Courts Have Delivered Another Blow to Obama: Rejected Appeal to Allow Him to Reinstate Drilling Moratorium

The courts have delivered another blow to Obama on Thursday as they declined to allow him to reinstate the off-shore drilling moratorium:

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the federal government's effort to restore an offshore deepwater drilling moratorium, opening the door to resumed drilling in the Gulf while the legal fight continues.

The ruling is not the final word on the Obama administration's fight to suspend new drilling projects so it can study the risks revealed by the disastrous BP oil spill.

The same appeals court is expected to hear arguments on the merits of the moratorium case in late August or early September.

Just because it is legal for them to start drilling and allowing people to go back to work that doesn't mean that it will happen immediately. Since it is likely that Obama would appeal, some companies would rather not drill if they would just have to stop have to stop in a few months:

While it's possible that 33 exploratory wells suspended by the moratorium could resume drilling, companies might not bother with the expense while the ultimate future of the projects hangs in the balance.

Hopefully, this can be resolved soon as the people that rely on this industry for jobs to feed their families need to get their lives back to normal as soon as possible.

BP's Fails to Pay Oil Spill Clean Up Crew Their Wages

BP has another blackmark on their stellar reputation. Apparently, the crews that are helping with the clean up of the oil spill have had their check lost in the mail or something:

Hundreds of fishermen from Lake Charles to Moss Point, Miss., were supposed to get checks from BP on Wednesday but didn't.

Wednesday night, their lawyer wanted answers.

Jeffrey Briet represents more than 500 fishermen, and he said the payment system he set up with BP required his clients to be paid every 30 days. Now that process has suddenly changed without warning, Briet said.

 

"Not only did they spring it on us that the process has changed, but the people I've been dealing with for six weeks who've done a good job said, 'We don't know what the process is going to be. We're not authorized to talk to you about it. Someone from BP will contact you,'" he said.

But Briet said he hasn't heard from BP or its lawyers. He said the claims people have been given so much conflicting information about the process that they can't provide answers.

H/T to Ed Morrissey

Jindal Takes Page Out of Obama's Book on Transparency: Vetoes Opening Oil Spill Documents

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) seems to be taking a page out of the Obama Administration's book with regards to their apparent policies on transparency:

Gov. Bobby Jindal rejected a bill Friday that would have required him to make public and to preserve all his office's documents involving the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In his veto letter, the governor said the legislation would have hurt the state's position in future litigation against BP PLC, the oil giant that leased the rig which exploded April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing the disaster.

"This bill would allow BP and other parties with potential liability to the state to obtain information retained by any state agency responding to this tragic event," Jindal wrote, saying such access could jeopardize the state's position in seeking legal remedy for the spill's damage.

I'm usually a big support of Jindal, but in this case I must disagree with him. I can't see any legal reason why it can't be released, unless there is something in the report that BP doesn't know about in the report. This report is considered the equivalent to an investigation of BP's wrongdoing, and like a DA, they might need to keep certain details away from the offending party, in order to ensure the success of the investigation.

However, I doubt that is the case. Jindal needs to release it. If he does indeed have aspirations to move to the big house over on Pennsylvania Ave in DC, this could haunt him as an example of his lack of transparency. Jindal takes a definite step backwards in the minds of Americans minds, after he has been seen as a real leader in the wake of Obama's lackadaisical response to the spill.

Lead House Republican Burgess: Did the Administration Put Salazar in Witness Protection?

As the House Energy and Commerce Committee is conducting an investigation on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Administration role in it, there is an important piece of the puzzle that has gone MIA. Leading Republican, Michael Burgess of Texas, on the subcommittee wonders where in the world is Ken Salazar:

Word came down Thursday evening from the House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats:

“The joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment entitled 'The Role of the Interior Department in the Deepwater Horizon Disaster,' scheduled for Tuesday, June 29, 2010 has been postponed.  A new date and time for the hearing is to be determined.”

