Uploaded May 2010 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Elections have consequences, and the Bush legacy grows infamously to prove it. The ecologically disasterous oil well blowout in the Gulf has been tied to Dick Cheneys secret energy task force meetings with big oil execs. Combine Bush and Cheneys government is good for nothing attitude with the thurst for big business deregulation and it is easy to see a direct correlation with the flood of toxic crude into the Gulf. The Wall Street Journal and Guardian UK provide more. From the Wall Street Journal: The oil well spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producing nations as last-resort protection against underwater spills. The lack of the device, called an acoustic switch, could amplify concerns over the environmental impact of offshore drilling after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig last week... ... regulators in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil, in effect require them. Norway has had acoustic triggers on almost every offshore rig since 1993. The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn't needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well. From the Guardian U.K.: The U.K., where BP is headquartered, doesn't require the use of acoustic triggers. The Journal's report doesn't come out and say this, but the environmental lawyer, Mike Papantonio, said on the Schultz show in an interview you can watch here that it was Cheney's energy task force - the secretive one that he wouldn't say much about publicly - that decided that the switches, which cost $500,000, were too much a burden on the industry. Regulatory decisions have consequences all the time, and the people who made them should be asked to justify their decisions in a democracy. Opinion based on various news reports including a segment from MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews and guests Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and David Corn of Mother Jones.
Elections have consequences, and the Bush legacy grows infamously to prove it. The ecologically disasterous oil well blowout in the Gulf has been tied to Dick Cheneys secret energy task force meetings with big oil execs. Combine Bush and Cheneys government is good for nothing attitude with the thurst for big business deregulation and it is easy to see a direct correlation with the flood of toxic crude into the Gulf. The Wall Street Journal and Guardian UK provide more. From the Wall Street Journal: The oil well spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producing nations as last-resort protection against underwater spills. The lack of the device, called an acoustic switch, could amplify concerns over the environmental impact of offshore drilling after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig last week... ... regulators in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil, in effect require them. Norway has had acoustic triggers on almost every offshore rig since 1993. The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn't needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well. From the Guardian U.K.: The U.K., where BP is headquartered, doesn't require the use of acoustic triggers. The Journal's report doesn't come out and say this, but the environmental lawyer, Mike Papantonio, said on the Schultz show in an interview you can watch here that it was Cheney's energy task force - the secretive one that he wouldn't say much about publicly - that decided that the switches, which cost $500,000, were too much a burden on the industry. Regulatory decisions have consequences all the time, and the people who made them should be asked to justify their decisions in a democracy. Opinion based on various news reports including a segment from MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews and guests Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and David Corn of Mother Jones.
