The lead editorial in today's Buffalo News Opinion section:
- Change the oil policy - Buffalo News Editorial
The oil company that was supposed to be different, and the administration that was supposed to be better, are today both smeared with the tons of oil that continue to gush from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. ...
The idea that a giant oil corporation can be trusted to operate its offshore wells safely — and to shut them down when accidents happen — should be treated as dead. Replacing that should be the understanding that government permits for offshore operations should be hard to get, come with detailed plans for how drillers will react when the unthinkable happens, and require multibillion-dollar bonds to ensure compliance.
This particular mess is BP’s fault. The environment that allowed it to happen is an executive branch — and now the Obama administration’s — responsibility. The only way to remove the stain is to provide the good government that this president promised.
[BP's live video and AP's photo gallery. Despite the similar sounding names, they are no kin. Really.]
Else-web:
- Time for the Obama administration to show who is boss - New Orleans Times-Picayune Editorial
The administration argues that federal law limits its ability to take over cleanup efforts from the company. Officials also note that the industry, not the government, has the expertise and equipment needed to stop the leak.
But the federal government, which is supposed to ensure that BP assumes responsibility for this disaster, has often acted timidly during the crisis. President Obama has the bully pulpit to come down hard on BP and its executives, and he should use it. Most Americans are ready for the president to light a fire under the company and under the bureaucracy overseeing the disaster response.
- The Arctic After the Gulf - New York Times Editorial
There is an important way for President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to show they are absorbing the lessons of the gulf oil spill and to reaffirm their pledge to proceed cautiously with offshore drilling in the future. That is to withhold the permits Shell Oil needs to proceed with a highly controversial drilling project in the Arctic Ocean.
- Freeze It, Crimp It, Plug It, Nuke It - Josh Levin/Slate
Slate readers' ideas for how to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico
- BP's shocking memo - Rick Outzen/The Daily Beast
This is a story about the Three Little Pigs. A lot of dead oil workers. And British Petroleum.
- Of Top Hats, Top Kills and Bottom Feeders - Maureen Dowd/The New York Times
As we watch a self-inflicted contamination that has no end in sight, consider this chilling arithmetic: One oil industry reporter reckoned that the 5,000 barrels a day (a conservative estimate) spewing 5,000 feet down in the gulf counts for only two minutes of oil consumption in the state of Texas.
- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
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Current Affairs | Editorials