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Gift to Oil Industry Rushed Into Federal Register Before Bush Leaves Office

Final Oil Shale Regulations Endanger Lands,
Communities of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming

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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had some disparaging words for the Bush administration and its coziness with the oil industry this week. As the New York Times reported, Salazar, in an address given on Wednesday, said his department will be taking a harder look at the leasing of oil and gas on public lands; Salazar said he and his colleagues would not be doing business as the last administration had, serving as a “candy store” for big oil.

The oil and gas industry isn’t happy, and some Republicans in Congress are also gearing up to challenge the new regulations. Kathleen Sgamma, Director of Governmental Affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States, told the Times that the changes will result in “a bureaucratic command-and-control system.” And Jack Gerard, at the American Petroleum Institute, said what Salazar is looking to do will ultimately be bad for the economy and “further delay and limit American energy resources for all Americans.”

Salazar has not been swayed by industry criticism. He told the Times that he thinks the oil and gas industry is simply “wrong” and is reacting to a sudden loss of power after being, during the Bush administration, “the kings of the world.

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During his first month in office, President George W. Bush appointed Vice President Dick Cheney to head a task force charged with developing the country's energy policy. The group, which conducted its meetings in secret, relied on the recommendations of Big Oil behemoths Exxon Mobil, Conoco, Shell Oil, BP America and Chevron. It would be the first of many moves to come during the Bush administration that would position oil and gas companies well ahead of other energy interests with billions of dollars in subsidies and tax cuts—payback for an industry with strong ties to the administration and plenty of money to contribute to congressional and presidential campaigns.

During the time that Bush and Cheney, both of whom are former oil executives, have been in the White House, the oil and gas industry has spent $393.2 million on lobbying the federal government. This places the industry among the top nine in lobbying expenditures. 80 percent of the industry's contributions have gone to Republicans.

This support has not gone unrewarded. In 2005, Bush, who has received more from the oil and gas industry than any other politician, signed an energy bill from the Republican-controlled Congress that gave $14.5 billion in tax breaks for oil, gas, nuclear power and coal companies. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was based on recommendations by Cheney's energy task force, also rolled back regulations the oil industry considered burdensome, including exemptions from some clean water laws. All of this transpired only one year after Congress passed a bill that included a tax cut for domestic manufacturing that was expected to save energy companies at least $3.6 billion over a decade.

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The Bush administration has decided to give the oil and gas industry two years to comply with a storm-water regulation that goes into effect across the country Monday, and will consider granting a permanent exemption.

Environmental groups and environmentalists in Congress argued that the administration is granting special rights to a favored industry, at the risk of polluting rivers and lakes.

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Your OPINION is not, nor ever was to be confused with " factual reality". That I disagree w/ your views is in no way what so ever evidence of your claim.

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After an explosion occurred on BP's Deepwater Horizon rig off the Gulf Coast, the initial word from the Coast Guard was that there was no oil spill. That soon changed as the government announced that 1,000 barrels of thick oil per day were spilling into the ocean.

Then, in a dramatic shift on Wednesday evening, the government changed its 1,000 barrels estimate to 5,000 barrels per day. BP initially rejected the new estimate about the spill, which experts now believe could be worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

We're sure to learn more in the coming months and years about what the government and BP knew about the scope of the disaster, when they knew it, and whether they responded appropriately. For now, we decided to take a look at the course of events, and the shifting public statements of company and government officials on the spill.

•April 20: At around 10 p.m. a fire is reported on the central time on the Deepwater Horizon rig, owned by Transocean Ltd. and under lease to energy giant BP, according to an April 21 statement from Transocean. There is no mention of any possible spill. Eleven workers are killed.

•April 22: With the media coverage of the explosion focusing on the missing workers and, initially, not about the possibility of a spill, AFP notes the possibility of an environmental disaster: the rig had been drilling 8,000 barrels of oil per day, and had 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel on board. "Worst case scenario, there is a potential environmental threat," Coast Guard spokeswoman Katherine McNamara tells the wire service. BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, says BP will do "everything in our power to contain this oil spill and resolve the situation as rapidly, safely and effectively as possible." The company said it dispatched a team to deal with the oil that dispersed from the original blast.

•April 23: The day after the rig sank, the AP reports: "Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said Friday morning that no oil appeared to be leaking from the well head at the ocean floor, nor was any leaking at the water's surface. However, Landry said crews were closely monitoring the rig for any more crude that might spill out.

•April 24: In the late afternoon, the AP reports that the Coast Guard has reversed its earlier statement that there was no oil leaking. The wire service quotes Guard officials as saying an estimated 1,000 barrels of oil per day are coming out of the well head on the ocean floor, 5,000 feet under water. Landry says that the oil may have been pouring out since the rig sank on April 22.

