But for Dick Cheney and his band of oil company lackeys, oil might not be threatening to wash up into the marshes of Louisiana.
How? Because "the oil well now spewing large quantities of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico lacked a remote-control acoustic shutoff switch used by rigs in Norway and Brazil as the last line of defense against underwater spills." The New Republic, by William Glaston, Forget Offshore Drilling Until We Get Some Answers Why did it lack it? Well there is a story and it appears to lead to Darth Vader.
More, after the fold.
In 2000, during the Clinton adminsitration, the Minerals Management Service (or MMS, the division of the Interior Department responsible for offshore drilling) "issued a safety notice saying that such a back-up device is 'an essential component of a deepwater drilling system.'" The New Republic, by William Glaston, Forget Offshore Drilling Until We Get Some Answers
An essential component. If promulgated, that reg would have required it on the Deep Horozon rig.
And then there was an election in November 2000 and the Supreme Court in a corrupt vote later installed George Bush into the Presidency.
The industry pushed back in 2001, citing alleged doubts about the capacity of this type of system to provide a reliable emergency backup. By 2003, government regulators decided that the matter needed more study after commissioning a report that offered another, more honest reason: "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly."
I guess that depends on what they’re compared to. The system costs about $500,000 per rig. BP is spending at least $5 million per day battling the spill, the well destroyed by the explosion is valued at $560 million, and estimated damages to fishing, tourism, and the environment already run into the billions.
The New Republic, by William Glaston, Forget Offshore Drilling Until We Get Some Answers
Tthe MMS ran wild under Bush-Cheney:
After the Bush administration took office, the MMS became a cesspool of corruption and conflicts of interest. ... On at least 135 occasions, they accepted gifts and gratuities from oil and gas companies with whom they worked."
The New Republic, by William Glaston, Forget Offshore Drilling Until We Get Some Answers
But how might this lead to Darth Vader? Lets look at what now is history and likely soon to be forgotten by Ameircans unless we remind them. In 2001:
The Cheny Energy Task Force
The National Energy Policy Development Group was a group, created by Executive Order on January 29, 2001, that was chaired by Vice President Richard Cheney. The group, commonly referred to as the "Cheney Energy Task Force," produced a National Energy Policy report in May 2001. [1] In a cover note to George W. Bush, Cheney wrote that "we have developed a national energy policy designed to help bring together business, government, local communities and citizens to promote dependable, affordable and environmentally sound energy for the future.
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However, according to media reports at the time, energy industry executives participated in the Task Force. In particular, those identified as having been involved included then-Enron President and Chairman Kenneth Lay and lobbyists Haley Barbour and Marc Racicot.
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The names of participants cited on the lists [obtained from records kept by the Secret Service of people admitted to the White House complex] include:
Eli Bebout, "an old friend of Cheney's from Wyoming who serves in the state Senate and owns an oil and drilling company", visited in March 2001.[6]
Red Cavaney, "president of the American Petroleum Institute, also met with Lundquist"[7]
Jack N. Gerard, "then with the National Mining Association, had a meeting with Lundquist and other staffers" in February 2001.[8]
Wayne Gibbens and Alby Modiano, U.S. Oil and Gas Association.[9]
Alan Huffman, "Conoco manager until the 2002 merger with Phillips, confirmed meeting with the task force staff."[10]
Kenneth L. Lay, then head of Enron, "came by for the first of two meetings."[11]
Bob Malone, BP regional president, and Peter Davies, chief economist, and "company employees" Graham Barr and Deb Beaubien.[12]
Steven Miller, Shell Oil chairman, "and two others."[13]
Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Royal Dutch/Shell Group's chairman.[14]
James J. Rouse, former Exxon vice president. In 2005 Rouse "denied the meeting took place."[15] In 2007, Rouse was revealed to be "One of the first visitors, on Feb. 14, [2001] ... then vice president of Exxon Mobil and a major donor to the Bush inauguration".[16] [Liar, liar!]
J. Robinson West, "chairman of the Washington-based consulting firm PFC Energy and an old friend of Cheney's" met with Cheney.[17]
Daniel Yergin, "chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and author of The Prize, a history of the oil industry", met with Cheney and Lundquist.[18]
SourceWatch: Cheney Energy Task Force
And then the regulation that might well have prevented the oil spill just went away. Gone. Money "saved" for oil drillers and Big Oil. Drill Baby Drill and damn the precautions.
Mr. Glaston asks a key question:
So here’s my question: what is responsible for MMS’s change of heart between 2000 and 2003 on the crucial issue of requiring a remote control switch for offshore rigs?
What we do know is that unfettered oil drilling was to Dick Cheney’s domestic concerns what the invasion of Iraq was to his foreign policy—a core objective, implacably pursued regardless of the risks.
Is there a connection between his infamous secret energy task force and the corrupt mindset that came to dominate a key program within MMS? Would $500,000 per rig have been regarded as an unacceptably expensive insurance policy if a drill-baby-drill administration hadn’t placed its thumb so heavily on the scale?
The New Republic, by William Glaston, Forget Offshore Drilling Until We Get Some Answers
Perhaps the tradmed will get right on that.
$500,000 might have prevented this.
Inquiring minds want to know: Has any individual done more damage to this nation that Dick Cheney?
Now I don't know. It may be coincidence that the regulation was made to go away. Maybe the then-corrupt MMS did it on its own, showing initiative for their oil company benefactors. But without Bush and Cheney, the regulation likely would have been promulgated, and a remote-control acoustic shutoff switch might have prevented or limited the Deep Horizon oil spill.
Not every wrong leads to Dick Cheney. It sometimes just seems that way, though.