Source: White House to create oil spill commission

Source: White House to create oil spill commission
By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press
May 17, 2010, 4:21PM

WASHINGTON — An administration officials says the White House will establish a presidential commission to investigate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

President Barack Obama will establish the commission by executive order. It will be similar to panels created to investigate the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a public announcement.

No current government employee or elected official will be eligible to serve on the commission, the official said. Other details weren't immediately available.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7009284.html

Commissions issue reports which are quickly buried. The purpose of commissions is to make people think that the government is really trying to address a problem.

I would rather have Obama kill his offshore drilling plan announced on March 31, as well as his reckless proposal to build more nuclear plans, and his idiotic statement that there is such a thing as Clean Coal (there isn't!).

That would hold BP accountable for the current spill.

The eastern Gulf of Mexico tract that would be offered for lease is adjacent to an area that already contains thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms. The eastern Gulf area is believed to contain as much as 3.5 billion barrels of oil and 17 trillion cubic feet of gas, the richest single tract that would be open to drilling under the Obama plan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html

So today we’re announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration, but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America’s natural resources. Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, we’ll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security. And we’ll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-energy-security-andrews-air-force-base-3312010

:puke:

Are you still concerned that those who are helping clean up the spill may have written something crude a decade ago?

Jessep: You can't handle the truth!

A Few Good Men (1992)

Phil: What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?

Groundhog Day (1993)

He lied about coal being "Clean Coal," just as he lied when he said nuclear energy was safe.

Published on Monday, May 17, 2010 by The Rutland Herlad (Vt.)

Tritium Leak Poses Question for Integrity of NRC

by Susan Smallheer

BRATTLEBORO - A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission official now working for the Union of Concerned Scientists said that the NRC was a "lapdog" of the nuclear industry and wasn't enforcing its own regulations when it came to "unmonitored and uncontrolled" radioactive tritium leaks.

David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who at one time was a member of the Vermont Public Oversight Panel, told the annual meeting of the New England Coalition late Saturday that the NRC could have fined Entergy Nuclear $140,000 a day for every day it leaked tritium and other radioactive substances into the groundwater and ground, but it didn't.

Lochbaum said based on Entergy's own estimate of 90 days of uncontrolled and unmonitored releases, the NRC could have fined Entergy $12.6 million for the Vermont Yankee tritium leak alone.

In some cases, Lochbaum said, nuclear plants have leaks for years, not months in Yankee's case.

In fact, he said, virtually every commercial reactor in the country was leaking tritium, not the two-dozen plus number usually used by the NRC. He said he compiled his list of leaking reactors based on the NRC's own documents.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/05/17-2

I would hope the commission looks into that with evidence beyond the common dreams polemic. On topic, please.

That's the way to go!

Why bother?

would just change.

That's why they are to be totally ignored bc they offer nothing.

Stop telling the public that there is such a thing as Clean Coal, and do not build more tritium-leaking nuclear plants.

We need a sensible, SAFE energy policy.

"Clean coal" and "safe" off-shore drilling are falsehoods by their very nature.

Check out the tools who had been calling for this move - Whitehouse and Capps!



Big Ed just said it showed "leadership." The guy from Public Citizens' Energy just called this a "no brainer". What a bunch of dolts. It should be obvious to us all what we should do...!!!!1111!!! String 'em up! Yee haw...

Why?

She was non-committal and non-specific at this point.

Don't you want to know what actually happened? As long as this commission is more than a "dog and pony show", I support this move. Let the chips fall where they may in terms of blame, accountability, and future regs/policy.

Calling the "bipartisan commission" on-call list!

Summoning Vernon Jordan, Lee Hamilton, Warren Rudman, James Baker and an assortment of other washed up Washington establishmentarians and hangers-on.

A good place to put Arlen after Sestak kicks his ass tomorrow!

it will take months if not years to absolve BP of all guilt.

then, nothing will happen.


why do you think it will be a good idea?

to find out exactly what happened, would be a bad thing.

What happened is patently obvious. What we don't need is a costly time waster like this commission.

What do you think would HAPPEN? note I did not say what would be found out. What would HAPPEN from such a commission?

nothing.

They would study and investigate, and then what next? They would have to present the findings to congress, presumably, who is already bought and paid for by big oil.

and for those people a commission is a good thing..

you want to wait until ALL the oceans are dead?

I don't care who did what or when and who will be charged at this point. I want every scientist we have working on cleaning up this mess. Why isn't THAT commission being formed?

BEFORE ACTING. It's the height of fool hardiness to act before knowing the facts.

but I can see we'd only be repeating ourselves so good day to you.

of the "schtick".

Neither of these are possible, and both are myths that support irresponsible energy extraction and use.