BP's chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, speaking about options on responding to the spill, says, "Over the next several days, we should determine which method is the best one to follow"

•April 26: BP says in a press release it is 'accelerating offshore oil recovery and continuing well control efforts. Improved weather "combined with the light, thin oil we are dealing with has further increased our confidence that we can tackle this spill offshore," says BP chief exec Tony Hayward.

•April 27: After underwater robots fail to stop the flow of oil, the coast guard floats the idea of containing pools of oil in containment booms and then setting it on fire. Meanwhile, BP says it will begin drilling a new relief well near the spill site later in the week; the process could take months.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chair of the Energy and Commerce committee, writes a letter (.pdf) to the chairman of BP notifying him of an investigation into "what the companies knew about the risks of drilling at the site and the adequacy of the companies' response plans." He charges that "[a] striking feature of the incident is the apparent lack of an adequate plan to contain the spreading environmental damage. The two companies involved, BP Exploration and Production, Inc., and Transocean Ltd., are attempting to contain the oil spilling from the well with techniques that have never been used before at these ocean depths."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announce an investigation of the explosion.

•April 28: Late Wednesday, the Coast Guard announces that 5,000, not 1,000, barrels a day of oil are spilling, citing a new National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration estimate. At the same press conference as the Coast Guard announcement, BP COO Doug Suttle disputes the new estimate and argues that a newly discovered leak does not change the rate of the spill. "He showed a diagram showing where the leaks are and said the newly discovered leak is upstream from the previous leaks," the AP reports.

•April 29: Suttle acknowledges on the Today Show that the government's new estimate may be accurate. In a Rose Garden statement, Obama says the Administration will use "every single available resource" to address the spill, including the military. He also says BP will have to pay the costs.

•May 2: In the past 24 hours, Obama had visited the Gulf Coast "to inspect response operations firsthand," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had issued fishing restrictions and had joined forces with BP to test a new technique to break up the leaking oil before it hits the surface, BP had set up a process for handling claims for damage and losses due to the spill, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had collaborated with the governors of Gulf Coast states to coordinate federal and state efforts, and the EPA had started posting air-monitoring data regarding the potential effect of the oil burns (so far, "no red flags").

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August 26:

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA

GULF COAST STATES REQUEST TROOP ASSISTANCE FROM PENTAGON

August 27:

GOV. HALEY BARBOUR DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN MISSISSIPPI

KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE

GOV. BLANCO ASKS BUSH TO DECLARE FEDERAL STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA

FEDERAL EMERGENCY DECLARED, DHS AND FEMA GIVEN FULL AUTHORITY TO RESPOND TO KATRINA

August 28:

KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE

LOUISIANA NEWSPAPER SIGNALS LEVEES MAY GIVE

MAYOR NAGIN ISSUES FIRST EVER MANDATORY EVACUATION OF NEW ORLEANS

BUSH, BROWN, CHERTOFF WARNED OF LEVEE FAILURE BY NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DIRECTOR

REPORTS OF WATER TOPPLING OVER LEVEE

APPROXIMATELY 30,000 EVACUEES GATHER AT SUPERDOME WITH ROUGHLY 36 HOURS WORTH OF FOOD

LOUISIANA NATIONAL GUARD REQUESTS 700 BUSES FROM FEMA FOR EVACUATIONS (FEMA sent 100)

August 29:

KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE

BUSH ADMINISTRATION NOTIFIED OF THE LEVEE BREACH

MAYOR NAGIN REPORTS THAT WATER IS FLOWING OVER LEVEE

WHITE HOUSE CIRCULATES INTERNAL MEMO ABOUT LEVEE BREACH

BROWN WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE POTENTIAL DEVASTATION OF KATRINA

MAYFIELD WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE TOPPING OF THE LEVEES

BUSH CALLS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION

BUSH SHARES BIRTHDAY CAKE PHOTO-OP WITH SEN. JOHN MCCAIN

MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY REQUESTS THAT DHS DISPATCH 1,000 EMPLOYEES TO REGION, GIVES THEM TWO DAYS TO ARRIVE

BUSH VISITS ARIZONA RESORT TO PROMOTE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT

BUSH TRAVELS TO CALIFORNIA SENIOR CENTER TO DISCUSS MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT

RUMSFELD ATTENDS SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL GAME

GOV. BLANCO AGAIN REQUESTS ASSISTANCE FROM BUSH

BUSH GOES TO BED WITHOUT ACTING ON BLANCO’S REQUESTS

August 30:

BUSH SPEAKS ON IRAQ AT NAVAL BASE CORONADO

MASS LOOTING REPORTED, SECURITY SHORTAGE CITED

CHERTOFF CLAIMS HE FINALLY BECOMES AWARE THAT LEVEE HAS FAILED

U.S.S. BATAAN SITS OFF SHORE, VIRTUALLY UNUSED: “The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore. The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders.

