t take much more of this, and I’m a fairly patient and upbeat person. And now we hear that Scott Brown and the Maine sisters are going to vote to get the financial bill past cloture? Where are the Senate Republican leaders to tell them to stand firm?
Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride…..
No tk I must be honest - they have the resources (our tax dollars)
cactusjack Monday, July 12th at 8:43PM EST (link)to keep fighting this in LA until in the end probably they get an agreed settlement or a narrow, limited injunction. But I believe they are honestly surprised and such strong push back from the federal appellate system, at such an outright embarassing loss in court(fed actions “arbitrary and capricious”)and it is occurring to them what a Donnybrook is waiting for them in AZ that – we may be fortunate again – they get shut down on. Point is Obama playing king is going to get costly for them in court & they can’t play all the tables at once. In the big picture, a tie for us tactically is kind of like a win for us strategically – but at a painful cost in jobs in the Gulf States. But RSs & conservatives didn’t start this war, did they?
What if....
philbo Monday, July 12th at 9:02PM EST (link)the judge slapped a multi-billion dollar fine against the feds pending the promise of the government end their frivolous, arbitrary and capricious moratoriums and appeals. Can a court do that?
Pasadena Phil
Need to get a fed'l specialist in here, but
cactusjack Monday, July 12th at 9:45PM EST (link)tk & philbo, one good thing that has come out of this that may help us down the road – remember the 0 dissed and lectured the Supreme Court at the State of the Union address, something just not done until he did it – as was amply discussed by Vlad and others in RS couple of weeks ago – of this you may be sure: right now, whether it be on procedural or substantive grounds, 0 and his minions do NOT want anything to go all the way up to the SCOTUS. Getting perilously close when they were taken to the Fifth Cir Ct Appeals in New Orleans, just one step away. With Justice Kennedy the swing vote apparently PO’d at Bamster for his impudence, their strategy is to win at the local level or settle it – they have too much to lose in SCOTUS right now. Conversely, if we get extremeley lucky we could have another Schechter case, where some little case gets away from them and it goes all the way to the Supremes. Schechter was a 1930s case where FDR lost a big part of the new deal. He tried court packing after that – get ready!
No
dennism (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 12:14AM EST (link)no
Actually
dennism (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 12:21AM EST (link)the findings so far were more extreme than “without merit.” They found the moratorium would do “irreparable harm” and it’s hard to see what’s changed. I’m sure they can get this under the nose of the same judge.
Again and Again?
edintexas Tuesday, July 13th at 7:27AM EST (link)With the departure of the first rig, the end result of their “moratorium” becomes clear to anyone who didn’t understand it at the beginning. They may lose in both District and Circuit Courts, but if the Courts don’t stop them promptly we will all lose as US production of oil from the Gulf tapers off to nothing over time. The drilling companies won’t lose the income due to idle rigs when they can move them to places where they can actually be used.
Who is issuing permits for production or exploration now?
txgho1911 Tuesday, July 13th at 8:15AM EST (link)MMS and DOI DOE are now in the middle of some kind of reorg. Thus has become a defacto ban as no drilling operations are getting the permits required for the various steps in the operation of drilling a well from Spud to production.
Earlier it was claimed that shallow water ops where getting the permits they needed. Several industry resources publish rig counts and the GOM is drying up.
You're right, txgho - permits are the key
Steve Maley (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 10:50AM EST (link)Moratorium, schmoratorium, if the BOEMRE (the made-over MMS) slow-plays permits, nothing happens, anyway.
And last week, there were 16 shallow water rigs idle, waiting on permits.
The blogger formerly known as ‘Vladimir’.
When this comes back into the court and the
romeg Tuesday, July 13th at 6:25AM EST (link)Judge who first enjoined the administration from implementing the ban hears the arguments and they, as has been stated previously, amount to the same weak and ham handed tactics as the original ban, will the judge be able to cite the administration for abuse of process or contempt or some similar sanction?
“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” – C. S. Lewis
Doubtful that Admin can be penalized IMHO
dennism (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 5:41PM EST (link)One branch of government can’t penalize another. Even if they could, what good would it do if the Dept of Posterior had to pay a $100 million to the Exchequer? Even when the IRS goes on the rampage and tries to destroy a prole, the agents get nothing more than a stern talking to. An then they file for disability based on post traumatic stress syndrome.
