Monday, May 24, 2010

Business as Usual


Won't they ever learn? Extreme tech is risky but no problem, let's go for 9100 feet and see what happens. Mr. Change "we can make believe in" strikes again.

"Shown the data indicating that waivers and permits were still being granted, Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, said he was “deeply troubled.”


“We were given the clear impression that these waivers and permits were not being granted,” said Mr. Cardin, who is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where Mr. Salazar testified last week. “I think the presumption should be that there should be stronger environmental reviews, not weaker.”


None of the projects that have recently been granted environmental waivers have started drilling.


However, these waivers have been especially troublesome to environmentalists because they were granted through a special legal provision that is supposed to be limited to projects that present minimal or no risk to the environment.


At least six of the drilling projects that have been given waivers in the past four weeks are for waters that are deeper — and therefore more difficult and dangerous — than where Deepwater Horizon was operating. While that rig, which was drilling at a depth just shy of 5,000 feet, was classified as a deep-water operation, many of the wells in the six projects are classified as “ultra” deep water, including four new wells at over 9,100 feet."

The question to ask now is: How much of a difference will this extreme deep water drilling make regarding the US and peak oil and is it worth the risk? Well, is it Mr. President?

Addendum. Click here for a live video of the spill courtesy BP

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