The star witness of the scheduled hearing?  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), top Republican on the subcommittee has repeatedly requested oversight testimony from the Obama administration on their actions in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.

The Majority has set up the greatest Witness Protection program this Congress has seen,” Burgess said.  “Secretary Salazar had already agreed to be present for next Tuesday’s hearing, so it appears that the Democrats are delaying this hearing for purely political reasons.”

As far as I can tell I have found, I can find where Salazar has given any reason for his absence.

Burgess went on to go after the Obama administration for their lack of transparency in this crisis:

“It has been 67 days since the spill began, and we still have no sworn testimony or documents from the Obama administration before this committee,” Burgess said.  “Given the frustration of the public with BP and the administration’s handling of the oil spill and response, one would think the Democrats would be eager to find out why federal authorities approved BP drilling plans and what role the federal government played in responding to the oil spill.  We need answers to a host of questions and soon -- the American people are demanding answers now.”

Burgess sent a letter to Salazar asking him to prepare answers for oversight questions he would raise in the hearing.  But within hours, the hearing was “delayed” until further notice.

The American people are looking for answers in this crisis. They want to know why it happened and how it will be fixed, and as we saw in Obama's pitiful excuse for an Oval Office Address, the Administration seems to be short on answers.

New Orleans Judge Lifts Obama's Offshore Drilling Moratorium, Allowing Thousands to Go Back to Work

A judge out of New Orleans lifted the moratorium on offshore drilling, yesterday. This will, in turn, put thousands of Gulf residents back to work, after Obama put a stop to all off-shore drilling earlier this year:

A New Orleans federal judge lifted the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed by President Barack Obama following the largest oil spill in U.S. history.Obama temporarily halted all drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet on May 27 to give a presidential commission time to study improvements in the safety of offshore operations. Government lawyers told U.S. District Judge Martin Feldmanthat the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig off the Louisiana coast in April was a “game changer’’ that exposed the risks of offshore oil exploration.“We need to make sure deepwater drilling is as safe as we thought it was the day before this incident,’’ Brian Collins, a lawyer for the government, told Feldman in a court hearing June 21. “It is crucial to take the time because to fail to do so would be to gamble with the long-term future of this region.’’

More than a dozen Louisiana offshore service and supply companies sued U.S. regulators to lift the ban. State officials claim 20,000 Louisiana jobs are in jeopardy if the deepwater drilling suspension lasts 18 months.

 Governor Bobby Jindal asked the judge to lift the ban because it was costing people their livelihoods, and the judge agreed that with the Louisiana Governor. Many wondered why the moratorium was even still in place after all of this time:
 

Lawyers for the drilling companies told Feldman the moratorium illegally sidesteps a required industry comment period. They also said regulators failed to tell Obama that all active deepwater rigs passed an immediate re-inspection after the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank, with only two rigs reporting minor violations and the rest getting approval to continue operations.

 
If all of the other drilling platforms passed the inspections that the government put them through, why were they closed down for so long? There is no logical reason for it. It'll cost thousands of people their jobs, take millions of dollars out of the Gulf's economy, and eventually raise gas prices on all of us. The longer they're not working the worse that'll be. Could it be that he's following Rahmbo's advice and not wasting a crisis.

Obama implied in his televised Oval Office telecast that he wants to use this issue to push his green agenda.

Is Obama Public Enemy #1 in Britain Right Now?

Ahhh! You have to love this style of "smart diplomacy" that this era of hope-and-change has brought us. In 18 short months Obama has gone from the British media darling to "the most unpopular man in Britain". That is impressive:

What a difference 18 months and an oil spill makes. In January 2009 Barack Obama was hugely popular on this side of the Atlantic, and could have walked on water in the eyes of the British media, the political elites, and the general public. In June 2010 however he probably qualifies as the most despised US president since Nixon among the British people. In fact you can’t open a London paper at this time without reading yet another fiery broadside against a leader who famously boasted of restoring “America’s standing” in the world.

