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Gulf Watchers Diary Schedule
Monday - evening drive time
Wednesday - morning
Friday - morning
Friday Block Party - evening
Sunday - morning
Part one of the digest of diaries is here and part two is here.
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Drill more, tax less, and everything will be just fine... The president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, Jack Gerard, said in his "State of American Energy" speech Tuesday that less regulation and fewer taxes assessed to the oil industry are the keys to America's economic recovery, and said the Obama administration is on the wrong track on both counts.
"We want to work with the administration and with Congress to encourage them to reconsider the long-term adverse consequences for our country and for our ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs," said Gerard, who leads the industry's largest trade organization.
Gerard also released a study produced for API by Wood Mackenzie, which does energy analyses, indicating that, in Gerard's words, "if we open areas that are currently off-limits to development, we could create more than 500,000 jobs throughout the economy and generate an additional $150 billion in government revenue by 2025."
Alternatively, the study concluded that raising taxes on the industry would cost production, jobs and ultimately tax revenues.
He stated that the way to reduce the federal deficit is to increase the number of sales of oil leases.
"Our nation will require more oil and natural gas for decades to come," he said. "A lot of it will come from deep-sea wells -- and if it doesn't come from there, then we'll import it. This is why we oppose the recent decision by the Department of the Interior to delay the next five-year plan for offshore leasing, the placing of large areas of domestic oil and natural gas off-limits, and the slow pace of permitting -- both onshore and off -- in areas where exploration and production are allowed."
He noted that no new deepwater drilling permits have been issued in the Gulf of Mexico, even since the lifting of formal moratorium late last year.
The Interior Department in December announced it was backing off on plans, announced early in the year, to expand the tracts of the Outer Continental Shelf open to potential drilling in an effort to push sweeping climate-change legislation, an effort that ultimately fell apart. It also immediately preceded the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which brought deepwater drilling in the Gulf to a halt. When asked how the BP spill affected the API's energy-related plans, Gerard called the explosion a "tragic incident", but believed it was "isolated".
"I can tell you the general public believes it was an isolated incident," and that, in its aftermath, "the industry is laser-focused on safety and getting our people back to work."
Bite me, API...
Reactions from the environmental community were negative.
"Clearly, Big Oil's New Year's resolutions are: Learn no lessons, admit no mistakes and show no shame," said Daniel Gatti, a policy analyst with Boston-based Environment America. "Having learned nothing from the disaster in the Gulf, Big Oil continues to call for the expansion of deepwater drilling, which threatens our oceans and coastal communities nationwide."
Kate Gordon, vice president of energy policy with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning Washington research and advocacy organization, said her takeaway from the worst oil spill in American history was very different than Gerard's, and that she did not think there was sentiment at the White House, in Congress or among the public at large for expanded drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf.
"I don't see the political calculus," Gordon said. "We just got through a huge disaster with the BP oil spill that reminded us it's a very, very risky operation, from which we get a relatively small amount of oil."
She said that investing in mass transit and the green economy was a far more effective way to create jobs.
Thank you, Kate.
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Does the right hand understand what the left hand is doing? How can this not be a conflict of interest? A Jackson, Mississippi, law firm - who counts BP as a client - is also advising some claimants in action against the petroleum corporation, causing some, including the Mississippi State Bar Association and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, to take notice.
The firm Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes maintains there is a wall separating the legal ties to BP and the work done with Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.
Senior partner Ed Brunini says the work is mainly clerical in nature; such as ensuring that paperwork is distributed properly.
"I understand the whole focus is on whether Mr. Feinberg is going to be fair to the claimants because he has lawyers helping him who represent BP," Brunini said. "I can tell you, no, we don't give him any advice. He has put together a team of lawyers to provide legal advice to the claimants. We do not do that. We're not in that world."
As of Jan. 4, there were 51,192 business and individual claims filed with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility in Mississippi, according to the Mississippi Attorney General's office.
In a statement, Attorney General Jim Hood said Brunini's involvement raises concern.
"If, in fact, it is true that Mr. Feinberg chose one of BP's law firms to also assist claimants against BP, it is bizarre and further evidence of Mr. Feinberg's lack of independence from BP," Hood said.
Hood said Brunini lawyers should have to "at a minimum" disclose to each claimant its representation of BP.
Sen. David Baria, (D-Bay St. Louis), says that if reports of the firm's dual representation are accurate, it would appear that rules of professional conduct have been violated.
