As the BP oil spill began, so did calls for people to be held accountable for it, and one of the first people brought down is Elizabeth Birnbaum, or S Elizabeth Birnbaum, the director of the Mineral Management Service. The Mineral Management Service, or MMS, part of the Department of the Interior, is the office in charge of off shore drilling. The role of MMS and BP in the spill is thus far unknown. What is known is that Birnbaum is out of a job, and a moratorium on offshore drilling is set to start.
Director of Mineral Management Service steps down
After the explosion of the oil rig touched off the BP oil leak, it was clear that some accountability was going to be brought to bear on someone. No one is getting a loan until payday for an attorney just yet. One of the first government officials to be held accountable is Elizabeth Birnbaum, the director of the Mineral Management Service. According to the New York Times, she was asked by Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Interior, to resign. On Thursday, May 27, she announced her resignation.
Moratorium on drilling to begin
Off shore drilling will be halted by a moratorium, which will be put in place by President Obama. According to the Los Angeles Times, the moratorium will last at least 6 months, and current plans for an offshore drilling rig off the Virginia coast will be scrapped. Some members of Congress have insisted the agency is already broken, and Birnbaum is only a scapegoat.
The moratorium may be good
Though it is certain that the need for imported oil can be offset by off shore drilling, the need to not do incalculable harm to our oceans and out coastlines is perhaps even more vital. 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.
Find more information on this topic:
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
