The US Minerals Management Service

[Samson]

Will make you Proud of Your Government.

Their Mission:

The Minerals Management Service manages MMS Funding
access to the Nation's energy and mineral resources of
the Outer Continental Shelf to help meet the domestic
demands and other needs of the United States while
balancing such access with the protection of the human,
marine, and coastal environments.

Funded with almost $2 Billion

***You'd better print out the DOI's pdf.document (it is changing almost daily)***


Essentially the MMS collects money from BIG OIL, and redistributes it, for a %, which they apply to their Mission. How much have they budgeted for preventing oil spills?

Oil Spill Research Program – This program supports
oil pollution research and other duties related to oil
spill prevention, as authorized by the Oil Pollution Act
of 1990. The National Oil Spill Response Test Facility is
the only one of its type in the world providing full-scale
equipment and methodology testing in a safe, controlled
environment. The budget proposes total funding of $6.3
million in 2011, which is equal to 2010.

$6.3 million........wow.......with $2 Billion in funding they found pocket change to pay for their duties related to oil spill prevention.

 

[Mad Scientist]

I didn't know the US MMS even existed until the story about the official getting fired (or resigning) from there.

I can handle my minerals quite nicely with a daily multi-vitamin.

 

[Samson]

I didn't know the US MMS even existed until the story about the official getting fired (or resigning) from there.

I can handle my minerals quite nicely with a daily multi-vitamin.

Its interesting to read the DOI budget and see that out of an annual $15 B budget, they only spent $6 million on oil spill abatement, research, and prevention.

Of course, the Office of the Secretary had a $120 million budget .......

 

[Old Rocks]

Failed to include the value of the bribes from the oil corperations.

 

[Samson]

[This message is hidden because Old Rocks is on your ignore list. ]

 

[my2¢]

Pride in my government? The information provided in the OP wasn't enough to influence me in either way. I'll probably have a stronger opinion with a better understanding of whether the accident was caused by the lack of government standards beforehand or by the short-cutting of procedures by BP during execution of capping the well in attempt to save some bucks.

 

[FireFly]

In 2009, the Obama administration intervened to support the reversal of a court order that would have halted offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has long had close ties to the industry, specifically cited BP’s Deepwater Horizon operation as one that should be allowed to go forward, according to a group involved in the court case.

A Washington DC Appeals Court ruled in April 2009 that the five-year plan for offshore oil and gas drilling was not based on a proper review of the environmental impact of the drilling. Only days before the ruling, the Obama administration had granted BP a “categorical exclusion,” exempting it from an environmental impact study for the Deepwater Horizon project.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry trade group, intervened to reverse the court order, and was backed by the administration.

Source Obama administration blocked efforts to stop BP oil drilling before explosion

 

[Samson]

In 2009, the Obama administration intervened to support the reversal of a court order that would have halted offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has long had close ties to the industry, specifically cited BP’s Deepwater Horizon operation as one that should be allowed to go forward, according to a group involved in the court case.

A Washington DC Appeals Court ruled in April 2009 that the five-year plan for offshore oil and gas drilling was not based on a proper review of the environmental impact of the drilling. Only days before the ruling, the Obama administration had granted BP a “categorical exclusion,” exempting it from an environmental impact study for the Deepwater Horizon project.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry trade group, intervened to reverse the court order, and was backed by the administration.

Source "Obama administration blocked efforts to stop BP oil drilling before explosion"

Um....source?

Simply placing quotes around words really isn't a "Source"