Offshore Drilling

GOP Oil Bill Would Funnel Drilling Suits To Oil-Friendly Court

Benjy Sarlin | May 11, 2011, 3:21PM

An oil rig at Port Arthur, TX

House Republicans are pushing through a series of bills aimed at easing restrictions on offshore drilling this week, but critics warn that buried in the legislation is a provision that would weaken the ability of affected states to take on big oil companies in court.

H.R. 1229, the "Putting the Gulf Back to Work Act," would weaken President Obama's moratorium on deep water drilling, which was imposed in the wake of the BP oil spill, but it also contains a provision that funnels civil suits regarding drilling permits to the Fifth Circuit, which includes Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) is calling foul, arguing that the provision strips states like Florida and Alabama with their own drilling operations of the ability to sue in their own states' courts. According to Deutch, the scheme is especially problematic because the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court has been criticized as especially close to oil companies -- in one recent suit against an oil company, so many judges had to recuse themselves over conflicts of interest that the court didn't have the necessary quorum of judges to hear the case. An investigation by a progressive legal advocacy group, Alliance For Justice, determined that several of the judges have extensive financial holdings in the oil industry and two frequently represented oil interests as lawyers.

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Nuclear Energy

Poll: Support For Nuclear Power Drops, Support For Oil Drilling Up

Jon Terbush | March 22, 2011, 12:32PM

Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear plant

After the BP oil spill, Americans became increasingly wary of offshore drilling. Now, as Japan struggles to deal with an earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant, a new Pew poll shows a spike in opposition to nuclear power here in the U.S. -- while support for offshore drilling is making a comeback.

The two findings aren't necessarily related to each other, as support for offshore drilling began rising late last year. But the results suggest that, as was the case with the oil spill, an energy production disaster can quickly turn public opinion against that form of energy production.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Administration Officials Plead With Landrieu To Drop Hold On OMB Nominee Jack Lew

Christina Bellantoni | September 29, 2010, 8:47AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is holding up President Obama's key economic appointee in critical fiscal times over a local issue his economic team has no control over, giving Republicans campaign ammunition and throwing a wrench into budget planning just as the Senate is set to go home for the elections.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and other top administration officials have been pleading with Landrieu (D-LA) to release her hold on the nomination of Jack Lew to be President Obama's new Office of Management and Budget director. But Landrieu says she won't budge until the moratorium on Gulf Coast drilling is lifted.

OMB doesn't have jurisdiction over drilling, and Democrats are privately outraged someone from their own party would block such a critical nomination -- with several suggesting the state of gridlock in the Senate has reached an untenable level. What's more, the delay to install Lew creates big budgetary problems just as the administration is prepping for several major initiatives, including the 2012 spending blueprint.

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CT-SEN

D'oh! Linda McMahon Picks Now To Call For More Offshore Drilling

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 14, 2010, 9:22AM

CT-Sen. candidate Linda McMahon (R) campaign mailer

In campaigns -- like in pro-wrestling -- timing is everything. And Linda McMahon (R), last seen running way behind in the Connecticut Senate race, is proving she's a master of when to say just the right thing.

Fresh off news of the cataclysmic oil spill in the gulf of Mexico, McMahon recently distributed a mailer where she promised to put 'Connecticut back to work' by calling on the government to "increase offshore drilling and production."

Ted Mann of The Day has the picture, which is worth at least a thousand barrels of spilled crude.

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FL-SEN

Drilling Down In Florida -- Senate Candidates Spar After Spill

Christina Bellantoni | May 7, 2010, 5:58PM

Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL), Gov. Charlie Crist (I-FL), former state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R-FL)

New battlelines are being drawn over offshore drilling in the race for the open U.S. Senate seat in Florida, and Democrats are attempting to get a political boost from Republican divisions on the issue.

From the Democratic candidate Rep. Kendrick Meek to rank-and-file state lawmakers, the Democrats are hammering at Republican Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running as an independent. They paint Rubio as an unflinching and foolish member of the "Drill, baby, drill" crowd and Crist as a political opportunist for considering their proposed ban on drilling. (Even though, of course, they want him on their side.) The issue is all the more messy thanks to the massive oil spill and the upcoming Senate race.

A Democratic source in the Florida legislature said Crist has been telling state lawmakers that he is strongly considering their request to hold a special session examining whether to ban certain offshore drilling. But of course that's all political too, since the main advocates for the ban of drilling within 5 miles of the coastline are running for statewide office. Alex Sink is running for governor and state Sen. Dan Gelber is running for attorney general. The Democrats held a press conference Thursday asking for Crist to order the session so they can craft language to put on the November ballot.

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Barack Obama

Obama Flip Flops On Drilling--But Was He Right Then Or Now?

Brian Beutler | April 2, 2010, 2:40PM

President Barack Obama

When President Obama announced that he would open vast swaths of America's coastline up to offshore drilling, the media, and even some of Obama's greatest allies were quick to point out that he'd reversed an early campaign pledge.

"What wouldn't do a thing to lower gas prices is John McCain's new proposal -- a proposal adopted by George Bush as well -- to open up Florida's coast line to offshore drilling," Obama said on June 20, 2008, standing in front of a Florida shoreline. "Offshore drilling would not lower gas prices today. It would not lower gas prices tomorrow. It would not lower gas prices this year. It would not lower gas prices five years from now."

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