http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/163755-house-foreign-affairs-chair-floats-bill-to-deter-cuban-offshore-drilling

Good on you Ileana–we don’t want drilling near Key West and Florida’s coral reefs. Let’s hope we open dialog to try to minimize any dangerous practices and increase safety measures if they do drill. –DV

By Andrew Restuccia – 05/27/11 03:43 PM ET

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) floated legislation Friday aimed at deterring oil-and-gas development off the coast of Cuba.

The legislation, which Ros-Lehtinen introduced in the last Congress, comes as public officials are growing increasingly wary of Cuba’s intentions to drill off of its coast, which is less than 100 miles away from the United States.

Spanish oil company Repsol is planning to drill off Cuba’s coast, and others are hoping to follow suit. Repsol is set to bring an oil rig to Cuban waters later this year, according to Reuters.

Ros-Lehtinen’s legislation, which is co-sponsored by two Democrats and five Republicans, makes it illegal for any U.S. citizen to assist the Cuban government in bolstering its offshore drilling industry. It would also deny U.S. visas to anybody who invests more than $1 million in Cuban offshore drilling.

“Desperate for new channels of funding, the Cuban tyranny will say and do anything to persuade others to invest in its oil sector in order to stay afloat,” Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement Friday. “It is in our national security interests to deter others from participating in these reckless schemes.”

The Obama administration says it is monitoring closely Cuba’s attempts to expand its domestic oil production.

“For us it is an issue of concern. We’re watching it closely,” Salazar said last month. “It’s an issue that we’re monitoring carefully.”

A State Department spokesman told The Hill last month that the administration “will pursue activities within our legal authority in order to minimize risk to U.S. territory.”

But the spokesman said administration officials have “not held discussions with the Cuban government on Cuba’s oil exploration.” In fact, the United States has not had diplomatic relations with Cuba for about 50 years.

While the administration has not been in communication with the Cuban government, Interior Department officials have met with Repsol to discuss their plans to drill in the Gulf, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael Bromwich has said.

“[W]e expect any company operating in Cuba’s oil and gas sector to adhere to industry environmental, health, and safety standards and have adequate prevention, mitigation, and remediation systems in place in the event of an incident,” the State Department spokesman said.

The United States is working closely with Mexico to ensure that there is a common set of safety and environmental offshore drilling standards. But the Cuban government did not participate in an April forum in Washington in which officials from a dozen countries and the European Union discussed drilling safety.

National oil-spill commission co-chairman William Reilly has called on the Obama administration to negotiate an agreement with Cuba that would lay out uniform safety standards for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

But Reilly said earlier this month that the administration isn’t pleased with his comments.
“That’s something that’s very important to us, I think, given that they’re drilling 50 miles off Key West, so I’ve asked to be invited to Cuba to talk about the report and have had my wrist slapped by the administration for raising the sensitive Cuban issue,” Reilly said, according to E&E News. “I had to say, ‘I don’t work for you.’ ”

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tyson-slocum/chevron-banks-on-profitab_b_867408.html

No wonder conservationists have a hard time getting ocean-friendly legislation through. DV

Tyson Slocum, Energy program director, Public Citizen
Posted: 05/26/11 10:40 AM ET

With 43 lobbyists and a federal influence-peddling budget of at least $35 million this past election cycle, Chevron must have an ambitious agenda for the politicians in Washington, DC.

The company just paid $4.3 billion to acquire Atlas Energy and its extensive holdings in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale so first and foremost on the company’s agenda will be fighting any efforts to have the federal government regulate hydraulic fracturing. Second, Chevron produced 260,000 barrels of oil and natural gas per day from the Gulf of Mexico, so preventing Congress from reforming offshore drilling rules in the wake of the BP disaster will be key. Third, Chevron will join forces with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others to demonize pending Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and continue opposing efforts for the U.S. to lead the way in battling climate change. Fourth, look to Chevron to help lead the chant of “Drill Baby Drill!” as the company seeks to exploit the presidential race to open new areas to oil and natural gas drilling. Fifth, expect the company to take evasive action against efforts to revoke billions of dollars in oil company tax breaks and royalty relief.

