A Somber Anniversary: The Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Gulf Oil Spill

One year ago, at about 10:00 pm CDT, The Deepwater Horizon suffered a blowout as natural gas erupted through a riser and drill pipe extending one mile to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, just about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. The rig exploded, burned and two days later, she sank. The tragic event was the result of a series of bad decisions beginning months earlier and leading right up to the fateful moment. Eleven men were lost in the tragedy, and 17 others were seriously injured. What followed the loss of those men aboard one of the world’s most advanced drill rigs was an environmental disaster like none other the country has ever seen.

An estimated 200 million gallons of oil spewed from the damaged well until it was finally capped on September 19. The world saw images of oiled birds, fouled marshes and stained beaches. But it also witnessed one of the most colossal failures of federal disaster response in the history of federal disaster responses.

As this blog’s Deepwater Horizon Incident Timeline shows, the series of bad decisions that cascaded into the explosion and fire was followed by an equally bad series of decisions by the federal government, until the Grown Up—Retired USCG Admiral Thad Allen—took over from the politicos.

The President’s “WTF Moment” didn’t come until nine days after the rig sank and a full week after news that the well was indeed spewing oil into the Gulf. Twelve days after the incident began, he suddenly changed an earlier decision not to visit the area and hauled ass South to give a speech. He returned a month later, where this photo was taken. It’s come to symbolize a cluelessly detached “executive” facing his first real crisis, and going off by himself to pick up a few tarballs.

Responsibility for the tragic explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon lies squarely on the shoulders of senior leadership of the companies drilling the well. They cut corners “down the hole,” something that chills the blood of every experienced oil man. But responsibility for failure to contain the spill and prevent environment disaster lies squarely in the Oval Office. The response was driven by politics and politics alone, and it wasn’t until the burly, gruff Admiral Allen told the White House to go screw themselves; that he was in charge and they could leave a message at the tone.

And if anyone thinks that the pain of the adminstration’s clusterfark was going to be made better by a $20 billion slush fund, administered by a White House appointed czar and funded by a contrite BP, Google “Gulf Coast Claims Facility.”

Go explore the Timeline. Most of the entries are linked to news stories and other online resources. It remains the single-most visited page at IBCR and has been used by journalists, researchers and interested members of the public world-wide.

And tonight, around 10:00 pm, say a small prayer for the men who lost their lives, their families, and the families and businesses along the Gulf Coast who are still struggling to put their lives back together again. We’ve come a long way, but we’ve still got miles ahead of us.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Alabama Governor Bob Riley calls oil spill claims process 'extortion'

Bob Riley is a lame duck Governor who leaves office in January and really doesn’t have to go after the feds with guns a-blazin’. But that’s not stopping the boots-wearing Republican, who has been critical of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility almost since day one:

Bob Riley calls oil spill claims process 'extortion'

---

Riley said he is concerned that underpayments by Feinberg’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility will force businesses to prematurely sign away the right to sue BP PLC.

Area businesses have complained loudly about the size of payments, compared to claims, plus the lack of information about how those amounts were determined.

“If you have the capacity to turn them down with no explanation and make them sign away their right to sue, that’s extortion,” Riley said.

---

Riley is absolutely correct—Feinberg’s process unfairly penalizes businesses, arbitrarily denies legitimate claims filed by businesses, and forces businesses to either sign away their rights to litigation or walk away with nothing.

This comes on the heels of clear evidence that the Obama regime is also playing politics with oil spill study funds under NRDA, and in the wake of indications that Feinberg’s claims facility is nothing more than a White House sanctioned engine for redistributing wealth.

Businesses are getting fractions of well documented claims, while the employees of those businesses are getting multiples of what they’ve filed for. What’s up with that?

Most of the businesses affected are small, mom-and-pop shops that clean cottages and condos, sell sundries and souvenirs, conduct boat tours and rent beach equipment. They’re not fat cats by any stretch of the imagination, and they were devastated by the spill’s impact on tourism. Even with a full reimbursement claim, a lot of these businesses aren’t going to make to the 2011 summer season.

Bob Riley gets major props for taking Feinberg and Obama to task, and the louder he shouts the more light is shed on a politically motivated claims settlement process.

Obama playing politics with Oil Spill money?

Alabama Governor Bob Riley is seeing red over the Obama regime’s plan to restrict use of Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) funds and exert near complete federal control over the types of damage assessments that will be conducted. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 authorizes NRDA assessments to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to determine the damage to natural resources and the human uses of those resources.

Months ago, during the height of the spill, federal officials told Riley and other states’ Governors that NRDA funds would be allocated for studies of both ecological resources and the economic activities that depend on them, and that the states would take the lead in identifying the projects and studies that go forward. 

Now however, Riley says that the Obama regime has broken both of those promises:

---

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gov. Bob Riley slammed President Barack Obama and other federal officials last week, saying they are breaking promises on how states can spend money expected as a result of the oil spill and who must approve the spending.

“For the federal government to come up and say that all of this NRDA (Natural Resource Damage Assessment) money has to go out for ecological restoration, and not for economic, is typical for a federal bureaucracy, telling the people what their needs are,” Riley said in a telephone interview.

