obama & offshore oil drilling in the US

You read about the Oil Desaster in the Gulf of Mexico, no point repeating the news here.

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What you might not know is that Oil Drilling in Offshore Areas has been quite a topic in the United States. There was a “longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast, from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean” (source).

I say was. Because Barack Obama decided that this moratorium is really not necessary anymore.

New York Times, 31st of March 2010, in an article called “Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time”:

Drilling there has been strongly opposed by officials from both political parties in Alabama and Florida who fear damage to coastlines, fisheries, popular beaches and wildlife.

Right.

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The “accident” has happened. An interesting fact is that there is a very easy way to avoid such a catrastrophe: relief wells. In Canada, these wells are required by law.

Businessweek offers an explanation:

The relief well aims to intercept the damaged hole at an angle thousands of feet below the seabed and permanently close it with heavy mud and cement.

The final solution BP offers now is exactly that: to drill a relief well. Unfortunately, this is a very complicated procedure, especially when things have gone so terribly wrong already. BP hopes they could be finished by August.

The company has made very active lobbyism to avoid the necessity of these relief wells in the United States – and was successful. Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, said in an interview with Reuters:

“Make no mistake: BP ranks among the most powerful corporate forces in U.S. politics. It donates hundreds of thousands of dollars every election cycle through its employees and political action committee and is routinely a seven- or eight-figure federal lobbying powerhouse each year.”

To give an example for the year 2008, there have been donations of $37.000 to members of the House Energy Committee and over $100.000 to members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee (dealing with security issues facing the nation’s oil supply). BP spent $15.9 million on lobbying in 2009.

It worked.

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Some pretty … intense photographs.