{"id":5881,"date":"2010-06-25T10:40:07","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T14:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=5881"},"modified":"2010-06-25T13:08:38","modified_gmt":"2010-06-25T17:08:38","slug":"obama%e2%80%99s-oil-spill-commission-long-on-activism-short-on-knowledge-and-expertise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/5881\/obama%e2%80%99s-oil-spill-commission-long-on-activism-short-on-knowledge-and-expertise\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama\u2019s Oil Spill Commission: Long on Activism, Short on Knowledge and Expertise"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than two months after the BP oil spill began in the Gulf, and amid warranted public anger, President Obama still appears more interested in not letting the crisis go to waste than providing the leadership necessary to help \u201cplug the damn hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest evidence is outlined in a piece<\/a> published earlier this week on Forbes.com<\/em>, authored by Dr. Michael Economides, an energy analyst, petroleum engineer and Editor-in-Chief of Energy Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Economides notes that the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, which is charged with providing recommendations on how to prevent and mitigate the impact of future spills,\u00a0 is \u201cwell-stocked with anti-drilling activists and high-ranking officers of environmental groups\u201d and is \u201cdevoid of a single expert on oil production or offshore development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take for example Richard Lazarus, the man President Obama appointed Executive Director of the Commission.\u00a0\u00a0 As Dr. Economides points out, \u201cLazarus\u2019 background is far from technical and, perhaps more ominously, far from unbiased. Lazarus is an environmental lawyer who has, in fact, argued 30 cases in front of the Supreme Court on behalf of environmental interests. Quite simply, Lazarus is an incredibly accomplished, incredibly talented opponent<\/em> of offshore drilling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, to say that the resumes of the rest of the members on the Commission are thin on any real technical experience would be an understatement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The devastating accident in the Gulf was the result of a complex series of events.\u00a0 Providing real answers should include the work of experts with industry and technical knowledge, rather than just partisan activists.<\/p>\n

In addition to appointing a politically motivated Commission, President Obama\u2019s short-sighted moratorium on offshore drilling, now overturned by the courts, was nothing more than a political decision to score political points.\u00a0 Strangling commerce and the flow of energy in the U.S. would have severe consequences for those already suffering in the Gulf.\u00a0\u00a0 Jobs, revenue and entire local communities are at stake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The energy industry and the American economy are in a precarious position.\u00a0 Now is the time to consider smart policy options, not for more political maneuvering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Dr. Economides\u2019 entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than two months after the BP oil spill began in the Gulf, and amid warranted public anger, President Obama still appears more interested in not letting the crisis go to waste than providing the leadership necessary to help \u201cplug the damn hole.\u201d The latest evidence is outlined in a piece published earlier this week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1321,1478,1476,14,1477],"class_list":["post-5881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-bp-oil-spill","tag-dr-michael-economides","tag-national-commission-on-the-bp-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-and-offshore-drilling","tag-president-obama","tag-richard-lazarus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5881"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5900,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5881\/revisions\/5900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}