“We never need to get to the point that any state has to have permission from the federal government to spend money that is rightfully ours,” he continued.

A White House official, who asked to remain anonymous in order to discuss the matter, gave the following statement to the Press-Register:

“Statutes define what responsible parties must pay and how those monies can be spent, and we have to follow the law,” the official said.

The administration declined further comment.

Riley’s concerns center on the NRDA environmental review and Clean Water Act fines, which could together bring billions of dollars to Gulf Coast states.

Federal officials told Riley months ago that NRDA money could be used for either economic or environmental restoration, the governor said. Now, they’re saying that the money should be limited to environmental use, according to Riley.

He also expressed concern that the federal government wants to approve recovery projects selected by the state, from both the NRDA and Clean Water Act funds, rather than letting the states decide on projects for themselves.

---

Are we shocked that the regime would break its promises? Not in the least.

Every one of the affected states—Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida—either have Republican Governors or will inaugurate new Republicans, and each state has leveled harsh criticism on the regime for its handling of the spill response, the deepwater drilling moratorium and the spill claims process. In short, the Obama regime has done absolutely nothing right, from the “day one” through the administration of the NRDA program.

Nothing documents the regime’s failure better than this site’s Deepwater Horizon Incident Timeline, a comprehensive chronology of events from the explosion of the rig through the final “bottom kill” of the leaking well.

At every turn, at every key decision point, whenever this regime has faced a choice between doing what’s right for the affected areas of the Gulf Coast or using the crisis for political gain, the regime has chosen politics. The NRDA issue is no different.

Instead of allowing the states to determine what resources need to be evaluated to determine the degree of damage, and in turn the amount of money to be collected and applied via the fines authorized by OPA 1990, the federal government intends to limit the NRDA studies to ecological resources. To make matters worse, the federal government intends to be the sole and final arbiter of what resources are included in the studies.

This is political bureaucracy run amok.

Who is better suited to determine what resources have been damaged—the states, with significant portions of their economies affected by the damage, or the Obama regime, which has never missed an opportunity to expand and consolidate the power of the central government?

The five governors of the Gulf Coast states should band together, develop a united front, and press its new allies in Congress to force the regime into allowing the states to identify NRDA priorities.  Furthermore, the federal government should not be allowed to restrict NRDA studies to ecological resources and ignore the important economic, cultural and recreational activities that depend so heavily on the Gulf of Mexico.

If last Tuesday night’s election said one thing loud and clear, it was that the people have had enough of the heavy handed approach of the Obama regime. It must stop, and it must stop NOW.

Redistributing wealth with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility

President Barack Hussein Obama famously said, “I do think at a certain point, you’ve made enough money.”  This man, this regime is hell bent on making sure the rich suffer the consequences of rapaciously accumulating all of that wealth.  So much so, that they are apparently attempting to redistribute it even with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.  The GCCF is the apparatus that distributes the $20 billion slush fund that the regime arm-twisted out of BP.  The GCCF is administered by none other than the former “Pay Czar,” Kenneth Feinberg.  You know, the guy who said he’d be “uncompensated” for that position but got a six-figure salary, anyway.

In a story from yesterday’s Mobile Press-Register:

---

Business owners and public officials in Baldwin County say they are alarmed by reports of employees receiving more money for oil spill claims than owners of the businesses they work for.

It is just another aspect of their biggest problem with Ken Feinberg’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility — that business owners near Baldwin County’s once-lucrative beaches get checks that cover only a fraction of losses suffered after the oil spill began keeping tourists at bay.

David Wright is an extreme example. The owner of an Elberta company that builds high-end homes for people who plan to either retire or vacation on the coast, Wright had to lay off his 15 workers when his customers canceled contracts after the April 20 spill.

Rob Manney, a supervisor on Wright’s crew, said he got checks totaling 80 percent of his personal claim with Feinberg’s operation.

Wright’s business claim was denied.

“How do you pay an employee and not the business?” Wright asked. “It’s anti-business.”

Feinberg did not respond to requests for comment made to his media representative.

---

Feinberg says that the GCCF is not under the direction of BP or the regime.  That, obviously, is a bunch of shit. There is only one reason why Wright’s employees are getting claims checks and business owners like Wright are not—it’s class discrimination.  “Bourgeoisie” business owners like Wright are the people who create the jobs that drive this economy.  But to the Obama regime, men like Wright are guilty of building wealth on the sweat and blood of their employees.  So, when the opportunity arises to “make it right,” they do so.  They deny legitimate claims submitted by business owners while approving the claims of the businesses’ employees.

I am no fan of the $20 billion slush fund.  It’s just another way for the regime to pick winners and losers.  Or, in this case, to pick those who suffer a little and those who suffer a lot. 

The regime’s complete ineptitude in responding to the disaster—as documented in the Deepwater Horizon Incident Timeline on this blog—shows that it is incapable of managing any significant enterprise or effort.  It inevitably allows politics to color its decision-making process, and shamefully allows ideology to pollute what should be a straightforward process of settling claims.