Theunis Bates, Contributor, AOL NEWS
(July 19) — The U.S. government is allowing BP to keep a cap on its damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well for another 24 hours, after the oil giant promised to closely observe the seabed for evidence of a new leak.
On Sunday, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is in charge of the government’s response to the disaster, demanded an explanation from BP for an unspecified seepage near the well, along with “undetermined anomalies at the well head.”
“When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours,” Allen said in a letter to BP Managing Director Bob Dudley. “I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed.”
In a statement issued this morning, Allen said a federal science team held a conference call with BP officials on Sunday night, and got the answers they needed about how the company is monitoring the possible leak. But he added that the cap would be pulled if there was any evidence it was worsening the situation on the seabed.
BP also confirmed today that it was keeping a close on eye on the well, saying in a statement that “extensive monitoring activities” were being carried out. The statement left out any mention of the possible leakage, but said pressure inside the well “continues to rise slowly.”
According to The Associated Press, Allen and other government figures are worried that — as pressure readings on the cap haven’t been as high as expected since it was installed Thursday — there’s a leak somewhere else in the wellbore, possibly deep in the bedrock. The well extends 2.5 miles below the seabed. To prevent the fragile well from rupturing in another location, they want to ease pressure in the reservoir by piping oil to ships on the surface. But for that to work, oil would have to be released into the water for up to three days to allow pressure to drop and engineers to hook up the piping.
However, BP — wary of yet more damaging images of oil gushing into the gulf — appears interested in keeping the cap in place. Just a few hours before Allen’s letter was released on Sunday, Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, said the company hoped to keep the damaged well shut off until a relief well is completed in August…………………..read more
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By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
Washington Examiner
07/09/2010
John Ellis has an interesting blogpost in which he argues that Sarah Palin is the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. What particularly caught my eye was his final paragraph:
What this means is two things: (1) the pressure on former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to run for the GOP presidential nomination will increase as the year moves along, and (2) the likelihood of a strong independent party candidacy increases as Palin’s support within the GOP broadens. Oh, and it also means one other thing: President Obama is not doomed.
Why is this interesting? Well, John Ellis, with whom I worked on Fox News’s 2000 election night coverage, is Jeb Bush’s first cousin.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/
johnellisblog.com
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1. Strategist: Jeb Bush Biggest Threat to Obama in 2012
Leading Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg remains confident about President Barack Obama’s chances for re-election in 2012, but admits there is one potential Republican candidate who scares him: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Sinking poll numbers and policy setbacks “have done little to dissuade” the rosy predictions of Rosenberg, who has said Obama’s election gave Democrats a chance for a 30-to-40-year era of dominance, Sam Stein notes on the Huffington Post website, adding, “There’s only one thing that makes Rosenberg nervous: another Bush.”
At a recent lunch at the headquarters of the New Democrat Network, a non-profit group founded by Rosenberg, the former Bill Clinton adviser said, “Jeb is married to a Latina, is fluent in Spanish, speaks on Univision as a commentator — his Spanish is that good.
“And if you look at the electoral map in 2012, you have to assume that Obama is going to have a very hard time in holding North Carolina and Virginia. The industrial Midwest, where the auto decline has been huge, has weakened Obama’s numbers . . . a great deal. So Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin become a bit more wobbly.
“So if you’re Barack Obama, the firewall is the Latin belt from Florida to southwestern California. And there is only one Republican who can break through that firewall. And it is Jeb.”
Following the George W. Bush presidency, the vast majority of voters yearn for someone other than a Bush, said Democratic strategist Donna Brazille. But she acknowledged: “Jeb has the talent, the experience, and the ability to rebuild the GOP’s tent.”
And longtime Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg told Stein: “I believe Jeb Bush could run. He is more of a genuine conservative than [Mitt] Romney. Bush is a big hangover, but not impossible.”
Bush was elected governor in 1998 and served two terms during a period of great economic growth in Florida, keeping taxes low and holding down spending. He won high praise for handling natural disasters — six major hurricanes struck Florida’s coastlines during his tenure — and he also spearheaded reforms that have led to improvements in the state’s education system.
Today, Bush is in private business and works with several charities and foundations. But he has not kept out of the public eye, becoming a vocal critic of the Obama administration. He told Newsmax in an exclusive interview that the administration is charting a “dangerous course” as it pushes for a dramatic expansion of government that “imperils our future.”
Longtime Republican consultant John Feehery told Stein: “I think that Bushism is still alive. There is, however, an anti-Bushism in the party associated with the Rand Paul crowd. They don’t like neocons and government. And Sarah Palin could be seen as part of that group.
“What people like about Jeb Bush is that he is smart and conservative and well-liked by the base . . . If there is going to be a Bush revival, Jeb is going to be the leader of that revival.” …………………..Read more
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