PEER-

[Grumpy]

Just info. Draw your own conclusions:

JUNE 1, 2010


Dear Dave:

No one would have predicted that the Obama administration would preside over the worst environmental disaster in the history of the nation. Even more surprising is how ineffectually it has reacted to the crisis.

One can expect duplicity from BP, but listen to what White House Counselor Carol Browner said this weekend:

"We have been prepared for the worst. We have been prepared from the very beginning…. From the beginning government has been in charge."

If those aren't whoppers then I don't know hamburgers. For a sample of how well prepared they were, look at the laughable BP spill response plan that the government approved.

More fundamentally, President Obama has been relying on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, probably the least confidence-inspiring actor in the cast, to clean up the mess his agency has made. In public statements, President Obama tries to convey continued support of the embattled Salazar, stopping just short of putting his arm around him and saying "You're doing a heck of a job, Kenny boy."

Other than a belated, partial moratorium on new drilling, the only concrete step so far has been breaking apart the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the bureaucratic equivalent of sowing the earth with salt as the Romans did after conquering ancient Carthage so that it would never rise again. Unfortunately, the break-up of MMS is a cosmetic move that does not bring about fundamental reform. For example:

The break-up was supposed to eliminate "conflicts real or perceived" (in the President's words) but leaves lease managers overseeing the environmental reviews of permits. PEER revealed that these same managers have been short-circuiting honest analyses of ecological risks in order to hurry lease packages along. It turns out, these managers who remain in charge of the new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management got bonuses and other awards for keeping all the offshore leases moving on schedule regardless of risks.

The new Office of Natural Resources Revenue, the oil royalty operation responsible for the biggest federal revenue stream second only to the income tax, is being moved to the branch of Interior responsible for telecommuting, dress codes and building restoration under an assistant secretary with little relevant experience. Besides its sex scandals, MMS has cost the Treasury more than $50 billion (with a "b") in recent years by undercharging oil companies.

The most basic limitation is that the MMS trisection ignores that the Interior Department is a big part of the problem. Sec. Salazar's focus on low-level misconduct (sex and drugs) while ignoring the bigger picture of how to protect public resources and the U.S. Treasury is akin to picking low-hanging fruit while failing to notice that the entire orchard is blighted.

One important step forward is to take these functions out of Interior altogether:

Environmental reviews should be conducted by an independent Oceans Agency, including the marine functions of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), another agency like MMS which lacks a statutory charter and is now inaptly housed inside the Commerce Department;

Safety and environmental inspections should be the job of the U.S. Coast Guard, which should be moved out of Homeland Security into the new Oceans Agency; and

Revenue collection should go over to IRS in the Treasury. They at least know how to collect money from corporations without sleeping with them.

President Obama has disingenuously stated the federal government's biggest mistake was in believing oil companies "had their act together when it came to worst-case scenarios." But no, the biggest mistake was that federal agencies did not have their own act together - and still don't.

Working with courageous employees within these agencies, PEER is pursuing reform plans that prevent spills, protect resources and provide citizen oversight. Please support this effort.


Sincerely,



Jeff Ruch
Executive Director



P.S. Support your local park and forest rangers. A new PEER study shows that attacks on rangers have skyrocketed to record levels in the past year. We are the only group tracking this rising tide of violence and helping public servants caught in the crosshairs.

P.P.S. Nominate PEER. Each year, Working Assets donates a percentage of their profits to nonprofit organizations working for social and environmental change. To nominate PEER as a recipient, please visit http://workingassets.com/nominate/ and fill in the following information:

Development Director's Name: Kirsten Stade
Development Director's E-mail and Phone : kstade@peer.org, (202) 265-7337
Organization's Website: www.peer.org

If nominated, PEER may earn a spot on the 2010 Working Assets Funding Ballot for their subscribers to vote on. Make sure to place your nomination by June 30th!


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[iaccocca]

…and this was in response to…

Couldn't stand it! Sent this to PEER:

Seems to me like a lot of "Public Employees" are forgeting just who they work for here! You guys are supposed to be working with all the user groups to come up with equitable programs to manage OUR lands. Instead, you've targeted OHV users as the bad guys, and are spending MY money to lock ME out of MY land! You, people, are out of line! Start doing your jobs in the way it's meant to be done, not for the environazi extremists out there. They are only a small fraction of the users on PUBLIC lands, yet they seem to get all the attention. You best believe I don't intend to stay quiet while this happens! Again, you are PUBLIC employees. Start acting like it!!

Dave Walters
Tri Cities Peak Putters 4x4 Club
Land Use Coordinator
TAX PAYER

…which you wrote regarding the New 2010 PEER Report on Violence Against Federal Officers which you felt was bogus.
Maybe you should send them a clarifying email and ask them to respond to your concerns, not to the damn leaking hole on the bottom of the ocean which none of us are happy about.