PRESIDENT BUSH PLAYS GUITAR WITH COUNTRY SINGER MARK WILLIS

BUSH RETURNS TO CRAWFORD FOR FINAL NIGHT OF VACATION

August 31:

FEMA REQUESTS AMBULANCES THAT DO NOT EXIST: “Almost 18 hours later, [FEMA] canceled the request for the ambulances because it turned out, as one FEMA employee put it, ‘the DOT doesn’t do ambulances.’”

FEMA STAFF WARNED BROWN THAT PEOPLE WERE DYING AT THE SUPERDOME

PRESIDENT BUSH FINALLY ORGANIZES TASK FORCE TO COORDINATE FEDERAL RESPONSE: Bush says on Tuesday he will “fly to Washington to begin work…with a task force that will coordinate the work of 14 federal agencies involved in the relief effort.”

BLANCO AGAIN TRIES TO REQUEST HELP FROM BUSH: “She was transferred around the White House for a while until she ended up on the phone with Fran Townsend, the president’s Homeland Security adviser, who tried to reassure her but did not have many specifics. Hours later, Blanco called back and insisted on speaking to the president. When he came on the line, the governor recalled, “I just asked him for help, ‘whatever you have’.” She asked for 40,000 troops.”

BUSH GIVES FIRST MAJOR ADDRESS ON KATRINA: “Nothing about the president’s demeanor… — which seemed casual to the point of carelessness — suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.”

CONDOLEEZZA RICE TAKES IN A BROADWAY SHOW

FEMA DIRECTOR BROWN CLAIMS SURPRISE OVER SIZE OF STORM

September 1:

BUSH CLAIMS NO ONE EXPECTED LEVEES TO BREAK: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” However, as former FEMA Director Michael Brown told CNN, “the president knew from our earlier conversations that that was one of my concerns, that the levees could actually breach.”

CONDOLEEZZA RICE VISITS U.S. OPEN

STILL NO COMMAND AND CONTROL ESTABLISHED: Terry Ebbert, New Orleans Homeland Security Director: “This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can’t bail out the city of New Orleans.”

MAYOR NAGIN ISSUES “DESPERATE SOS” TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

MICHAEL BROWN CLAIMS NOT TO HAVE HEARD OF REPORTS OF VIOLENCE: “I’ve had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they’re banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I’ve had no reports of that.”

CONDOLEEZZA RICE GOES SHOE SHOPPING: “Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, ‘How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!’”

September 2:

CAMPAIGN TO BLAME LOCAL OFFICIALS BEGINS: “Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan…to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.” President Bush’s comments from the Rose Garden Friday morning formed “the start of this campaign.”

BUSH WATCHES DVD OF THE WEEK’S NEWSCASTS CREATED BY STAFF WHO THOUGHT BUSH “NEEDED TO SEE THE HORRIFIC REPORTS”: “The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.”

PRESIDENT BUSH STAGES PHOTO-OP “BRIEFING”: Coast Guard helicopters and crew diverted to act as backdrop for President Bush’s photo-op

BUSH PRAISES MICHAEL BROWN: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

BUSH USES 50 FIREFIGHTERS AS PROPS IN DISASTER AREA PHOTO-OP: A group of 1,000 firefighters convened in Atlanta to volunteer with the Katrina relief efforts. Of those, “a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew’s first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.”

BUSH “SATISFIED WITH THE RESPONSE"

FEMA’S NO. 2 OFFICIAL “IMPRESSED” WITH GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

BUSH COMMENTS ON SEN. TRENT LOTT’S HOUSE: “Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.” Time called the remarks “astonishingly tone-deaf to the homeless black citizens still trapped in the postapocalyptic water world of New Orleans.”

CONGRESS APPROVES INITIAL FUNDING

September 3:

SENIOR BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL LIES TO WASHINGTON POST, CLAIMS GOV. BLANCO NEVER DECLARED STATE OF EMERGENCY: The Post reported in their Sunday edition “As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.” They were forced to issue a correction hours later.

FEMA FINALIZES BUS REQUEST: “FEMA ended up modifying the number of buses it thought it needed to get the job done, until it settled on a final request of 1,335 buses at 8:05 p.m. on Sept. 3. The buses, though, trickled into New Orleans, with only a dozen or so arriving the first day.”

CHERTOFF CLAIMS THAT NO ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED KATRINA: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argues that “government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur.” However, scientists and others had warned of the possibility for years.

THE LOUISIANA SUPERDOME IS FULLY EVACUATED

September 5:

FORMER FIRST LADY PATRONIZES POOR REFUGEES: Former First Lady Barbara Bush says, “Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.”

September 8:

CONGRESS APPROVES MORE RELIEF FUNDING

September 9:

BROWN STRIPPED OF RELIEF DUTIES

September 12:

BROWN RESIGNS

September 13:

BUSH TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR FLAWED RESPONSE: “Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government,” Mr. Bush said. “And to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.”

September 14:

INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIVE PANEL REJECTED: Senate Republicans voted down an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton “to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate” the government’s failures following Hurricane Katrina.

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