Oil Ganache: The MMS Alaska Office's "Drill Baby Drill" Cake

Still skeptical that some sectors of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) prioritized industry's production over everything else prior to the Deepwater Horizon disaster? I recommend reading William Yardley's article on the Alaska office and how arctic drilling proposals advanced amid a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into MMS's environmental review process.

As The New York Times reports, "the Alaska branch deliberately avoided establishing consistent guidelines for determining whether future leases would cause significant environmental impacts in the Arctic." It's hard to get past the Marie Antoniette moment at the end:

Shortly after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proposed reconfiguring the agency, John Goll, the head of the Alaska region, called an “all hands” meeting, according to a staff member there.

Afterward, people lingered to eat a cake decorated with the words, “Drill, Baby, Drill.”

Thanks to a POGO blog reader for bringing this article to our attention.

-- Mandy Smithberger

Comments

[Ellen]

Sarah Palin! you are a piece of work. Drill Baby Drill.
Kill everything out there, but Drill Baby Drill. The outrageous greed and stupidity of the bastards in the oil industry and the amoral idiots that are taking bribes from the oil industry are beyond belief. The safety measures that
the Bush administration allowed BP and God knows how many other oil companies, to bypass, certainly look rather inexpensive now in terms of lives, wildlife, and environmental damage. What should we have expected from an alleged President who made his millions on OIL! George Bush, you are a piece of work. Congratulations!