Baria, who is a lawyer, likened it to a case with a car accident "where I represent the party at fault and also the party that's injured."
General counsel of the Mississippi Bar Association, Adam Kilgore, said the bar is aware of an article on the matter that first appeared in the Mobile Press-Register earlier this week, but cannot say whether any complaint is pending.
Capt. Tom Becker, operator of a fishing charter business in Biloxi, said people on the Gulf Coast are nervous about claims to be paid by BP. Becker filed a claim to BP's $20 billion fund in the fall, and was paid.
"If you have the same law firm representing me as representing them, what am I going to get? I would be very skeptical," Becker said.
Becker said his business has been continuously hammered by fallout from the April 20 rig explosion and subsequent oil spill. Customers from other states have not been booking summertime excursions, he assumes because they are concerned about eating the catch. Becker plans to file another claim to the BP fund sometime after next week to keep his business afloat.
Brunini said there is specific signage in the Biloxi office, where two of the firm's lawyers are present, stating the firm does not represent claimants.
The Brunini law firm was one of three tapped last week by Feinberg to assist with the claims process; the other two are located in Louisiana and Florida.
Local elected officials and others recommended the firms to Feinberg, according to a news release issued by his office.
Ed Brunini is one Gov. Haley Barbour's personal attorneys and the law firm has represented the state in legal matters from time to time.
Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said the governor "recommended that a Mississippi law firm be selected to participate and is aware of no conflict of interest."
Representatives from these law firms "will be assisting claimants by providing more details about the status of their claims and assisting them in determining and submitting the necessary documents needed in order to qualify for a final, interim or 'quick pay' claim," Feinberg said in the release.
Amy Weiss, a Feinberg spokesperson, said Feinberg was made aware of Brunini's relationship with BP and determined it was not a conflict of interest because they are related to different subject matters.
Ed Brunini says his firm has been working with BP for several months, assessing the loss of state tax revenues related to the spill.
"That project is over," Brunini said. "It's our understanding that BP would ultimately try to sit down and work out a resolution of those claims."
Another matter on which the law firm is working with BP is related to environmental impacts - specifically on natural resources - specifically to help assemble a team of experts to study and assess the damage on behalf of the company. That assistance may continue, says Brunini, but will remain separate.
"We built an ethical wall," Brunini said. "Nobody who ever works with anything to do with BP will ever work on anything dealing with the Feinberg matter."
But the director of the Mississippi Sierra Club, Louie Miller, says that position is not rational.
"This is a travesty of justice and a breach of the public's trust," Miller said. "This destroys any confidence left that this is an objective claims process."
Rep. Diane Peranich, (D-Pass Christian), said she is also concerned by the connection.
"I think the Brunini law firm probably has an interest in rationalizing both interests," she said.
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Peak oil... it will only get worse. From the GuardianUK, a short opinion piece and worth a click on the link...
The world runs on oil, a point made most succinctly by George W Bush of all people, when he described the US's "addiction to oil." That addiction takes us to the ends of the Earth and the bottom of the ocean in search of the next fix.
Drilling in deep oceans for oil and gas is one symptom, from Brazil's massive pre-salt reserves to the west of Shetland. The filthy squeezing of the black gold from the tar sands of Canada is another, as is the global surge is fracking of oil shales, another dirty business.
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Climate change bribery won't work... Another insight from the Guardian.
India is reportedly refusing offers of climate finance, claiming that it is already spending 2%-3% of its GDP on climate change adaptation and mitigation, and highlighting its National Action Plan on Climate Change and a well-funded National Solar Mission. Its message to the industrialised world is clear – stop trying to fob us off with cash, start making the changes necessary to reduce carbon emissions.
We live in the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. Radical change is rare, and action is urgent, so we do have to mitigate problems. Bangladesh, like other countries, does need money to help it survive and possibly prosper in a radically different climate, so climate finance should be a part of the world's response. But it should never be considered anything more than a sideshow to the main event, which is a radical reordering of industrialised economies to stop screwing the planet up. Poor countries should not let themselves be bought off.
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PLEASE visit Pam LaPier's diary to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!
And tonight's Block Party will be hosted by... I have no idea... But join us anyway!
Previous Gulf Watcher diaries:
The last Mothership has links to reference material.
Previous motherships and ROV's from this extensive live blog effort may be found here.
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