Obama Extends Moratorium on Offshore Drilling
Germany's Mario Gomez, left, is congratulated by his teammates, from right, Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Lukas Podolski after scoring the opening goal during the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group B match between the Netherlands and Germany in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) / Vadim Ghirda
Escalating his administration's response to the disastrous Gulf oil spill, President Barack Obama announced Thursday a moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling permits will be continued for six months while a presidential commission investigates, a White House aide said.
Controversial lease sales off the coast of Alaska will be delayed pending the results of the commission's investigation, and lease sales planned in the Western Gulf and off the coast of Virginia are canceled, the President announced at a news conference.
Shell Oil was poised to begin exploratory drilling this summer on Arctic leases as far as 140 miles offshore.
Those steps, along with new oversight and safety standards are the results of a 30-day safety review of offshore drilling conducted by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Mr. Obama's direction.
With the moves, Mr. Obama is exerting control over the response to the five-week-old spill amid growing criticism about leadership from the White House even as BP's efforts to stop the leak are finally showing promise after a series of failures.
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
Live Underwater Video of Leak
Arctic Drilling Suspended
Can BP Be Trusted in Light of Past Violations?
The president's announcements also could be an early sign of a fundamental shift in the administration's policies on offshore drilling, which Mr. Obama promoted and hoped to expand prior to the April 20 explosion of a drilling rig off the Gulf Coast. The accident killed 11 people and unleashed a gusher of crude that's now begun to wash up on land and cripple seabirds.
The exact causes of the accident are not determined but congressional investigators have released details suggesting BP ignored warning signs of instability in the exploratory well they were attempting to cap when the explosion occurred.
Mr. Obama, who on Saturday appointed a presidential commission to conduct a wide-ranging, six-month investigation of the causes of the spill, will travel to the Gulf Coast on Friday, his second visit since the accident.
Thursday's announcement and news conference in the East Room represents the first time he's opening himself to extensive media questioning since the accident occurred.
For all his power to make such rules, however, the president admitted Thursday he must depend mainly on the company that was leasing the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig when the explosion occurred. BP PLC began a new effort Wednesday to plug the mile-deep well with heavy drilling mud, a tactic never before tried at such depths. The company hoped to know by Thursday afternoon whether the tactic would finally slow the oil; as of Wednesday night executives reported no problems so far.
The maneuver's success would prove enormously welcome to the Gulf region, of course, but also to the White House, Congress, federal agencies and other institutions that share responsibility for
oversight, regulation and what went wrong.
Americans polled by CBS News expressed frustration with both the global oil giant and President Obama for their handling of the environmental disaster.
Only 18 percent of those polled said they approved of how BP was acting in response. An overwhelming majority -- 70 percent -- said they disapproved. President Obama fared slightly better, with 45 percent saying they disapproved of his handling of the crisis. That still represents an overall negative rating, however, as only 35 percent said they approved of his words and deeds since the disaster struck.
At the Capitol on Thursday, lawmakers were grilling various officials at five congressional hearings. Topics included the Gulf spill's environmental damage, the administration's response and the impact on small businesses.
On Wednesday, Salazar told the House Natural Resources Committee that lax oversight of oil companies dates to the administration of Republican President George W. Bush.
"Essentially whatever it is they wanted is what they got," Salazar said.
GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado asked when Obama's team would stop blaming problems on an administration that left office 16 months ago. Salazar replied that the federal Minerals Management Service, while heavily criticized lately, is still not "the candy store of the industry, which you and others were a part of."
CBS/AP Controversial lease sales off the coast of Alaska will be delayed pending the results of the commission's investigation, and lease sales planned in the Western Gulf and off the coast of Virginia are canceled, the President announced at a news conference.
Shell Oil was poised to begin exploratory drilling this summer on Arctic leases as far as 140 miles offshore.
Those steps, along with new oversight and safety standards are the results of a 30-day safety review of offshore drilling conducted by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Mr. Obama's direction.
With the moves, Mr. Obama is exerting control over the response to the five-week-old spill amid growing criticism about leadership from the White House even as BP's efforts to stop the leak are finally showing promise after a series of failures.
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
Live Underwater Video of Leak
Arctic Drilling Suspended
Can BP Be Trusted in Light of Past Violations?
The president's announcements also could be an early sign of a fundamental shift in the administration's policies on offshore drilling, which Mr. Obama promoted and hoped to expand prior to the April 20 explosion of a drilling rig off the Gulf Coast. The accident killed 11 people and unleashed a gusher of crude that's now begun to wash up on land and cripple seabirds.
The exact causes of the accident are not determined but congressional investigators have released details suggesting BP ignored warning signs of instability in the exploratory well they were attempting to cap when the explosion occurred.
Mr. Obama, who on Saturday appointed a presidential commission to conduct a wide-ranging, six-month investigation of the causes of the spill, will travel to the Gulf Coast on Friday, his second visit since the accident.
Thursday's announcement and news conference in the East Room represents the first time he's opening himself to extensive media questioning since the accident occurred.
For all his power to make such rules, however, the president admitted Thursday he must depend mainly on the company that was leasing the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig when the explosion occurred. BP PLC began a new effort Wednesday to plug the mile-deep well with heavy drilling mud, a tactic never before tried at such depths. The company hoped to know by Thursday afternoon whether the tactic would finally slow the oil; as of Wednesday night executives reported no problems so far.
The maneuver's success would prove enormously welcome to the Gulf region, of course, but also to the White House, Congress, federal agencies and other institutions that share responsibility for
oversight, regulation and what went wrong.
(AP/BP LPC)
Only 18 percent of those polled said they approved of how BP was acting in response. An overwhelming majority -- 70 percent -- said they disapproved. President Obama fared slightly better, with 45 percent saying they disapproved of his handling of the crisis. That still represents an overall negative rating, however, as only 35 percent said they approved of his words and deeds since the disaster struck.
