The feds mandated this dismantling and plugging from the days the very first platforms went up over half a century ago. But production from these wells wasn’t a simple matter of letting them gush until the oil ran out. “Many wells fall idle when extracting the oil becomes unprofitable at a certain price,” explains Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association. “Plugging wells and tearing down platforms will ultimately lead to the loss of oil from idled wells that would become attractive for further production down the road as the price of energy rises, but not if the companies have to rebuild the infrastructure to tap it.”
Environmentalists like to look at this as oil companies hoarding their product in order to “price gouge” us. Others call it the law of supply and demand. And if it’s “not nice to fool mother nature,” history shows it’s even more catastrophic to try and fool markets. The point is, historically, federal rules proved elastic, even by federal standards. A modus vivendi had existed where platforms remained standing and wells unplugged until “one year after the lease [by the oil producer from the feds] expired,” rather than until “production stopped.”
No longer. The Obama team has cracked the whip. “We have placed the [oil] industry on notice that they will be held to the highest standards of planning and operations in developing leases,” stressed Sec. Ken Salazar.
Accidently drop your boat anchor over coral off the Florida coast and you’ll be fined up to $25,000 pursuant to federal regulations. Catch and keep a Gag Grouper, Amberjack or more than 2 Red Snapper per fishing trip in any U.S. federal waters and you’ll be fined $600 per fish, pursuant to federal regulations.
Yet endangered coral in the Gulf of Mexico is being blown up, blow-torched, and winched out of the Gulf by the ton to bleach in scrapyards — as mandated by federal regulations. Tons of Red Snapper, Grouper, Amberjack and thousands of other “endangered” or “threatened” fish species are being dynamited in the Gulf of Mexico and left as shark-chum—as mandated by the same federal regulations. Most of these “facilities,” you see, are “dismantled” with explosives detonated around their legs below the Gulf floor. Behold the usual collateral damage here.
“It smells like death here,” said Texas fishing captain Brent Casey about a Gulf coast scrapyard piled with sections of dismantled oil platforms. “I wish you could see these 75-foot piles of metal covered in coral. It’s just insane. Forty years of habitat — gone.”
Not exactly “gone.” After the production of endangered fish stops and the endangered coral is sandblasted off, the habitat is mostly sold as scrap metal to China, as reported by David Sikes of the The Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
So, where are the greenies on this, you ask?
They’re with the despoilers. “This [Dept. of Interior decree] is an important first step in cleaning up what’s become a dumping ground for the offshore oil and gas industry,” said Peter Galvin of the Center for Biological Diversity. Galvin’s Center, by the way, bemoans the fate of the Earth’s coral reefs in particular, and filed a petition with the feds to place 83 species of corals (including several that thrive on those very offshore oil platforms) on the Endangered Species list. “The world’s corals and coral reef ecosystems—these rainforests of the sea– are in crisis,” wails the Center for Biological Diversity. “In just a few decades all their rich biodiversity could disappear completely.”
“Global warming,” needless to add, is the culprit according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
The marine habitat responsible for this proliferation of (so-called) endangered species from coral to Gag Grouper is human-made, you see. And as PETA chieftain Ingrid Newkirk observed: “Humans are the biggest blight on the face of the Earth.” Earth Goddess Gaia certainly helped the proliferation of marine life in the Gulf of Mexico—but only by piggy-backing on habitat erected by this infernal “blight” known as man. Worse still, this amazing marine habitat was created by the Snideley Whiplash/Darth Vader of Greenie nightmares: oil companies.
Great investigative journalism, Mr. Fontova. Hope you can get some momentum in the MSM. Red Snapper and Gag Grouper rules are a joke. Can take you out for 4 hours in the Gulf and your arms will hurt from Reds and Gags tugging on your line every time it hits the water.
What is it now, 470 days to Election Day. Add 75 days and on January 20, 2013, the country will start undoing the Obama transformation. Between Election Day and Inauguration Day, Conservative Agencies appointees at EPA, the FCC, the NLRB as well as Justice and Interior need to be ready to replace the Radicals. Inauguration Day, the new President needs to have Executive Orders ready to issue suspending the 2008-2013 rules of these agencies, and grant each state an exemtion from ObamaCare. Bills need to be ready to go opening up closed areas in Alaska, the Gulf to drilling.
And so if you want to rid yourselves of Hussein Obama, then you better watch out for George Soros and his cronies taking over the secretarty of state office in each of the fifty states. You better know the history of the Florida elections to counter these weasals "speaking out" against alleged electoral crimes and then their 50 best friends in these secretary of state offices. Gear up.
This kind of thinking reminds me of work by Stephen Dubner & Steven Levitt (authors of Freakonomics), demonstrating that attempts to protect various people or animals through govt regulation actually accomplished the exact opposite of their intended goals. Obama, Salazar & their types will never learn… http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/magazine/20wwln…
Time to consider abolishing certain federal agencies: BLM, EPA, FDA, Fish & Wildlife, Department of Agriculture, Department of Education (what a joke!) and many, many others. This is not a far-fetched as it may seem. In the recent past, Republicans have proven themselves to be world-class wussies, but with the advent of the Tea Party one can detect burgeoning backbone here and there. Bring it on.
The most important thing would be forever banning the federal government from directly taxing the citizens of the states. Repeal the 16th Amendment and replace it with:
The federal government of the United States may raise revenue from no source whatsoever EXCEPT the governors of the States. Each State shall contribute its share of the federal budget in proportion to its representation in Congress. Each year Congress shall submit a budget proposal to the State's governors no later than 15 November. The governors shall have 60 days to approve said proposal, and it must be approved by more than 60% of the governors. If not approved within sixty days, the federal government's funding shall be provided by the States in the amount of 90% of the previous year's payment. Payment shall be made to the federal government no later than July 4th of each year.
Supreme G – I'd like to give this more thought, but right off the top your proposal is really intriguing. Don't think I've seen this before.
There is no need to jump from one extreme to another!!! Why should we dismantle oil rigs just cause one company didn't do a good job at safety and inspections. no need to screw over everyone else. Regulation of these practices is what is truly important. As for spearing and fishing in the gulf at the current moment, if I had the option I would not. The ecosystem is very fragile as it is with out people hunting extra fish. Commercial Fishing, forget about it. but even recreational spearfisherman and fisherman should lay off. And besides, there is no guarantee to how clean the water or how safe it is to eat the fish.
it's not from "one extreme to another" mother nature is very resilient.
there are no guarantees at all in life. except death and taxes.
Given that various types of socialism have been tried over and over again and continue to fail, I think we need to try true free market and not the heavily regulated monstrosity the government says is free market. I also challenge you to prove the article is "misinformed, misleading, and lacking in facts". First off, BP is an anomaly amongst the companies drilling in the gulf, you probably have noted that the other companies have managed to keep their operations clean. Secondly, you should take a dive under the currently inactive rigs out in the gulf; you just might find that what the government wants to tear down is teeming with fish and other critters. If the oil drilling derricks should be removed I would think that all the ships we've sunk to create artificial reefs should be removed.