Apr 30, 2010

MMS Scandal: Where Are They Now? Deepwater Horizon Edition

We don't know everyone's fate, but a recent quote by former Minerals Management Service (MMS) Director Randall Luthi (Director from July 2007 - January 2009—and oddly not identified as a former MMS Director in the article) shows that he is now the president of the National Oceans Industries Association (NOIA).
According to its website, NOIA's mission is "to secure reliable access and a favorable regulatory and economic environment for the companies that develop the nation's valuable offshore energy resources in an environmentally responsible manner." Its members include "producers of crude oil and natural gas, contractors, marine engineers, service and supply companies and others with an interest in producing energy from the nation's outer continental shelf." In other words, Luthi now represents precisely the industries his agency was tasked with overseeing. Ruthi succeeded Tom Fry, another former MMS Director, as as President of NOIA. NOIA's March press release announcing Luthi's position can be found here.
This is, of course, only one instance of the systemic revolving door problem between the Department of the Interior and the oil and gas industries that continues to cast doubt on the integrity of Interior's oversight of taxpayers' natural resources. We invite readers to contact POGO, or leave comments, into other instances that we have missed.
-- Mandy Smithberger
See also:

• MMS Thought Deepwater Horizon was Award-Winningly SAFE
• More Lessons From the Deepwater Horizon Disaster
• How Much Will the Deepwater Horizon Spill Cost Taxpayers?

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/03/04/18673805.php

Indybay

Delta Agreement to "Protect Listed Species" or another Ploy to Export More Water - http://www.indybay.org/newsite...

Friday from Indybay newswire - Comment - Like - Share

Critics point out that those same entities have been assuring the public for the past 15 years that they would come up with a "sustainable solution" to protect the Delta and double the numbers of Delta-dependent species and have failed miserably in the process. - Indybay

"Time To Unite"UC Unions & Labor Rallies To Demand Rejection of anti-labor UC Regent Crane - http://www.indybay.org/newsite...

2 hours ago from Indybay newswire - Comment - Like - Share

Dozens of UC workers and trade unionists rallied at the UCSF Parnassus campus to demand that anti-labor regent David Crane be rejected by the legislature for reappointment to the regents. - Indybay

Lloyd's February 2011 Radio Show

Submitted by lgc_admin on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 16:04.

29:04 minutes (6.66 MB)

Lloyd's February 2011 radio show interview with new Delta Watermaster Craig Wilson.  To listen or
download click HERE:

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Unreasonable Use Law Goes Unenforced

Submitted by Lloyd Carter on Wed, 03/02/2011 - 14:00.

California has had a law on the books for over 80 years preventing unreasonable use of water. How come it is not enforced? To learn more click HERE:http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=2624

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http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/node/8739

Delta Agreement to “Protect Listed Species” or Another Ploy to Export More Water

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Posted on 04 March 2011

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By Patrick Porgans
Planetary Solutionaries

Last Thursday a federal judge approved a settlement agreement to protect the tiny Delta smelt, one of a number of species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that dwell in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  The smelt may be on the verge of extinction. Its 15-minute claim to fame was immortalized during a 60 Minute segment that mistakenly credited it for the demise of California’s agricultural industry. Incidentally, last year, when CBS aired the program, California’s agricultural industry posted record-breaking profits, as it did during the entire four-year of California’s so-called “drought”.

The agreement is the result of protracted legal battles concerning the decline of and protection for Delta smelt and salmon. Federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) pumps that export water to contractors south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are the focus of the dispute. The Court-approved settlement is being celebrated by water contractors, farmers, government officials and environmental groups as a positive development. It also provides time for the U.S. Fish&Wildlife Service (USFWS) to improve the methodologies it uses to evaluate the impacts of the pumping on the smelt in response to a December ruling by U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger, which invalidated key parts of a much-debated plan to protect the smelt.

Wanger also made a ruling back in May 2009, when he issued an injunction, agreeing with the plaintiffs that the reduction of exports to their agricultural operations would result in "irreparable" economic and environmental harm in violation of NEPA. On May 31, 2009, the government Delta pumping plants reportedly went silent as the Delta smelt “take” was just 27 fish away from exceeding the “take” limit, which would have meant that both the Department of Water Resources (DWR), operator of the SWP, and the Bureau of Reclamation, operator of the CVP, would have been in “violation” of the ESA. It is interesting to note, that the fish count “take” and salvage numbers are not made by either USFWS or California Department of Fish and Game biologist. The counts are performed by DWR and Bureau maintenance personnel. Even when the “take” is exceeded, it just reinitiates consultation among the parties, and usually what happens is they agree to increase the number of fish they can “take” kill.

read more ...//www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/node/8739

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2011/02/jerry-brown-to-cancel-sale-of-california-state-buildings.html

PolitiCal

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Jerry Brown to cancel sale of 11 California government buildings

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February 9, 2011 |  9:57 am

Gov. Jerry Brown said his administration will abandon the proposed sale of 11 government buildings, including the Junipero Serra State Building and Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles, that would have netted an estimated $1.2 billion to help balance the state budget.

Brown said the building sale, negotiated by the administration of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, amounted to a budget gimmick. State offices would have remained in the buildings after the sale and paid rent under the previous administration's plan. The plan would have provided some short-term cash, Brown said, but ultimately cost taxpayers more money over time.

"The sale of the buildings didn't really make much sense," he said at a Wednesday morning Capitol press conference. "It is in effect a gigantic loan with interest payments equal to 10% every year."
Brown is proposing to do other internal borrowing from state funds at a lower rate to cover the funds that would be lost this year by canceling the sale. "We found an alternative that can save a lot of money," he said.
The sale of the buildings had been tied up in court in recent weeks, after two former building commissioners argued it was an illegal waste of taxpayer money.

Brown said he also was reconsidering whether the state should sell other property, such as fairgrounds it owns in Orange County and San Diego County.

"This is not the best time to be selling real estate," he said. "I think we have time to consider what we ought to do with that. "
-- Shane Goldmacher and Evan Halper in Sacramento