Topics: US House approves bill to limit EPA authority over drilling. BP and Transocean battle over custody of the blowout preventer from the Deepwater Horizon. BP wins legal claim in spill cleanup. Florida crunches numbers in order to bill BP. Transocean says BOP maintenance wasn't a problem. Turtles may get more protection. Hands Across the Sand in Alabama.
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U.S. House approves bill to limit EPA authority over drilling.
Okay, help me out here. It's called the EPA...the Environmental Protection Agency. They are supposed to protect the environment, right? And "the environment" also includes the Gulf of Mexico, the surface of that body of water, and whatever is under/in that body of water. Because, if the oceans die, we die.
But the GOPer-driven EPA-gutting continues, with the House approving a bill to allow the EPA to perform its duties of measuring pollution only on land...and not at any offshore drilling site.
"We are determined to get our domestic energy production up and running again, despite the obstruction of the Obama administration," Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, said.
Five of Louisiana's six House Republicans -- Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman, missed the vote -- supported the legislation. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, voted no.
Thankfully, the Obama Administration opposes the bill, for what that's worth, so there is a chance that, in its present form it will either die in the Senate, or on the President's desk.
"It would curtail the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act to help ensure that domestic oil production on the Outer Continental Shelf proceeds safely, responsibly, and with opportunities for efficient stakeholder input," the Obama administration said in a statement opposing the bill.
I guess we can hope...again.
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BP, Transocean spar over who gets blowout preventer.
Transocean and BP have locked horns over custody of the blowout preventer from the Deepwater Horizon. Transocean posits that it should have possession, arguing it is best equipped to preserve the device, along with any evidence yet to be discovered as to the failure of the BOP.
BP, always looking for ways to weasel out of anything that could cost them money, maintains the BOP shouldn't be given to one on the defendants in the matter, and that the government should hold the BOP until the trial, set to begin in February, 2012.
Testing at the NASA facility near New Orleans is being completed, and a federal court has asked parties to give statements on where and how the device should be stored until trial.
“Transocean has the necessary expertise to transport the BOP to a location of its choosing and is willing to assume the costs associated with the related transportation,” Transocean said in a letter to the court.
BP argues the blowout preventer should remain in independent hands to ensure its integrity because it is “one of the most central pieces of physical evidence in this litigation.”
A lawyer for the Justice Department told the court that the government wants to retain the control pods and certain other parts of the blowout preventer, but it doesn’t object to the rest of the device being returned to Transocean. However, it noted that another government agency, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, may want to do additional testing if its own.
A ruling is pending on the matter.
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BP wins legal challenge over oil spill clean-up.
For the most part, I have thought Judge Carl Barbier to be on our side - "our side" being the contingent fighting for the environmental health of the Gulf after the spill, and demanding regulations with real teeth to prevent another disaster.
Now I am not so sure. Judge Barbier has kicked out a group of claims filed by environmentalists attempting to improve the ways BP is managing the continuing cleanup. At this point, any changes in the method would cost BP more money.
Barbier ruled that it is up to the US government to file any relevant environmental claims, and not third-party organizations, who have filed claims under the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.
"The injunction at this stage would be useless, as not only is there no ongoing release from the well, but there is also no viable offshore facility from which any release could possibly occur," the judge decided. "The Macondo well is dead, and what remains of the Deepwater Horizon vessel is on the ocean floor, where it capsized and sank in 5,000 feet of water.
"Moreover, BP and the agencies comprising the Unified Area Command have been and are cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico. An injury is not redressable by a citizen suit when the injury is already being addressed."
Barbier says US agencies are heading the cleanup, and additional lawsuits would not "resolve any deficiencies".
Maybe he's right, that more claims would be redundant and just take up time and space. I'm not a legal scholar; I really don't know. Seems like things are being tossed in the memory hole again...
"The Macondo well is dead, and what remains of the Deepwater Horizon vessel is on the ocean floor..."
So fuggeddaboutit, why dont 'cha? Stop bothering us! We're very busy, important people!
Assholes... I don't want to say it, but maybe even you, too, Judge B.
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Florida puzzles over how to bill BP for spill losses.
Officials in Florida have begun meetings to attempt to come up with a figure with which to bill BP for losses incurred in the aftermath of the oil spill.
Although most of Florida's beaches were unaffected, the threat from the spill caused a drop in tourist revenue, including sales taxes and fishing license fees.