When even Obama’s most ardent political supporters in Britain, including Boris Johnson, are on the offensive against the White House, you know the president’s halo has dramatically slipped. It’s hard to believe that any politician could become more disliked in the UK than Gordon Brown, but Barack Obama is achieving that in spades. And as Janet Daley noted of the British press, the love affair with Barack is well and truly over.

His recent handling and public persecution of the British-based. BP seems to have been the proverbial straw that even brought his most staunch supporters to criticize him:

The key catalyst for rising anti-Obama sentiment in the UK has been his disastrous handling of the BP issue, and his relentless desire to crush Britain’s biggest company. There is no doubting BP’s responsibility over the Gulf oil disaster, and it is right that the firm is being held to account for its failures. But the brutal, almost sadistic trashing of BP by the imperious Obama administration, which has helped wipe out about half its value, threatens its very future, as well as the pensions of 18 million British people and the jobs of 29,000 Americans. There is now the very real danger of the bankrupting of a great British enterprise, and the prospect even of a Chinese or Russian takeover.

Instead of adopting a constructive, statesmanlike approach, Barack Obama’s decision to launch a “boot on the throat” campaign, while adopting a thinly veiled Brit-bashing agenda, has generated significant bad blood in America’s closest ally. At the same time, the president has inexplicably rejected offers of help from the UK and an array of European countries, no doubt out of both pride and protectionism.

Of course, this hasn't been the first time that Obama's brand of "smart diplomacy" as went awry, when he has dealt with the UK. Obama has stumbled time and again, when he has dealt with Great Britain. He sent back the bust of Churchill, gave Gordon Brown a set of DVDs that won’t even work in British DVD players, and transferred Gitmo prisoners to Bermuda without telling the British government about it intentionally. He has damaged, possibly irreparably, the relationship between the two countries, at least while Obama is still in office:

As I wrote previously, we are witnessing one of the worst exercises in public diplomacy by a US government in recent memory, one that could cause significant long-term damage to the incredibly important economic and political partnership between Great Britain and the United States. And for those who say this is minor storm in a tea cup, I would point out that it is highly unusual for a British Prime Minister to have to stand up to an onslaught against British interests by an American president, as David Cameron has just done. In fact the prospect of a major confrontation between Downing Street and the White House grows stronger by the day.

Obama has lost sight of the fact that he needs Europe and Israel, and he has ostracized America’s best allies even worse than Bush had. According to the British people, he is rapidly becoming the least popular American president in recent memory:

The Anglo-American Special Relationship, the most successful partnership of modern times, will survive long after President Obama departs the White House. It is far bigger than any one president or prime minister. But there can be no doubt that it is being significantly damaged and weakened at this moment by the Obama administration’s sneering approach towards Great Britain, at a time when British and American soldiers are fighting and dying alongside each other in a major war in Afghanistan. President Obama needs to see the big picture and understand that his anti-British posturing is hugely counter-productive and highly offensive. He is already one of the least popular US presidents of modern times, not only in the eyes of the American people, but now the people of Britain as well.

If this is his idea of repairing America’s standing in the world and restoring the ties between America’s closest allies, it’s a joke. Everyone else is finally realizing what Obama’s critics have been saying since 2008. He has no idea how to be diplomatic, and his zero experience in foreign diplomacy is a liability, when he attempts to deal with other world leaders. He will have an even harder time getting people to help us in Iraq or Afghanistan. Plus, he will need help from them to solve the financial crisis and bring us out of this recession. He is only making it harder on himself and America as a whole in all our future interactions with Europe. He needs to wise-up and find that “reset” button that he used with Russia and use it with the UK, Israel, and the rest of Europe. He needs to completely retool his approach to handling our closest allies. If he doesn’t, we may not have these allies anymore by the time his term ends in 2012.

