From the Wonk Room.
Johnnie Burton, former MMS director
Johnnie Burton, the director of Bush’s Minerals Management Service (MMS)
from 2002 to 2007, has no regrets about her tenure, saying in an
interview that she found no problems within the agency, now disbanded in
disgrace. Burton – at 70 now a case worker for Rep. Cynthia Lummis
(R-WY) – defended her record to the Caspar, WY, Star-Tribune. Under
Burton, the “mismanaged,
unaccountable”
agency was so
corrupt
that even pro-drilling Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) bashed
the
agency.
Burton responded with insouciant calm, telling the Star-Tribune “when I
was there it seemed to work
well”:
As for allegations of lax enforcement at the Minerals Management
Service, grossly inadequate spill response plans and other
regulatory shortfalls, Burton said that as
MMS director she was unaware of those
problems. “I can’t answer all these questions at this point because
when I was there it seemed to work well,” Burton said.
The agency worked so “well” that investigators found evidence of
“cronyism and
cover-ups
of management blunders; capitulation to oil companies in disputes about
payments; plunging morale among auditors; and unreliable data-gathering
that often makes it impossible to determine how much money companies
actually owe.”
Burton was in charge during the development of the offshore drilling
plan that expanded drilling to the site of the Deepwater Horizon
disaster. Her Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program
2007-2012
included 2008’s Lease Sale 206, in which BP purchased Mississippi Canyon
Block 252 (MC252) for $34
million.
MC252, also known as the Macondo Prospect, has
been flooding the Gulf of Mexico with oil for months now. Burton’s plan
dismissed the environmental
threat
of that sale, primarily because no huge disasters had taken place since
the Ixtoc I blowout in 1979, as these excerpts show:
The analysis above shows that with regard to potential oil spill
impacts, areas that contain wetlands and marshes such as the Central
GOM are particularly sensitive. However, lessees have been producing
oil and gas from the Central Gulf and other areas for over 50 years
with a remarkable record of environmental safety. For more than 30
years, there have been no significant oil spills from platforms
anywhere on the OCS. [p. 92]
No Environmental Justice impacts from accidental oil spills are
expected because of the movement of oil and gas activities further
away from coastal areas and, also, the demographic pattern of more
affluent groups living in coastal areas. [p. 60]
The Central Gulf coastal area ranks second in marine primary
productivity only to the Mid-Atlantic. The marine primary productivity
of the Central Gulf does not appear to have been appreciably
diminished by offshore exploration and production activities. The same
is true of other areas of the OCS with
existing operations and production. Thus, the size, location, and
timing of lease sales in the PFP are consistent with the marine
primary productivity of the areas in which lease sales will be held.
[p. 95]
Overall, impacts on national parks, national wildlife refuges,
national estuarine research reserves, and national estuary program
sites due to routine operations are expected to be limited under
the proposed action because these areas are restricted from
development. Impacts from oil spills are unlikely because it is
anticipated that 75 percent of the hydrocarbons developed, as a result
of the 2007-2012 leasing program in the GOM
area are expected to occur in deep water (>330 m) usually located far
from the shoreline. [p. 57]
Any single large spill would likely affect only a small proportion
of a given fish population within the GOM,
and it is unlikely that fish resources would be permanently affected.
[p. 57]
In areas with a large proportion of impact-sensitive industry, such as
tourism, the potential incremental impacts of oil spills would likely
result in a one-time seasonal decline in business activity. [p.
59]
Impacts of accidental releases to water quality would depend on the
size of the spill, type of material or product spilled, and
environmental factors at the time of the spill. However, there would
be no long-term, widespread impairment of marine water quality.
[p. 60]