Theoretically, agents of the govt can be held liable for damages caused by the actions they take that are outside the scope of their authority. Almost never happens. They are protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. All Bush appointees would be in jail now if that weren’t so, so it’s a good thing.
I’ve heard of Judges threatening to hold Govt lawyers in contempt for bad behavior (like not turning over all the documents the defense is entitled to). That would be a clarion wake up call to the lawyer but it’s hard to see how Salazar individually could come under sanction. If he stays away from the courtroom he can’t perjure himself. If he’s smart he’ll go on vacation and let some schmuck DOJ guy fade the heat.
Why is the O not impeached yet?
anotherindyfilmguy (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 8:05PM EST (link)Are we so collectively stupid that we won’t rid ourselves of the scorpion on our backs? Do we need to stung more to realize the scorpion is not our friend? Impeach the O already! Better to have Mr. foot-in-mouth-permanently Biden than the seditious scorpion who consistently chooses whatever is worst for America as his choice while in office… incompetent or evil? Neither is good, the O must go!
Santorum? Well, at least he’s not Romney…
http://www.zazzle.com/enemy_of_the_statist_tshirt-235977043035297478
First we need to find 218+67 patriotic representatives of the people
civil truth (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 8:11PM EST (link)218 might be doable come January 2011, but the 67 seems rather insurmountable for a while yet.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
Because the votes aren't there. And won't be there after November either.
mbecker908 (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 8:11PM EST (link)Get over it.
We have the opportunity to drive a stake through the heart of his Leftist agenda. That’s a hell of a lot more important than an impeachment battle that will be nothing more than mental masturbation.
It’s not gonna happen and it shouldn’t happen.
Yup
drothgery Monday, July 12th at 8:20PM EST (link)Without solid evidence of direct involvement in a serious crime, the president should not be impeached (and merely advocating and implementing bad policy is not a crime), and after the Clinton impeachment debacle no GOP Speaker will allow a bill of impeachment of Democrat president to be passed in this generation unless a conviction in the Senate seems to be certain.
Because impeachment isn't a criminal trial, it's a political show-trial....
acat (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 10:07AM EST (link)And, like most political show-trials in this country, it would become dicey if any – ANY – of the “prosecution” have any dirt on their hands.
Wanna bet not all of the Repub representatives are pure as driven snow?
B’sides, there’s a better opportunity – all those “wedge issues” the Dems throw at us? They work pretty well on the Dems too. School vouchers, for example, pit poor parents against unions. Or, just Alinsky Obama until he gives up – he’s a target, freeze him, etc.
Mew
——
“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost”. –Tolkein
Kill oil exploration in the gulf? Check!
in_awe Monday, July 12th at 11:34PM EST (link)The only purpose of this latest moratorium is to reinforce for owners of the floating drilling rigs that they WILL BE IDLED in gulf waters, if not through a legitimate, legal moratorium, then by the resulting uncertainty of DOJ and Obama feints. Some rigs are already headed overseas with more sure to follow.
What part of NO don't you understand...
snowshooze (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 11:42PM EST (link)This is great.
Judges, well, they really do not like to overturn rulings against each other.
Kind of an unspoken respect for each other, they are professionals.
So Obama’s ego just cannot understand the word NO..
They say you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.
I have news…Yes, you CAN make him drink, it just takes a bit more effort…
And a mad Judge, well..I want NO PART of a mad Judge.
Where’s our betting pool? I got $10.00 says Holder gets his tail kicked.
Where do I bet?
We should start a pool
conservativecrusade (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 12:02AM EST (link)on Holder, 20 buy in, and make some things you can bet on such as does it get thrown out, is it a complete loss, does the AG get a few points of win, etc and then take all the funds gathered through the betting and let the winner(s) state what conservative they want it donated to. Great way to raise some funds and have some fun doing it.
And as a prize for the winner, let them have a front page article!