Feinstein: Sorry, Champ! Climate Bill Won't Stop the Oil From Leaking

The morning after Obama used the Oval Office Address that was supposed to be about how he planned to fix the Gulf Oil Spill Crisis to push Congress to pass the Climate Change Bill instead, liberal California Senator Diane Feinstein had interesting remarks regarding Obama's mention of the climate bill during his supposed Gulf Oil Spill speech:

The BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is unlikely to create enough momentum to pass a comprehensive climate bill sought by President Barack Obama, say leading Senate Democrats.

Many Democrats don’t want to vote in this election year on whether to cap the greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change, saying they prefer to work in the coming months on legislation directly responding to the spill.

“The climate bill isn’t going to stop the oil leak,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. “The first thing you have to do is stop the oil leak.”

Amazing! Even a Democrat has gun-ho about climate change as she is sees the absurdity of Obama bringing that up during that speech last night.

Overall, the speech was horrible as even MSNBC's Olbermann and Mathews couldn't believe how bad it was and how it was void of anything that resembled details on exactly how he was going to get done all that he has promised to do for the past two months.

Obama's "disaster of a disaster speech" was nothing but a thinly-veiled attempt at using this crisis to his advantage. He was looking to elicit sympathy and support for his green, anti-oil agenda from the American people, in order to allow Congress the ability to ram the climate bill through with minimal backlash in November from the electorate. Mission not accomplished, Mr. President. You only succeeded in making some your most staunch supporters start to question your leadership abilities.

Miss Me Yet?: Louisiana Residents Say Bush Handled Katrina Better Than Obama Handled BP Spill

A new PPP poll that looked at how Louisiana residents feel about Obama's handling of the BP oil spill has revealed somewhat shocking results:

Our new Louisiana poll has a lot of data points to show how unhappy voters in the state are with Barack Obama's handling of the oil spill but one perhaps sums it up better than anything else- a majority of voters there think George W. Bush did a better job with Katrina than Obama's done dealing with the spill.

50% of voters in the state, even including 31% of Democrats, give Bush higher marks on that question compared to 35% who pick Obama.

Overall only 32% of Louisianans approve of how Obama has handled the spill to 62% who disapprove. 34% of those polled say they approved of how Bush dealt with Katrina to 58% who disapproved.

This is huge. It shows that people have become fed up with the inaction from Obama regarding the clean up project. Now, the difference in between the two isn't big, but the fact that it is even close is still big. Polls like this is why Obama has been down in the Gulf states almost everyday this week and plans on doing an address from the Oval Office on the subject, tonight. People from the left and right have been complaining, and it is catching up to him.

Not surprisingly, BP has taken a biggest hit in the world of public opinion:

While the poll results indicate a lot of unhappiness with the President, ultimately BP is getting the largest amount of blame from voters in the state. 53% of voters say they're angriest at the oil company to 29% who say their greatest unhappiness is with the federal government. And 78% say BP has the greatest responsibility for cleaning up the spill to only 11% who say that onus lays with the federal government. 44% think BP CEO Tony Hayward should be fired to 29% who think he should not and 26% who are not sure.

Another surprising finding is that people haven't soured on off-shore drilling as everyone thought they would have. I guess this didn't "change the psyche" of the Louisianians regarding how they feel about the industry. So, much for being like 9/11. Right, Obama?:

One thing the oil spill has not done is created a spike of opposition to offshore drilling in Louisiana. 77% of voters still support it with only 12% against. Only 31% say the spill has made them less inclined to be in favor of drilling while 42% say it hasn't made a difference to them and 28% say they're now stronger in their support.

As I alluded to the other day, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has been picking up the slack on handling the crisis, and that fact is not being lost on the residents of the Cajun State:

If there's any 'winner' in this unfortunate event it's Governor Bobby Jindal. 63% of voters approve of the job he's doing, the best PPP has found for any Senator or Governor so far in 2010. There's an even higher level of support, at 65%, for how he's handled the aftermath of the spill.

