Obama administration moves to distance itself from BP on oil spill response

[highplainsdem]

Source: Washington Post

Obama administration moves to distance itself from BP on oil spill response

By Joel Achenbach and Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Struggling to convey command of the worsening Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Obama administration is taking steps to distance itself from BP and is dispatching Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to the Gulf Coast to meet with federal and state prosecutors. The Holder trip could signal that the environmental calamity might become the subject of a criminal investigation.

-snip-

The opening of a criminal investigation or civil action against BP, if either were to happen, would create the unusual situation of the federal government weighing charges against a company that it is simultaneously depending on for the most critical elements of the response to the record oil spill.

-snip-

The relationship between the federal government and the oil company has been an awkward collaboration all along -- "We have them by the neck," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said of BP in congressional testimony last week -- but it reached a turning point Monday when the administration said it no longer wants to share a podium with BP at the daily briefing in Louisiana. Instead, the national incident commander, Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen, will give a solo briefing wherever he happens to be.

The public relations shake-up comes in a tense period, with the Gulf Coast rattled by news that last week's attempted "top kill" of the well didn't work. A government forecast shows the oil slick potentially striking the popular tourist beaches of Mississippi and Alabama later this week. The official arrival of hurricane season Tuesday has incited a new rash of dire scenarios. With bad news washing up everywhere, the administration has been desperate to convince the public that the government, and not the oil company, is fully in charge of the crisis and mounting a robust response.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/31/AR2010053103511.html

[laughingliberal]

1. K & R nt

[Oceansaway]

2. K&R...n/t

[obxhead]

3. The trained skeptic in me

doesn't see any chance of any criminal proceedings, much as I want to see the perp walk of shame.

[Pirate Smile]

7. I think there is a high likelihood that they are going to be getting some criminal charges. The

recklessness was so flagrant.

[obxhead]

10. Time and again I've watched powerful

corporations and politicians simply buy their way out of trouble, even when it is obvious even to their supporters that laws were broken.

I hope, but it is a dim hope I'll keep deep down and bottled up as the disappointment when a get out of jail free card is handed to BP by the administration would just be too much added to this story.

[RKP5637]

4. Well, if so, I hope it works better than the wall street / banks stuff... n/t

[applegrove]

5. If BP was skirting regulations like it seems like they did...and 11 people died they have a case.

[ananda]

6. Who has WHO by the neck?

Let's put it this way. BP should have been completely taken over, all
its managers dismissed, and a competent core of engineers and supervisors
put in place... from day one.

Now, who's in charge?

[scentopine]

9. Absolutely correct we have ALL been guinea pigs in

an experiment of free market partnership between government and giant corporations that are too big to fail.

Neo-dems are so sure that market incentives alone would guarantee that BP would arrive at an optimal solution and they decided to prove it with this event.

Goddamn the lying mother fucker MBA sons of bitches who have taken over the democratic party and who continue to insist the the US government rely on the benevolence of corporations to solve difficult social and environmental problems no matter how much it costs the tax payers and citizens.

From wall street disaster to health care to Iraq and Afghanistan and oil disaster, its all one big fucking free market experiment that has created a monster of Frankenstein proportions.

[RKP5637]

11. Exactly. "...an experiment of free market partnership between government and giant

corporations that are too big to fail." This is what we get with the DLC in bed with corporations. It is bribery, short and simple, And we have a supreme court that thinks treating corporations as people for contributions is acceptable, and we end up with, as you say, "From wall street disaster to health care to Iraq and Afghanistan and oil disaster, its all one big fucking free market experiment that has created a monster of Frankenstein proportions."

[corpseratemedia]

13. also agreeing n/t

[Skittles]

14. yup, it's pretty fucking obvious

politicians of both parties have been in bed with the oil industry so now they're all skeered about what do do without pissing off the wrong people; result: another big dog and pony show

[Frank Booth]

8. Why is Thad Allen still in charge?

Hasn't he been parroting the BP line all this time?

[BanTheGOP]

12. Obama should nationalize the industry now

President Obama should immediately nationalize the oil industry at this point. I believe that he's actually on track to do that. His handling of the entire process has actually been superb. He's allowed the republican-supported oil industry company to hang itself dead around the neck in failing to prevent the oil from hitting the shore; it should now be a no-brainer to completely take over every oil company in the US.

If a tragedy happens, one MUST ENSURE that every measure is taken to prevent such a tragedy again. Nationalization is the only logical solution, and President Obama had better do it soon while he has his boots on the republican scumbucket oil bastards.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

16. trouble is they are not always US owned and

they would probably sabotage them.

[Gecko6400]

15. I think it was just

last week, when "Top Kill" showed some initial signs of working, that the President stood before the mic and proclaimed that he took full responsibility for this (the spill), or words to that effect. He must really believe we are profoundly stupid.

[Romulox]

17. I guarantee this morphs into a US Taxpayer bailout for BP and its shareholders.

Guaranteed, the US taxpayer (and not BP), will pay for the cleanup. :hi: