Commission: Ironic challenge to stop Gulf tankers from Lafourche Parish President

First impressions of the Oil Hearings is that the leader of the of the newly named Bureau of Ocean Energy Management aka Minerals Management Michael Bromwich is very arrogant and doesn't seem to care if they tank the economy of the Gulf. Doesn't seem to make him any difference that BP has 97% of safety violations and they had no plan for this oil explosion of their well -- everyone has to be lumped together.

We decided after listening to him for about 5 minutes to look at his background:

Bromwich helped prosecute Oliver North in the Iran-Contra investigation in the late 1980s. After that, he was inspector general for DOJ during the Clinton administration. He then went into private practice at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. But his most high-profile work at the firm has been leading turnaround efforts at troubled agencies like the Houston and Washington, D.C., police departments.

The Harvard-trained lawyer's sparkling resume has a notable gap -- almost no energy experience. A document distributed by Interior says Bromwich "conducted many major internal investigations for companies ... in the energy, pharmaceuticals, public accounting, and private security industries, among others," but does not detail the energy work.

Harvard trained attorney who prosecuted Ollie North and has no energy experience but from his demeanor he knows more than the people who are well versed in the oil industry. We are not saying the old Minerals Management Office wasn't corrupt as they allowed BP to skate on safety inspections and just about everything else, but what makes Obama think that a Harvard lawyer is the best equipped to deal with this. He is adamant that shallow water permits are being approved but it looks like those approvals may be recent ones.

Why is the Obama Administration punishing oil companies like Shell Oil who has an excellent safety record because of BP? That is one question that this Administration doesn't seem to want to answer. A second question is why is Obama sending our tax dollars to Brazil to drill offshore but has a moratorium on the offshore drilling in the Gulf. They say deep water only but everyone is still waiting to see the permits for shallow water.

This Parish President had her facts straight and would have loved to see the look on the environmentalist face when President Randolph gave her the truth about the oil tankers. This Gulf Oil Disaster has left us with admiration for the elected officials in Louisiana starting with Governor Bobby Jindal. The Parish Presidents who are on the front lines are doing a great job with little to no help by Obama or his Cabinet Members and their staffs.

Senator Vitter (R-LA) and Senator Landrieu (D-LA) have both been trying to make this stubborn Obama Administration understand this moratorium is having dire consequences in LA and could get worse if more rigs pull out of the Gulf. Obama or his appointees are not interested in listening to what the leaders of Louisiana have to say which is fairly obvious with these new hearings and some of the comments.

Commission: Ironic challenge to stop Gulf tankers from Lafourche Parish President

Published: Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 11:53 AM Updated: Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 12:46 PM
David Hammer, The Times-Picayune

An update from the second public hearing of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission. You can watch the hearing live.

Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-Picayune

Charlotte Randolph, president of Lafourche Parish, addresses the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling hearing at the Riverside Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, July 13, 2010.

Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph made an impassioned case Tuesday for lifting the Obama administration's drilling moratorium with an ironic suggestion: If safety demands a stoppage of drilling, then oil tankers delivering much of the nation's fossil fuels must be banned, too.


Randolph directed her comments at Frances Beinecke, a member of Obama's presidential oil spill commission, noting her blogs calling for the end of all offshore oil and gas exploration.

"I'm asking you to join with me then in challenging the president and Secretary (Ken) Salazar, stop all oil tanker traffic in the Gulf of Mexico," Randolph said to Beinecke, who appeared chastened by the direct challenge.

Randolph explained that she doesn't truly endorse a ban of tanker traffic, but said she was raising the issue to show the contradictions in Salazar and Obama's claims that drilling is simply too risky to continue while the BP spill is still being contained and cleaned up.

"An oil tanker is a four times greater risk of spilling its cargo than an oil well blowing out," Randolph said. "Tankers carrying 3 million barrels of oil traverse the Gulf daily en route to Houston." She noted that was about as much as BP had spilled in 84 days.

In testimony Monday, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Peter Neffenger admitted that a lack of work with local and parish leaders was a key failing of the government's response to the oil spill so far.

On Tuesday, local leaders testified before a presidential commission and backed up Neffenger's comments.

"In any war, you find people who speak the language and who know the terrain," said Randolph. "I don't think we were used enough in the beginning when the plans were being made. Let us advise you all the way and treat it as you would a war. Make it that tactical."

Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle said he shouldn't have been required to leave his island to meet with 20 different federal and BP leaders about combating the oil coming ashore.

"It was too many chiefs, and all we wanted was someone on the ground making decisions," he said. "It is getting better in that situation, though."

Source: NOLA.com