“The America Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” — Alexis de Tocqueville
If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting. — Curtis LeMay
We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan
Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence. — George Washington
How can you say such awful things about
romeg Tuesday, July 13th at 6:29AM EST (link)A Harvard graduate who edited the Law Review and who is a “Constitutional Law Professor”. Are you some kind of legal Luddite? I mean he is so Enlightened. And as for all those Red States, he’s really looking out for their best interests. Those people are just too backward and uninformed to understand what is best for them.
“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” – C. S. Lewis
To punks like Markey, people are just things and not citizens
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Monday, July 12th at 11:57PM EST (link)He can go DIAF, and make the world just a little bit better place.
Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
Gulfport MS
jerseydevil Tuesday, July 13th at 6:38AM EST (link)My husband is in Gulfport MS and says the beaches from Gulfport to Biloxi are free of tarry oil…the water is clear and doesn’t smell of oil and the people and birds are on the beach…
SMALL WONDER he wants to limit Congressional and Media access to the area!
Chris
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes nor between parties either – but right through the human heart.”
Alexandr Solzhenitzyn
So is the capNstack the next engineered fail?
txgho1911 Tuesday, July 13th at 6:55AM EST (link)Somewhere the people who know the design limits for the BOP structure may soon start scratching their heads. BP left a lower pressure component in the stack as they added a set of compact high pressure BOPs.
The flex joint that sits atop the annular BOP in the Deepwater Horizon’s BOP stack was built for mechanical stresses of the LMRP and riser sway and pull. Currently the plan will have the well completely shutin or closed. This will close all avenues of escape for the hydrocarbons. The flex joint is a gimbal built with steel and steel belted rubber.
Several experts in the field who are monitoring progress are rolling apoplectic as they claim this component is only good for 5-6 k psi when new. This one is damaged and likely will not hold half the rated pressure it was rated for. The riser fell cocked the flex joint over beyond it’s intended limits.
After they finish securing the capNstack and move forward to integrity testing they will be closing the capNstack and choking the production to Q4k and Helix.
When that test produces pressures above the ability of the flex joint it may burst or split. Might even tear off in the flange welds above or below.
When that happens the best they may be able to do could be to release the H4 on the wellhead and pull BOP and all DP attached up and then away from Macondo. Then resetting the H4 on capNstack directly to the wellhead.
Vlad, and others in the industry; your thoughts on these technical details please? Thoughts on the opinions are welcome to.
The Chicago Way
radioone Tuesday, July 13th at 8:26AM EST (link)Can’t the administration just find a “Chicago Judge” on the machine payroll and get the ruling they want???
Vlad', I can't find a link to the newly "unveiled" drilling ban so that I can compare
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 9:41AM EST (link)it to the one courts overturned.
Moreover, ordinarily, an entity seeking to impose a new restraining order after having a court overturn a TRO, would have to go back to court to have a revised TRO approved. Is that the case here?
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
Listed here
txgho1911 Tuesday, July 13th at 10:11AM EST (link)http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscgd8/4551846015/page47/#comment72157624480696556
Check the number of comments on a flickr photo thread.
thx txgho' - nt
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 10:18AM EST (link)Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
Never mind Vlad', I found the links and am doing column today - nt
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 10:15AM EST (link)Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
This makes me so happy theymust have solved our need for oil
Joliphant (Diary) Tuesday, July 13th at 9:48AM EST (link)I mean how else could you ever ban drilling for it.
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Hum....
dude Tuesday, July 13th at 12:50PM EST (link)I wish Barry would quit waging war on America. Instead of trying to bring other countries up to our standards, he’s bringing us down to theirs. Very sad. Has anyone noticed that Harry never has an American flag behind him when he gives speeches?
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
share the pain with MA
talgus Tuesday, July 13th at 3:12PM EST (link)I know it is unconstitutional, (when did Dems care?), but perhaps the Gulf states should stop all energy to the Rep’s state so he could appreciate the lose of jobs. The rigs leaving will only go up. In Nov, there will be no rigs ($$ assets) left to restart exploration. I know if I had a multi-mullion dollar asset, I would not let it IDLE.
obama
1stsgt Tuesday, July 13th at 3:54PM EST (link)Obama lied and
the economy died.
I read this on the bumper of a pickup yesterday.