Obama Administration Official Resigns in Wake of BP Spill
Email ABC News’ Yunji de Nies Reports: S. Elizabeth Birnbaum is the latest Obama administration official to resign in the wake of the BP oil spill disaster. In a short letter addressed to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the now former Director of the Mineral Management Service takes an apparent dig at Bush administration, writing, “I’m hopeful that the reforms that the Secretary and the Administration are undertaking will resolve the flaws in the current system that I inherited.” Birnbaum took the job in July of last year. Since the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, her agency has been under fire for what critics call lax oversight over the energy leases they approve and managed. In a statement, Secretary Salazar praised Birnbaum’s tenure, calling her “a strong and effective person and leader.” He said she “resigned today on her own terms and on her own volition.” At a news conference this afternoon, President Obama told reporters he was informed of Birnbaum’s resignation earlier this morning and did not know the circumstances by which it came about. “I can tell you what I’ve said to Ken Salazar, is that we have to make sure if we are going forward with domestic oil production that the federal agency charged with overseeing its safety and security is operating at the highest level,” he said. The President said more work still needs to be done to achieve that at MMS. “Salazar came in and started cleaning house and culture had not fully changed at MMS, and absolutely I take responsibility for that,” President Obama said.
Scandal isn’t new to MMS. Perhaps the most notable embarrassment came in September of 2008. MMS Employees, who are tasked with ensuring that taxpayers get their share of oil and gas revenues from companies drilling on federal land, were fired for accepting gifts, favors – even sex – from oil industry employees. Some admitted using marijuana and cocaine on the job. When so-called “oil for sex” scandal broke Danielle Brian the Executive Director for Project on Government Oversight told ABC News, “They have not only not been doing their jobs, but they have not been doing it because they have literally been in bed with who they are supposed to be overseeing,” Under the Bush Administration, the Interior Department as a whole was rocked by one scandal after another. Sharon Buccino of the Natural Resources Defense Council told ABC News that for years it was completely mismanaged. “Unfortunately we had people in control under the Bush administration who really put the interest and the profit of their friends in the oil and gas, coal industry front and center,” Buccino said. Buccino points to Former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald, who the agency’s own Inspector General reported forced scientists to change their findings, even giving internal documents to oil companies and land developers. One report found that MacDonald kept some at-risk animals, like the Gunnison Prairie dog, off the endangered species list. “She bullied scientist. She intimidated them into changing their answers,” said Tim Donaghy of the Union for Concerned Scientist. Though MacDonald’s motives were never made clear, and she did not benefit financially, MacDonald resigned. So did Gale Norton, Interior Secretary for five years under President Bush, after she was tied to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Her deputy, Steven Griles, was sentences to 10 months in prison for lying about his ties to Abramoff to the U.S. Senate. In December of 2008, President Obama pledged to clean up the entire Interior Department, with the help of then-nominee Salazar. “There have been too many problems and too much emphasis on big time lobbyists and not enough emphasis on the American people and that is going to change under Ken Salazar,” he said in the East Room of the White House. In accepting the nomination, Salazar said he too was ready for reform. “It will be clear that we will no longer tolerate those types of lapses at any level of government from political appointees or career employees,” Salazar said. — Yunji de Nies
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Hummm someone is going to have to change out those tires, they are getting pretty worn out from running over people that have been thrown under the bus.
Posted by: arkie vet | May 27, 2010, 1:16 pm 1:16 pm
Hummm someone is going to have to change out those tires, they are getting pretty worn out from running over people that have been thrown under the bus.
arkie vet | May 27, 2010 1:16:30 PM
Before the last administration, it was common practice for Presidents to ask for the resignation of people who screwed up. Heck, they just had to not excel or cause bad publicity (Oliver North and John Poindexter are just two of many Reagan jettisoned). Part the reason true conservatives were livid that Rumsfeld didn’t resign after Abu Ghraib (rumor is he offered to, which would have likely aided our efforts to tamp down extremist recruitment, but Bush refused it). Government at the top level isn’t flag football – sometimes doing your best is not good enough.
Posted by: jhw539 | May 27, 2010, 1:38 pm 1:38 pm
You know it my past blogs I have talked a lot about how the Republicans/Conservatives have “defunded” our government agencies finaancially and by “inept leader appointees” over the past 20 years or more. It “culminated” under the reign of “W”; however, and now we are witnessing the disasterous results. And yet…they (those most directly responsible) still “fire up” their “base” by blaming the government for everything. How clever…”demonize” the very entity you have help weaken and destroy. Time to WAKE UP people.