At the Capitol on Thursday, lawmakers were grilling various officials at five congressional hearings. Topics included the Gulf spill's environmental damage, the administration's response and the impact on small businesses.
On Wednesday, Salazar told the House Natural Resources Committee that lax oversight of oil companies dates to the administration of Republican President George W. Bush.
"Essentially whatever it is they wanted is what they got," Salazar said.
GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado asked when Obama's team would stop blaming problems on an administration that left office 16 months ago. Salazar replied that the federal Minerals Management Service, while heavily criticized lately, is still not "the candy store of the industry, which you and others were a part of."
(BP)
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This gives the scientists, officials (both corporate and governmental) and other experts time to do exactly what you called for: "insuring that all other drilling has proper safeguards".
It is not remotely an over reaction. What? Do you think oil rigs can be checked for proper procedure, maintenance, structural integrity etc. overnight?
Sorry, it is you who has overreacted. Please try to see things in real world terms, not ideological or politically biased terms.
Now he's against it again!
At the end of the six month moratorium,
will he be FOR it, or, AGAINST it,...again?!
Any guesses, you have a 50% chance of being correct!
Truth told. We need to develop alternative energy sources, solar, wind, biomass that does not compete with the food supply (Miscanthus, algae or even bacteria.) As Obama has often said, the leading economy if the 21st century will be the first economy that breaks free from fossil fuel. Do we want to be the leading economy, or do we want China to take over? (Guess what!!! The Chinese, notorious for their pollution, are already ahead of us in wind and solar technology.)
The problem is not Obama. It's the GOP Senators in Congress who have a God complex and are perfectly willing to turn the Gulf of Mexico into a toxic chemical toilet bowl if they can win the next election. If we are really serious about breaking our addition to fossil fuel then we need to get rid of the filibuster and get rid of the GOP - the party of NO - namly NO responsibility.
The fact is that we have to have oil right now. And right now, we are slaves to the middle east. We have to drill....but we have to enforce the regulations on these oil companies. You might be able to do without oil, but there are thousands of Americans who need heat this winter or air this summer that cannot wait for your solar, wind and other alternatives to catch up. And for the record, Obama supported drilling.
Oh!Bummer promised 'change' and he got it. Now its "Drill, Barry - Drill"
ONCE AGAIN, this president makes a decision AGAINST the will of the people. All the polls show Americans still in favor of drilling because there is NO ALTERNATIVE.
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Spot on bro, I was thinking he was giving up on that government intrusion and socialism for not getting in the way of BRITISH petroleum as they repair the gulf but looks like he's back to that government intrusion.
We just need to eliminate the government. The only thing any of us should imagine paying is what it takes to keep business profitable, taxation is an obstruction to this. The nice thing about just having business to spend our money on is that our economy will thrive and we won't have to be bothered with voting. The free market will assure we have what it takes to purchase just what we need to keep working.
Just because the federal government failed to do a proper job of inspecting the Horizon, and because BP failed to see that it was done properly
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I get so tired of liberals like you that think the government is the solution. The government is the problem. BRITISH petroleum is an extremely profitable global corporation that is equipped to hire the best and the brightest. Every time there is a problem, the liberals come along and try to tell the private sector how to run it's business affairs. The government has no clue how to inspect oil rigs. The oil industry is the expert here.
The government is the problem NOT the solution. The government just needs to get out of the way. Liberals like you are hurting the profitability of our economy.
I am sick and tired of you wing nuts saying smaller government and less taxes. What has happened the only Presdient that followed that was Bill Clinton and he was put to a witch hunt your you wing nuts.
Then lets take it further not all problems can be solved with just a simple solution. But of course wing nuts don't want to collaborte because there heros tell them they will be giving up something yes like there worthless ideas.
Yep, BP is a profitable company. At what cost though?
Call a spade a spade. The problem is that the management of the agency responsible for regulating BP (and other oil companies) allowed their workers to get into a cozy relationship with those companies. It's not Obama or Congress's fault. It's the management of the agencies fault. AND it's the Oil Companies fault for being greedy enough to cut corners in favor of high profits. I guess the billions in profit they're making off of Gas prices alone isn't enough...
No other country on earth spends so much time in self loathing. Democrats will help US to hate ourselves as much as any Terrorist Group.
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The best way for america to feel good is to take Halcyon. I agree, denial is the best medicine and introspection of self and country are negative activities unless of course, weak liberal immigrant loving saps are the topic then we ought to follow the lead of the southern border states. That's a different topic but Mexicans should only be here to do the work americans won't do. Don't tread on me bro and give these people amnesty. Ronald Reagan gave all the amnesty necessary. It's a different time now.
We have been doing really well to be happy without the self loathing liberals. I just want to feel good. I think we could just talk about our great way of life. There should be more programming to address this and I think reality t.v. is a good start but there needs to be more.
The banking sector and the oil industry collectively have built a great economy that is serving the nation well. The recent downturns are part of a normal business cycle and accidents do happen. Government had the space shuttle incident. Reagan really pushed for that launch. His heart was in a good place. He really loved america and its people.
Liberals try to socialize things every time there is a problem. The only thing close to socialism we should be engaged in is assuring our large companies are able to be saved from ruin so that they can quickly return to profitability and get this country back to work. BRITISH petroleum surely creates many great jobs for american families all around this nation.
No the financial meltdown was not part of a normal business cycle. It was a direct result of de-regulation within the banking sector, plus a lack of oversight by the SEC and Federal Reserve.
The oil spill is again not part of a normal business cycle, its a result of a company cutting corners and being in bed with regulators.
Yes, these industries employ lots of people, but does that give them the right to do what ever they want without any repurcussions?