Big oil's massive destruction of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem gets even worse andthe Bush regime and Obama administration, as well as members ofCongress taking energy industry money are complicit for lax regulationsand such appalling admissions as the recent statements by Napolitano of Homeland Security.  

Scientists are accusing the Obama administration "of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure the spill’s true scope."

In addition, federal agencies appear to be failing to protect peopleagainst the grave human health problem from the crude oil and chemicaldispersants.  For example, after approving BP using these dispersants,the EPA has now ordered BP to use less toxic ones.

It sounds like the blind leading the greedy and neither thegovernment nor the energy companies perpetrators of disaster seem toknow what the hell they're doing, except destroying the ecosystem ofthe Gulf of Mexico, and states' shorelines, wetlands, and waterways.

The government appears to also be complicit in BP's secrecy about its deadly oil pollution or as Marian Wang at ProPublica terms it:
"While BP oil gushes, company keeps information to a trickle."

Meanwhile, avarice triumphs as the scandal ridden MMS granted oil drilling permits in the Arctic...."approvals also came after many of the agency’s most experiencedscientists had left, frustrated that their concerns over environmentalthreats from drilling had been ignored..." 

What the hell is Ken Salazar doing?

Well, according to the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, he's rearranging the deck chairs on the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

"Yesterday, Sec. Salazar broke MMS into three new entities (the Bureauof Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and EnvironmentalEnforcement, and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue) answeringdirectly to two different assistant secretaries of Interior. Thisapproach is flawed because:

• Conflicts between resource protection and promotion are merely elevated, not eliminated, as the new entities are supervised by political appointees with energy and revenue production mandates;
• The same managers will be relocated to implement the same policies that led to the disastrous BP blowout and spill from the Deepwater Horizon rig; and
• Scientists, engineers and other specialists inside the former MMS will remain vulnerable to political countermands and retaliation. The plan has no mechanism to ensure that evidence of problems will not again be suppressed.

“ 'This hurried reorganization is a panickedpalliative, like rearranging the deckchairs on the Deepwater Horizon,'stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. 'The Interior Department andits Secretary are both parts of the problem requiring outside iintervention.' 

"PEER points to the erratic leadership of Sec.Salazar who has repeatedly said that “energy independence” is his “toppriority” at Interior, sending the strong message that protectingnatural resources is secondary, contrary to the statutory mission ofthe agency. In late March, Sec. Salazar ignored both internal andexternal warnings about deficient spill prevention and responsecapabilities in endorsing major expansion of offshore drilling in theeastern Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

"Significantly, specialists within MMS with firsthand knowledge ofthe breakdowns have not been consulted. The key Interiordecision-makers have extremely limited experience with the issues, adeficiency rationalized as “bringing fresh eyes” to the situation. Sec.Salazar has been resistant to seeking out former whistleblowers orother reformers who know “where the bodies are buried” in the deeplydysfunctional Interior Department.

"PEER has been working withcurrent and former MMS employees who believe that solutions cannot befound solely inside Interior, urging, for example, that transfer ofenvironmental and safety functions outside of Interior to the NationalOceanic & Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard,respectively, should be seriously studied. The U.S. Treasury shouldreview taking over the collection of oil and gas royalties (the secondbiggest source of federal revenue next to the income tax) due to thelong history of under-collection and collusion within Interior.

“'Interiorcannot fix itself; we need an independent review,' added Ruch.'Righting this ship will require presidential leadership, including ahard look at his own Cabinet.' ”

Chalk another one up to this administration's embrace of corporatism and lack of governing instincts for the common good.