Who is to blame for the oil spill? Try BP and Obama!

Obama recently gave a speech where he wanted to know who's a-s to kick, apparently he should start with his own...

From a comment thread in another blog:

As the Wall St. Journal reported recently, Barack Obama's Interior Department approved three permit modifications for the Deepwater Horizon well one week before it exploded. These modifications allowed BP to use a single pipe into the oil and gas zone instead of the 'gold standard' inner and outer pipes.

Three major modifications were granted by the Barack Obama Administration (MMS) within 24 hours.

"On April 14, at 8:34 p.m., BP informed the MMS that it planned to use the one-pipe method, using a single 7-inch-wide pipe for the whole length of the well. The MMS approved the permit at 8:13 the next morning, according to federal records."

...The two-pipe method was the safer option, according to many industry experts, because it would have provided an extra layer of protection against gas traveling up the outside of the well to the surface. Gene Beck, a longtime industry engineer and a professor at Texas A&M University, said the two-pipe method is "more or less the gold standard," especially for high-pressure wells such as the one BP was drilling..."

At 9:54 a.m. on April 15 BP filed another permit informing the MMS of a correction. Rather than using a 7-inch-wide pipe the whole way, it planned to run a tapered pipe that was wider at the top than at the bottom. This was approved by the MMS seven minutes later.

Then, at 2:35 p.m., BP filed another revision. This one informed the MMS that it had "inadvertently" omitted mention of a section of pipe already in the well. Four and one-half minutes later, MMS approved this permit also.

So there you have "the rest of the story".