Politico/ MSM trying to force President Obama's hand on oil drilling

[ProSense]

A recent report indicated that in the five months since the moratorium on dirlling was lifted in October, two permits have been issued to resume drilling.

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This is the second deepwater permit that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has issued in the Gulf within the past two weeks. Noble Energy Inc. had already received clearance to resume drilling on a well about 70 miles southeast of Venice, La.

They're the first permits to be granted in the Gulf since the agency imposed a moratorium on exploration in waters deeper than 500 feet last June. The moratorium was lifted in October, but deepwater drilling couldn't resume without government clearance.

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Everyone knew drilling would resume after the moratorium was lifted when safety concerns were addressed.

U.S. Appeals for Delay in 30-Day Order on Drill Permits

U.S. offshore regulators asked a New Orleans appellate court to postpone a judge’s March 19 deadline for them to act on certain Gulf of Mexico drilling permits delayed by the Obama Administration’s drilling ban.

The Interior Department had asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, also of New Orleans, to delay his own order so that the U.S. Court of Appeals would have time to review it. When Feldman didn’t respond to that request, the U.S. turned to the appellate court.

“The 30-day deadline is a clear abuse of discretion,’’ lawyers for the agency said in their filing today at the New Orleans appeals court. Meeting Feldman’s deadline would require the agency to act “nearly as quickly as it did prior to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, even though the enormously negative consequences of inadequate containment planning in that incident unquestionably altered the landscape for consideration of such applications,’’ they said.

U.S. offshore regulators said they may deny the seven Gulf of Mexico drilling permits Feldman singled out for quick action if they’re forced to act by the judge’s deadlines. Feldman ordered government action by March 19 on five permits and by March 31 on two additional permits.

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Now Politico is reporting: GOP hugs Bill Clinton to slam Obama on drilling

Republican leaders are turning to former President Bill Clinton to pummel President Barack Obama over his energy policies.

Both House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) used a joint Sunday show appearance to seize on Clinton's comments last week calling delays in issuing drilling permits "ridiculous."

"Even President Clinton has criticized this administration for drilling permits," McCarthy said on CNN's "State of the Union."

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It's hard to know if Clinton made these remarks, and it seems that the RW is jumping on the report.

Here's a different report that doesn't mention the word "ridiculous," but still does not include a direct quote.

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Clinton also addressed concerns about a slowdown in permitting offshore drilling projects in the wake of last year's oil spill, describing the slowdown as an unnecessary delay that the U.S. economy doesn't need.

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These third-party sources are people connected to the oil industry.

[ProSense]

1. No comment? n/t

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. I've noticed this too

However, of course, I'm sure that there's no mention that more oil drilling is not necessarily going to lower prices in the short term and/or that the oil is going to stay strictly here in the US for our own benefit (and if somebody tried to put some kind of conditions on where the oil can go to, I'm sure the Republicans will block it).