Finally, Chevron will probably seek to protect investments overseas from meddlesome foreign government actions on prioritizing the environment and workers’ rights by getting the U.S. to enact favorable trade agreements.

Chevron’s lobbyists are a Who’s Who of former government officials. DC’s rule of thumb: corporations ensure better access to lawmakers when they put their former colleagues from government on their payroll. Chevron pays the Breaux Lott Leadership Group of the law firm Patton Boggs $135,000 every three months to lobby members of Congress. That means former Senators John Breaux and Trent Lott hobnob with their Senate contemporaries, and ask whatever Chevron tells them to ask for. Chevron has lobbyist Richard Hohlt on retainer, close friend of Karl Rove, and the kingmaker of a monthly gathering of GOP leaders inside DC called the “Off the Record Club.” Chevron pays the law firm Akin Gump $90,000 every three months to take advantage of the firm’s Democratic stars, including Al From, and former top staffers to Senator Max Baucus and Rahm Emanuel.

Chevron hires the bipartisan Dow Lohnes Government Strategies for $80,000 every quarter, with Stephen Sayle (former Counsel to Representative Joe Barton) and Rick Kessler (former chief of staff to Representative John Dingell) the revolving door highlights. The lobbying firm TwinLogic Strategies is retained at a price of $40,000 every three months to take advantage of two former senior staff members for Representative Bob Goodlatte and former Representative Rich Boucher. Timothy J. Keeler — Chief of Staff in the office of U.S. Trade Representative under President George W. Bush and now a lobbyist with the law firm Mayer Brown — is paid by Chevron to work on trade agreements. The lobbying firm Ogilvy Government Relations features GOP heavyweight Wayne Berman, former Tom DeLay staffer Drew Maloney, and former Dick Gephardt staffer Moses Mercado.

Chevron was the fourth largest federal campaign contributor from the oil and gas sector during 2009-10, giving 82 percent of its nearly $940,000 in contributions to Republican candidates.

In addition to direct contributions to politicians, Chevron funds groups empowered by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision (see www.democracyisforpeople.org) to spend unlimited amounts of money on federal elections. In 2010, Chevron gave $500,000 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is leading the fight to demonize pending EPA rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

So why does Chevron bother spending this kind of money on the political system? Because, dollar for dollar, nothing provides a better financial return than investing in politicians. With environmentalists pushing to hold oil companies accountable for their pollution, corporations like Chevron would be forced to spend millions of dollars to make their oil and natural gas drilling operations and oil refineries cleaner and safer.

Sure, doing so would improve the standard of living for millions of Americans and help ensure we all have access to cleaner air and water — but Chevron’s political activities clearly show the company’s priority is profit — not saving the planet.

Read the entire True Cost of Chevron report where this essay is featured.

Tyson Slocum is the director of Public Citizen’s energy program. You can follow him on Twitter @TysonSlocum.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20110524/NEWS01/110524004/Lawmakers-urged-unify-behind-one-bill-seeking-BP-fine-money

9:08 PM, May. 24, 2011 |

Written by Deborah Barfield Berry

WASHINGTON — Gulf Coast advocates urged lawmakers today, May 24, to support efforts to help the region recover from last year’s oil spill and to back legislation giving their states most of the money BP will pay in fines.

“I don’t want them to dither around and not get forward momentum with the legislation because they can’t agree,’’ said David McLain, coordinator for the Apalachicola Sub-Basin Caucus in Eastpoint, Fla. “They need to get a damn bill passed.’’

Gulf Future, a coalition formed after last year’s spill, is pressing lawmakers to send the region 80 percent of spill-related fines levied against BP to help restore the environment and local economies. Lawmakers agree on that point, but differ on how to split the money among the five Gulf states.

