I'm sure this has absolutely nothing to do with the hard right GOP insistance that the government be shut down if they don't get their way, but among many other federal employees, BOEMRE (Board of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement) inspectors will also be sent home.
For those who don't know or remember, these are the folks that do offshore oil rig inspections... BOEMRE is the agency previously known as the Minerals Management Service (MMS).
I know this first hand from a "close relative" who works for a BOEMRE contractor. They were sent home the last time the government shut down too.
Don't think the GOM rigs will shut down just because the inspectors can't go offshore to check up on them.
Of course, down here in south Louisiana, which was/is an epicenter of tea party mentality long before there was a tea party, everything is Obama's fault. There is a billboard on the corner of Johnston St. and Ambassador Caffery Pkwy in Lafayette, LA, the highest traffic intersection in our city, which proudly asserts that we should blame Obama the next time gas gets to $4.00 a gallon... drill in America! So few of the local NASCAR pickup truck driving crowd will likely be very upset that BOEMRE is shut down, except maybe the inspectors themselves assuming they are in that group that won't get paid.
Though I haven't heard anything in the local press or media about the 8th deepwater permit that has been approved by BOEMRE. For starters, it doesn't jive with the "it's (the black, Muslim, alien, anti-Christian, oh, did we say he was black?) Obama's fault" meme...
Just sayin'.
Updated by ulyankee at Fri Apr 08, 2011 at 12:44 PM PDT
UPDATE - Just found out that the inspectors will NOT be sent home! My "close relative" who works for the BOEMRE contractor has been told that while the office staff are considered unessential, this time around the inspectors are ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEES! "Different administration," is what I was told. I reminded this person that a Democrat was president last time, too. :-) But certainly a (welcome) shift in priorities!