This is becoming more and more like Obama's Katrina, no matter how much some Obama apologists would like you to believe otherwise. This should start translating into even lower approval ratings soon and make it even more difficult to win re-election in two years. He has to get a handle on this situation without making it look like kabuki theater, as he did with his Captain Kick Ass speech.

Obama: The Oil Spill in the Gulf is Like 9/11 or Something

Obama recently lamented in an interview with Politico that this crisis is just as bad as the 9/11 attacks:

Sounding reflective as he heads into a bruising electoral season, President Barack Obama told POLITICO columnist Roger Simon that the Gulf disaster “echoes 9/11” because it will change the nation’s psyche for years to come.

Obama — facing mounting criticism of his handling of the BP gusher, even from longtime allies — vowed to make a “bold” push for a new energy law even as the calamity continues to unfold. And he said he will use the rest of his presidency to try to put the United States on a course toward a “new way of doing business when it comes to energy.”

“In the same way that our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy was shaped profoundly by 9/11,” the president said in an Oval Office interview on Friday, "I think this disaster is going to shape how we think about the environment and energy for many years to come.”

Liberty Pundits broke down the absurdity of that comparison:

Really? Because there’s like nothing in common here. First, America needs energy. It does not need terrorists. Second, over 3,000 Americans died on 9/11, the economy was dealt a huge blow, and the psyche of the American people changed forever. The explosion in the gulf killed eleven men, the economy of those who make their living off the Louisiana gulf coast are harmed for over a generation, easily, and the horror of the oil gushing into the gulf is on-going. But it will stop.

I'm going to add something to that brilliant break down. It's not going to happen the way that he wants it to happen. The psyche of the American people has not changed forever because of this leak. Has soon as people have to start paying up to $4 p/ gallon or more for gas to fuel their cars, it'll be "drill, baby, drill" time, again.

Bobby Jindal Is Picking Up the Slack Where Obama Is Dropping the Ball

Much has been said of the lack of action by Obama to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf, and it seems that it is the governors, like Bobby Jindal, that is doing the job that, according to one Chicago Sun Times reporter:

Rather than projecting anger by searching for BP asses to kick and concentrating on a technical challenge he can't control, Obama should focus on what government can do. He should be exhibiting calm, cool competence by daily displaying how the federal government is organizing and carrying out the massive cleanup operation this disaster demands. Instead, that role has fallen to the likes of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. He's been pushing federal officials to approve construction of sand berms to protect coastlines, and he's taken to boats to showcase new small-scale but effective measures by locals to skim oil.

Every inch of wetlands polluted, every pelican coated in oil is tragic. But the unrestrained political handwringing has the unintended consequence of damaging the Gulf economy. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour laments that scare stories keep people away from clean beaches in his state.

So, why has Obama be derelict in his duties, and why did this crisis happen, in the first place? Of course, Obama apologists have bent-over-backwards to blame Dubya. However, the writer blew that preposterous notion out of the water:

Obama's troubles have inspired the usual reaction from his supporters -- this whole mess is Bush's fault. Never mind that all the regulatory decisions came on Obama's watch and that his administration had plenty of warnings about the cozy relationship between regulators and oil firms and had time to clean it up.

Whose responsibility is it to head up the clean-up? According to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), that would be you, Obama. Instead of leading a clean-up effort in the Gulf what has he spent his time doing? Putting a halt to all off-shore drilling:

And it turns out that the administration-ordered moratorium on deep-water drilling was based on political considerations, not the advice of National Academy of Engineering experts. This will cost the Gulf economy millions of dollars. Now the administration demands BP pay those lost wages -- losses inflicted by Washington.

As his handling of the crisis is dissected, Obama is reaping what he sowed -- extravagant expectations based on the seminal idea of liberal politics that government is the answer to society's troubles. In a well rupture a mile below the ocean, he and the nation have to face the stark reality of a problem beyond a Washington solution -- no matter whose butt he kicks.

To be fair, this is a difficult crisis for Obama to handle, but that is why we hired him. He can't keep trying to take advantage of every crisis by pushing a liberal agenda that Americans really don't want and will sacrifice today's economy for the outside chance of a better future.

