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3 Republicans Say Report on Spill Was Manipulated
New York Times ^ | November 12, 2010 | JOHN M. BRODER

Posted on 11/13/2010 4:51:57 AM PST by reaganaut1

Three Republican senators demanded Friday that the White House explain last-minute editing changes to an Interior Department report on the BP oil spill that falsely implied that a group of independent experts had endorsed a political decision to temporarily halt all deepwater oil drilling.

The senators, members of the Environment and Public Works Committee, called for hearings into the matter, contending that the White House had manipulated science for political ends, a claim Democrats frequently made about the George W. Bush administration.

The Interior Department’s inspector general issued a report this week asserting that officials in the office of Carol M. Browner, the White House coordinator for energy and climate change policy, had changed some wording and moved some sentences in an agency report that ended up misrepresenting the views of the technical experts.

The Interior Department report, issued at the end of May, made two dozen recommendations for improving the safety of offshore drilling and said that until those changes were adopted, all drilling in water deeper than 500 feet should be suspended. It said that the recommendations had been “peer-reviewed” and approved by a panel of outside engineers and oil drilling experts.

Shortly after the report appeared, the technical advisers angrily complained that while they had endorsed a number of the safety recommendations, they had not concurred that a blanket deepwater drilling ban was needed. They said such a ban would punish companies with good safety records and lead to thousands of lost jobs.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar publicly and privately apologized to the scientists for distorting their views.

The moratorium proved highly controversial in the Gulf of Mexico, with oil companies and many local politicians complaining that it was wreaking economic devastation. Mr. Salazar lifted the moratorium in mid-October, six weeks ahead of schedule

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: 2010; 201010; bp; browner; carolbrowner; doi; drilling; drillingban; drillingreport; election2010; gulf; gulfofmexico; interiordepartment; lies; midtermelections; moratorium; obama; obamalies; oilspill; report; salazar
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To: Soothesayer
It has become clear that Liberals care more about the environment than American economic well being.

I guess that I have known this all along, but after multiple examples like this one, it is, without a doubt, the norm. I haven't been naive. Just that it is hard to believe that a fellow American would do such a thing.

Voters need to be told and reminded frequently.

Now is time for leaders who aggressively drive our economy forward. Not a leader who holds one hand behind his back. Otherwise, we will get our rears kicked.

21 posted on 11/13/2010 6:18:42 AM PST by dhs12345
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To: reaganaut1

There was thousands of volunteers going to the Gulf Coast to help in the clean up and when they got there they couldn’t find any oil.


22 posted on 11/13/2010 6:38:48 AM PST by tobyhill
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To: reaganaut1

Time to have a Zcar-BQ!


23 posted on 11/13/2010 7:00:00 AM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: reaganaut1

When This story first broke it took a bit but all MSM picked it up.

They reported that Obama et el APOLOGIZED so it is not a federal crime...

We have a corrupt justice dept and administration beyond words.
More than THREE pubs needs to speak up now!


24 posted on 11/13/2010 7:12:14 AM PST by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!
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To: Soothesayer

The current democrat party (as dramatically different from the previous democrat party of Pat Moynihan) has a long range agenda in service to the goals of their owner, George Soros. The plan is to have fewer Americans, dumber Americans, more central federal government and government dependants, and be a minor portion of a world-wide new order and new world stamped economic morass. What the current democrat party seeks is no less than a conflation of communism and socialism, featuring a federal oligarchy instead of a real Constitutional Republic. They are achieving that goal very rapidly, right before our uneducated, denying eyes. ... And still no one is building the guillotines.


25 posted on 11/13/2010 7:19:14 AM PST by MHGinTN (Some, believing they can't be deceived, it's nigh impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: reaganaut1

A commission needs to be set up to investigate all fraud and corruption by this Regime since January 2008. A review and investigation of Pelosi et al. for corruption going back to 2006 must also be done, IMO.


26 posted on 11/13/2010 7:49:04 AM PST by ExTexasRedhead
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To: reaganaut1

-—Three Republican senators demanded -—

Since it was Republicans doing the demanding, it MUST be politically motivated. Therefore it’s not really news - ain’t that right Katie?


27 posted on 11/13/2010 8:42:01 AM PST by MichaelCorleone
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To: reaganaut1

We’re still hearing ‘Bush’s Katrina”. I want to hear more about.....

0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP. 0bama’s BP.


28 posted on 11/13/2010 5:18:10 PM PST by TribalPrincess2U (demonicRATS= Obama's Mosque, taxes, painful death. Is this what you want?)
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To: tobyhill
There was thousands of volunteers going to the Gulf Coast to help in the clean up and when they got there they couldn’t find any oil.

Go back and look at the images of an oil soaked bird standing in clean water, with clean birds taking off from clean water in the background. Sure, some areas were hit (mainly because of government policy in regards to skimmer efficiency), but an awful lot seemed overblown. I've seen worse oil slicks in marinas than some in images.

Of course, there are two schools of thought on that--access was limited--to keep reporters out of the worst areas...or to keep them from discovering how little oil hit the beaches.

I'd welcome local FReeper input on that, what did you guys see down there?

My bet is that the Gov't was anxious to make things seem far worse than they were to fine the bejeebers out of BP, (money, money, money, money...) but I might be wrong.

29 posted on 11/13/2010 11:31:54 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: mewzilla
Somehow that doesn't surprise me one bit.

Technically, drilling operations can proceed as soon as the permits are taken care of...then don't issue any.

30 posted on 11/13/2010 11:33:53 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: reaganaut1

Wasn’t BP one of O’Bummer’s top contributors?


31 posted on 11/13/2010 11:36:46 PM PST by BunnySlippers (I love BULL MARKETS . . .)
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To: reaganaut1

Carol M. Browner, was she not the same person Clinton put in charge of a new directorate at the EPA in 1995. That EPA stovepipe within WASHDC was one of the primary reasons for the Govt Shutdown 30 Sept 95. Browner has been carrying dirty laundry for years for the Dem’s. This is the True Danger of Appointees - they are not elected officials but have broad power.


32 posted on 11/14/2010 12:51:37 AM PST by Jumper
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