Posted on 06/13/2010 1:04:09 AM PDT by XHogPilot
The administration has decreed a six-month moratorium on exploratory drilling in the Gulf, based on a report that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote for President Obama. Salazar claimed that a panel of seven experts selected by the National Academy of Engineering had peer reviewed his report. It turns out, though, that the seven experts never saw the recommendation for a moratorium, and in fact oppose it:
The seven experts who advised President Obama on how to deal with offshore drilling safety after the Deepwater Horizon explosion are accusing his administration of misrepresenting their views to make it appear that they supported a six-month drilling moratorium -- something they actually oppose.
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."
Salazar apologized to those experts Thursday.
Carol Browner tried to claim that the administration did nothing wrong, but it is hard to follow her logic:
"No one's been deceived or misrepresented," Browner told Fox News, defending the moratorium as a safety measure. "These experts gave their expert advice, and then a determination was made looking at all of the information, including what these experts provided -- that there should be a pause, and that's exactly what there is. There's a pause."
That, of course, is very different from attributing the recommendation of a moratorium to the experts, or claiming that they had "peer reviewed" it. In fact, the expert panel made cogent arguments against the administration's moratorium:
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 this looks like one more instance where the Obama administration is neither honest nor competent, and where its first instinct seems to be to pursue the course that will most damage our economy.
Salazar crossed the line and his life should no longer be allowed
New rules mean there can be new rules
Democrats LEI, CHEAT and STEAL!! It’s what makes them DEMOCRATS!!
With each and every breath he takes he continuously lies.
Let's add a 2nd word to the mix.
FORGERY: The making, drawing, or altering a document with the intent to defraud.
Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:
Presbo is holdling the course! Control, impede, and then nationalize.
bump
Yeah, but Salazar is not an engineer so these ethics are not for him.
I think we are seeing step 2 at the moment. But it definitely explains why they want our guns. You cannot have step three until the 2nd Amendment is repealed.
“The U.S. is not going to allow someone to be in international waters near territorial waters unless they have our permission or are our citizens. The whole national security thing comes into play.”
But our administration supports terrorists sailing into Israeli ports.
Go figure.
200 nautical miles.
Yet the state run media will never report this. If they ever do, this boob is toast.
A long read but it lists many circumstances in which a government can claim control over vessels in international waters.
Basically, if I read it correctly, if such vessel or property is owned by or operated by US citizens or in any other way has a claim to US ownership, it is ruled by US law.
I am not going to dig for the law on leases, but I would suspect there are also clauses in those contracts.
How one leases something in international waters, I have no idea but I suspect that is interesting.
Sorry, but I forgot to include the link:
Caught in ANOTHER bald-faced lie!
Nobody in this Administration tells the truth about ANYTHING!
The more I see from 0zeromumbojumbo and his leftist minions the more disgusted I become...
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar... claimed that a panel of seven experts selected by the National Academy of Engineering had peer reviewed his report. It turns out, though, that the seven experts never saw the recommendation for a moratorium, and in fact oppose it
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