Obama: Panel of Experts Said We Should Stop Drilling Off-Shore/Same Expert Panel: Um...No, We Didn't

Another member of the Obama Administration has being caught being less the 100% truthful in the execution of his duties in order to further advance his true liberal agenda. This time it was the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. In a report that he gave to Obama recommending that a halt to off-shore drilling, it has been discovered that he neglected to mention that the panel of experts that he claimed supported this ban didn't exactly think that a ban would do any good. In fact, they thought that it would be a horrible idea:

In a letter the experts sent to Salazar, they said his primary recommendation "misrepresents" their position and that halting the drilling is actually a bad idea.

The oil rig explosion occurred while the well was being shut down - a move that is much more dangerous than continuing ongoing drilling, they said.

They also said that because the floating rigs are scarce and in high demand worldwide, they will not simply sit in the Gulf idle for six months. The rigs will go to the North Sea and West Africa, possibly preventing the U.S. from being able to resume drilling for years.

They also said the best and most advanced rigs will be the first to go, leaving the U.S. with the older and potentially less safe rights operating in the nation's coastal waters.

So, not only will adversely affect our economy and domestic oil supply now and probably in the future, which will make us even more dependent on foreign oil, but it'll, also, be more dangerous and possibly cause more oil spills, if we stop drilling all of a sudden.

It's hard to imagine that Salazar could have misinterpreted what the experts meant. He outright twisted their words and left out vital parts of their report in order to make it say what he wants it to say to further his liberal agenda:

The experts, recommended by the National Academy of Engineering, say Interior Secretary Ken Salazar modified their report last month, after they signed it, to include two paragraphs calling for the moratorium on existing drilling and new permits.

Salazar's report to Obama said a panel of seven experts "peer reviewed" his recommendations, which included a six-month moratorium on permits for new wells being drilled using floating rigs and an immediate halt to drilling operations.

"None of us actually reviewed the memorandum as it is in the report," oil expert Ken Arnold told Fox News. "What was in the report at the time it was reviewed was quite a bit different in its impact to what there is now. So we wanted to distance ourselves from that recommendation."

This is a gross violation of the public trust. I have to wonder if Obama knew of Salazar's deception or that he neglected to not double-checking the validity of what Salazar said. I think that it was the latter because why wouldn't he trust someone in his Cabinet? He should be able to trust them, but this shows how far some liberals will go to enact their agenda to the detriment of the entire country. How can we trust the information that comes from the President, if the people around him are not trustworthy?

Obama: Don't Blame Me For My Lack of Response to the Oil Spill, You're Hypocrites If You Do

The One sure is getting testy these days. As a result of falling approval numbers and polls showing that the people believe that Obama has done a horrible job handling the oil spill in the Gulf, Obama went off on his detractors for being hypocrites because they dare to challenge his competency:

President Barack Obama said Friday that some members of Congress are being hypocritical when it comes to blaming the White House for its handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In an interview with POLITICO, the president said: “I think it’s fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is classic, big-government overregulation and wasteful spending.”

The president also implied that anti-big government types such as tea party activists were being hypocritical on the issue.

“Some of the same folks who have been hollering and saying ‘do something’ are the same folks who, just two or three months ago, were suggesting that government needs to stop doing so much,” Obama said. “Some of the same people who are saying the president needs to show leadership and solve this problem are some of the same folks who, just a few months ago, were saying this guy is trying to engineer a takeover of our society through the federal government that is going to restrict our freedoms.”

Ok, Barack, let me be clear: Republicans and the TEA party activists were talking about not doing too much in the private business sector not anything pertaining to national security or disaster relief, which falls well within the purview of the national government's responsibilities. He needs to man-up and take responsibility for his actions (or inaction rather) and stop blaming other people. If he had used the energy that he has wasted going after the TEA party protesters on solving this crisis, we might have had the oil leak plugged by now.