Officials are taking a statewide approach, when only Panhandle beaches showed evidence of oil and tar balls.
“Given the national news of the oil spill you have impacts on the brand ‘Florida,’” said Christian Weiss, an economist in Gov. Rick Scott’s office.
“Certainly from a foreigner’s perspective who hears about ‘Florida oil spill’ I’m not sure they necessarily were able to distinguish between Pensacola Beach, Pinellas Beach or Palm Beach,” Weiss said.
The economists, though, were less certain of whether they’ll include local as well as state revenues, although they often are intermingled. For instance, local governments get shares of state sales and gasoline taxes. The revenue-estimating conference plans to first take a closer look at what local governments already have received from BP and the methodologies they used to support their claims.
In any case they plan to come up with their own methodology rather rely on what BP has developed for use with government revenue loss claims.
BP figures show the company has paid cities, counties and other local entities in Florida about $10.6 million for revenue losses. That’s in addition to millions more for cleanup and other spill-related expenses.
Escambia County has already received $1.8 million for the loss of tourist development taxes, bridge tolls, local option sales and gasoline taxes and electric and natural gas franchise fees.
“If we come up with a lower number than Escambia ended up with then Escambia got a good deal,” said Jose Diez-Arguelles, staff director of the Senate Finance and Tax Subcommittee. “If we come up with a higher number Escambia got a bad deal.”
When the spill caused tourist to change their plans about coming to Florida - officials say that the spill affected the state's "brand image".
“That’s going to be the by far the hardest thing that we have to put a number on, but I think there’s enough academic research out there and studies out there,” said Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research.
One one can only wonder what Florida's certifiably insane criminal governor Rick Scott is going to do to get this situation adjusted so he and his cronies receive the greatest profit. I'm not holding my breath for any of the little folks who no longer have jobs because of the tourist downturn.
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Transocean videos: BOP maintenance wasn’t the problem at Macondo
In a report from Transocean, the company lays 90% of the blame for the Deepwater Horizon blowout on BP and Halliburton, saying Transocean only did their job...
In the report, Transocean says the BOP was maintained properly (despite claims made by BP in its own internal report on the incident) and that it operated as designed, but that the blowout event overwhelmed the design parameters:
“Forensic evidence from independent post-incident testing by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and evaluation by the Transocean investigation team confirm that the Deepwater Horizon BOP was properly maintained and did operate as designed.
However, it was overcome by conditions created by the extreme dynamic flow, the force of which pushed the drill pipe upward, washed or eroded the drill pipe and other rubber and metal elements, and forced the drill pipe to bow within the BOP. This prevented the BOP from completely shearing the drill pipe and sealing the well.”
(Please click on this link to view videos from Transocean explaining their position.)
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The turtles might get a tiny break...
Sea turtle protection would be stronger under new regulations affecting shrimpers.
Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coast shrimpers may face new restrictions because of the damage the industry is causing to threatened and endangered sea turtles, federal regulators announced today.
The National Marine Fisheries Service said it would assess the damage shrimpers are causing to turtle populations. Many of the smaller shrimp boats that use skimmer trawls are not required to use special devices that enable turtles to swim away when they get caught in a net.
Between January and June, 379 sea turtles were found stranded along the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana coastline, the NMFS said. Turtle deaths have been linked to shrimp nets and trawls.
Roy Crabtree, regional administrator for the NMFS, said regulators would look at requiring more shrimpers to add the turtle-saving gear to their nets. He said closing some areas to shrimping would be examined too, but he added that closing a fishery is "the last resort."
Environmental groups have put pressure on regulators to impose more restrictions on shrimpers. After shrimpers were blamed for a spate of turtle deaths during last year's BP PLC oil spill, environmentalists threatened to sue the NMFS unless it took steps to reduce the number of turtle deaths.
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Hands Across the Sand events connect south Alabama residents.
Small groups of opponents to offshore drilling joined hands Saturday on beaches in Gulf Shores, Dauphin Island and Fairhope as part of a worldwide "Hands Across the Sand" event to bring attention to the stress drilling puts on the environment.
"It’s not just about last year’s oil spill. We’ve seen a marked decline in many species in the Gulf and our oceans for a long time, though it’s gotten worse recently," said Leo Denton, one of 34 people who gathered on the beach beside Fort Gaines on Dauphin island.
From their vantage on the east-end beach — the public beach was closed as crews prepared for a beach concert — the line of handholding protesters could see at least two dozen oil and gas derricks.
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