“Everyone gets that we need a united bill,’’ said Casi Callaway, executive director of the Mobile Baykeeper, an Alabama-based environmental group. “What we heard from the Senate is that they are working well together and we expect to see a compromise soon. What we heard from the House is they haven’t met. We’re stuck with three different bills. ‘’

Callaway met earlier this week with staffers from the offices of Alabama Rep. Jo Bonner, an author of one of the bills, and Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, all Republicans. She also met with aides of Mississippi Republican Sens. Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran.

Gulf Future, whose members met with congressional aides this week, say Gulf residents still wrestle with health and economic problems related to last year’s spill. They called on lawmakers to set up advisory panels to hear from residents affected by the spill, including fishermen.

“How can you tell a fisherman to stop fishing?’’ said Angel Truong, executive director of Asian Americans for Change, a community group based in Ocean Springs, Miss. “They know what they need.’’

Stephen Bradberry, executive director of the Alliance Institute, a New Orleans-based community group, said Gulf Coast residents have never had good access to community health care clinics.

The oil spill “only exacerbated that need,’’ said Bradberry, adding that it would cost only about $200,000 to set up two clinics in Louisiana.

Special thanks to Michelle Erenberg.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/24/2233019/judge-rules-environmental-group.html

Kudos to our friends at Defenders of Wildlife–this is great! The new permits have response plans written before the BP disaster–how did that pass federal review as to the adequacy of the applications???? DV

Miami Herald: Judge rules environmental group can pursue lawsuit

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge has ruled that an environmental group can continue to pursue a lawsuit claiming the government violated environmental policies in approving oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The environmental group maintains that leases were approved without any environmental review that considered the impact of the Deepwater Horizon blowout and the oil spill.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the suit on behalf of the group Defenders of Wildlife. The lawsuit claimed several government agencies, including the Department of Interior, violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act when it approved 221 oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico following the oil spill.

U.S. District Judge William Steele in Mobile on Monday ruled the environmental group can continue to pursue its claims.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Interior did not have any immediate comment on the judge’s ruling. The government had asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the environmental group did not state a valid claim.

Derb Carter, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the government continued to approve leases after the blowout and oil spill even though circumstances had changed significantly.

“Our view is that all the assumptions … were rendered wrong after the BP blowout,” Carter said.

The lawsuit continues before Steele, who gave attorneys until June 6 to file additional briefs in the case.

Special thanks to Richard Charter.

http://healthygulf.org/201105181663/blog/bps-oil-drilling-disaster-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/a-sad-day-for-this-marine-mammal

Wednesday, 18 May 2011 12:04

As the pictures below will clearly show, it was a very sad day yesterday on the Louisiana coast. Myself, a coworker, Scott Eustis, and videographer, Randy Perez, were accompanied by Forrest Travirca and Cathy Norman of the Edward Wisner Donation Land Trust to an area of privately owned land adjacent to Fourchon Beach and Elmer’s Island. The purpose of our visit was to learn about what transpired on this remote stretch of beach during the BP disaster. What were the impacts and what is BP is doing, has done, or failed to do to, in BP’s words, “make it right”. We hopped in a UTV, or “Gator” and made our way up and down the beach listening to our guides rehash their experiences during the disaster while pointing out points of interest. Having been out to the coast either by boat or plane over 60 times in the last year to monitor the oil impacts and clean-up operations, including impacts to marine life, I thought that I had seen it all. Still, although I have seen most of the carnage that BP unleashed on the Gulf so far, there’s not much that can prepare one to see something like this:

That poor dolphin washed in while we were traversing the beach. The others obviously had been there for some time. In all, we saw three dead dolphins yesterday and lots of dead fish. While clearly it is too early to declare that BP killed that poor dolphin that washed in, we hope that one day in the near future to prove or disprove BP’s culpability.

Having reported it to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, we are hoping that we can track it though the chain of custody and necropsy and ultimately find out who or what killed that amazing, innocent creature. While there were no signs of visible oil on that particular one, the other two that were decomposing had visible signs of oiling, according to our guides. Regardless, everywhere we looked upon the beach were tar balls and tar mats. Clearly, as the pictures show, BP failed to make it right.

Jonathan Henderson is the Coastal Resiliency Organizer for GRN.

Special thanks to Richard Charter