The BP oil spill has caused a public outcry for heads to roll, and one of the first is that of Elizabeth Birnbaum, or S Elizabeth Brinbaum, director of the Mineral Management Service. The Mineral Management Service, or MMS, is the office that oversees off shore drilling, and is part of the Department of the Interior. Whether MMS or British Petroleum is at fault is unknown. However, Birnbaum is out of a job and a moratorium on offshore drilling is due to take effect.
Mineral Management Services director quits
When the BP oil leak began, someone was going to have to face the music at some point. No one needs a loan until payday for an attorney just yet, however. The director of the Mineral Management Service, Elizabeth Birnbaum, is one of the first government officials to go in the wake of the disaster. She was asked by Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, to resign, according to the New York Times. Her resignation was announced on Thursday, May 27.
Off shore drilling halted by moratorium
It was also announced that President Obama would be declaring a moratorium on off shore drilling. The moratorium will last at least 6 months, and an offshore drilling rig being proposed for the Virginia coast will be scrapped according to the Los Angeles Times. Congress has thus far responded that Birnbaum is only the face of a deeply troubled agency.
Perhaps a moratorium is a good thing
Though off shore drilling can potentially offset the cost and need for imports, the potential for disaster is still one that requires a responsible approach to drilling. There is a long history of ghastly environmental damage done in the name of extraction for profit (Superfund sites, for instance), that the taxpayers end up paying to clean up, not the companies that did the damage in the first place. Business is business, but private business ceases to even remotely offer a defense when taxpayers have to pick up the check on the mess, when the offending corporate entities have absconded with the profits.
Citations:
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28drill.html
Los Angeles Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/05/moratorium-on-deepwater-driling-to-be-extended-new-industry-rules-coming.html
Superfund sites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites_in_the_United_States
