When BP does things like this...

[R13]

I think they should suffer major, major punishments.


(CNN) -- A Gulf Coast official accused BP of shipping workers into Grand Isle, Louisiana, for President Barack Obama's visit to the oil-stricken area Friday and sending them away once the president left the region.

Early Friday morning, "a number of buses brought in approximately 300 to 400 workers that had been recruited all week," Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts told CNN's "Situation Room."

Roberts said the workers were offered $12 an hour to come out to the scene at Grand Isle and work in what he called a "dog and pony show."

But, when Obama departed, so did the workers, he said, adding that he's never seen more than 20 workers at the Grand Isle cleanup site since the effort started.
Video: BP downplays report about Obama visit


BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles downplayed the claim Friday evening, telling CNN it is not unusual to see people wrapping up work in the afternoon.

"These individuals are working out in the heat of the sun. These are long days. They start early in the morning and they stop early in the evening," he said. "So the fact that they were leaving the location late in the afternoon was not unusual. It's not associated with the president arriving."

Suttles added that the workers would be back Saturday morning to continue working.

The company hired to provide the cleanup workers told WWL, a New Orleans-based radio station, said it was told to beef up the cleaning workforce five days ago.

"No, I did not put extra workers on the job because the president was coming," said Donald Nalty of Environmental Safety and Health, which was contracted by BP to help in the cleanup effort.

Roberts told CNN's Anderson Cooper the hundreds of workers who showed up early Friday wouldn't speak to local emergency management officials.

"The sheriff's office did manage to get one person to speak with them and that individual said they were hired yesterday and told to report to a staging area at 7:30 this morning," Roberts added. "It just doesn't add up."

Parish official: BP shipped in workers for president's visit - CNN.com

[R13]

Just a quarter of Americans back expanding offshore drilling in the wake of the BP oil spill, and most fault federal regulators for the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Before the spill, the Obama administration lifted the moratorium on drilling in U.S. coastal waters as a way to address the country's energy needs. But most Americans now want fewer offshore wells (31 percent) or the amount kept at current levels (41 percent).

Perhaps as a consequence of the spill, public support for oil and gas drilling in general is also significantly lower than it was a year ago. And as Americans have become increasingly skeptical about such exploration, some elected representatives are now questioning what the government is doing in order to ensure energy exploration can take place safely offshore.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

On Wednesday morning during a Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee hearing, the panel's chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), said the Gulf of Mexico oil spill underscores a failure on the part of both BP and the federal government.

"It's clear that prior to the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig neither the companies involved nor the government adequately appreciated or prepared for the risks involved in a deepwater drilling operation of this type," Bingaman said. "The results of that failure to properly assess and prepare for risks have been disastrous. Lives have been lost. The livelihood and way of life of many Gulf residents have been interrupted and in some cases destroyed. The environmental damage has been immense."

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), another panel member, questioned Interior Secretary Ken Salazar why his department had let offshore drilling be guided by "a philosophy that basically said, step back and let industry police itself, even if there are tremendous risks to the American public."

The new Post-ABC poll reveals a widespread perception that poor federal regulation was at fault in the Gulf spill. Some 63 percent point a finger at inadequate enforcement of current regulations, and 55 percent see an overall weak regulatory structure. Even more, 73 percent, blame BP and its drilling partners for the accident. And the same number now call the spill a major environmental disaster.

In an interview Wednesday, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WVa.) said it sometimes "takes a tragedy of these proportions" to give the American public and their elected representative the political will to impose stricter federal rules on energy exploration.

Click for related content
Gulf spill: What they're telling us today

"They want to see professional, highly-trained inspectors that are not just pushing paper and rubber-stamping what the industry gives them," Rahall said of Americans. "They need to ask the tough questions and be truly concerned about holding these companies accountable."

The Washington Post
In the 'year of the woman,' few mentions of gender
Opposition may derail campaign disclosure bill
U.N. vote on Iran sanctions not a clear-cut win for Obama
Salazar defends drilling moratorium, Allen cites containment progress
Corrections

The broad concern about government inaction directly relates to public support for new drilling: Those who see a weak regulatory structure as a reason for the spill are about twice as likely to want to curb offshore drilling than are those who don't see the need for stricter federal controls.

Another challenge for the administration as the leak continues is that there's a growing sense that it represents a big problem with offshore drilling itself. About half, 49 percent, now see the Gulf spill as part of a broader problem with such drilling; in a CBS News poll a month ago, a majority of Americans said they thought it was more aptly described as "an isolated incident." Support for drilling in general has slipped from 64 percent last August to 52 percent now.


Video

Tempers flare over oil in Alabama
June 9: Angry residents expressed rising frustration with BP's cleanup efforts. NBC's Mark Potter reports.

Nightly News
Even as Salazar highlighted the steps the administration has taken to tighten safety rules for drilling off the Outer Continental Shelf, such as rules announced Tuesday that will require stricter inspections of a well's blowout preventer and casings, Gulf Coast officials insisted Salazar had gone too far in halting drilling.

"This could be devastating to our state, and to the Gulf Coast," asked Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), warning 330,000 Louisiana jobs are at stake due to the temporary drilling moratorium. "I am asking: can you give any time certain, can you give any confidence that we can keep our people at work, that could get our people back to work?"

Click for related content
BP plays down government claim on oil plumes
Journalist dives into Gulf, can only see oil
NYT: Raising remnants of oil rig still on agenda
Scientists challenge BP containment claims
FirstPerson: Show us your favorite place on Gulf
Gulf of Mexico oil spill: How to help

"We have put the pause button until we can have a sense of safety that this can never happen again," Salazar replied.

The Washington Post
Arizona leaders lament as state's image takes beating with new immigration law
Voters' support for members of Congress is at an all-time low, poll finds
White House is directing agencies to cut budgets
The sad farewell of Helen Thomas
Vehicle safety bills reflect compromise between U.S. legislators and automakers
When asked a similar question by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who suggested "the pause button" may have become "the stop button," Salazar answered that when it came to predicting when deep water drilling will resume, "Senator Barrasso, the frank answer to that question is I don't know today."

The Post-ABC poll was conducted June 3 to 6, among a random national sample of 1,004 adults. Interviews were conducted on conventional and cellular telephone, and the results from the full poll have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Poll: Support for oil drilling dwindles - Washington Post- msnbc.com