Posted by: CND FOX | May 27, 2010, 1:39 pm 1:39 pm
Dems and Repubs! all work for the oil companies! If the dems limit offshore drilling it raises the price of gas. At the same time the Repubs work to allow more drilling which also benifits the oil companies. It’s just a big dog and pony show. Liberals are idiots and so are conservatives! wake up! the goverment is to blame both dems and repubs. take your country back from the large corporations that control both parties
Posted by: derek | May 27, 2010, 1:50 pm 1:50 pm
It should be Obama who resigns for this disastr oil spill that was way over his head, showing what a complete incompetent and petty moron he really is.
Posted by: Tom Meyers | May 27, 2010, 1:59 pm 1:59 pm
“derek”…what are you “ingesting”? “Take the country back…” From what Derek…reality? Where does this “take our country back” mind set come from? Tea Partiers???
Posted by: CND FOX | May 27, 2010, 2:01 pm 2:01 pm
Obama wants the people to think he has things under control (ha ha), so he throws her under the bus…….problem is WE KNOW what you’re trying Mr…time’s up…….everyone is waking up!
Posted by: lyineyes1956 | May 27, 2010, 2:11 pm 2:11 pm
“Obama Administration Official Resigns in Wake of BP Spill” – ABC News
Good, one incompetent down one really big one to go.
Posted by: Noz | May 27, 2010, 2:13 pm 2:13 pm
President Obama is not responsible for this disaster.
The Bush-Cheney administration that gutted the regulatory agencies that were designed to provide oversight to profit minded coal and petroleum interests, along with the CEOs of those corporations involved are responsible for the death of the Gulf.
We aid and abet their greed and ignore their criminal actions when we citizens do not make decisions based upon good environmental policy.
Posted by: Steve | May 27, 2010, 2:14 pm 2:14 pm
“Unfortunately we had people in control under the Bush administration who really put the interest and the profit of their friends in the oil and gas, coal industry front and center,” Buccino said.
“Buccino points to Former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald, who the agency’s own Inspector General reported forced scientists to change their findings, even giving internal documents to oil companies and land developers.”
Posted by: tierra | May 27, 2010, 2:23 pm 2:23 pm
Salazar is the one who needs to go,He has been around washington too long,and is a suck up to the oil companies. It happened under his watch,He is over the MMS section required to do the safety checks and inspections.
Posted by: stormerF2 | May 27, 2010, 3:02 pm 3:02 pm
It would seem that if you jump ship at the right time, you get a well paying job at an oil company, an oil company, say that a week before, were regulating (or not allowing regulation of).
Big business is big business. They will NEVER look out for your or my best interest. Not Demo, Not grand ole. Any move that profits MUST be pursued. This thought will not protect our soil, health, wildlife or water. This will only happen by force, or if there is a profit in it. If it cost a corp more to leak oil than allow it to happen, they would HAVE TO PURSUE THE BEST PROFIT PRODUCING ENDEAVOR. Let the 12 year old who’s family has leukemia from a company ignoring chemical spills into her drinking water aquifer decide the proper amount to fine the corporation. She wont be hired by the company next year…..
Posted by: jacob | May 27, 2010, 3:26 pm 3:26 pm
“Scandal isn’t new to MMS. Perhaps the most notable embarrassment came in September of 2008. MMS Employees, who are tasked with ensuring that taxpayers get their share of oil and gas revenues from companies drilling on federal land, were fired for accepting gifts, favors – even sex – from oil industry employees. Some admitted using marijuana and cocaine on the job.”
Hmmm, seems like this was a problem long before Obama’s election….
Posted by: Chris | May 27, 2010, 3:35 pm 3:35 pm
They found a Betty Boopbaum to resign..AND blame BUSH for INHERITING the problem? How lucky can you get?
Posted by: cindy | May 27, 2010, 3:47 pm 3:47 pm
Bottom line is this..the problem will always be BIG, FAT, LAZY government..emphasis on BIG..as in super sized…sex? meth? c’mon, these folks aren’t the working stupid, and this has nothing to do with ideology…its people with no motivation, getting lost in the nooks and crannies of this obese, over buttered system of ours and playing games until they can retire to their cushy pensions.
Posted by: cindy | May 27, 2010, 3:52 pm 3:52 pm
“Under pressure from the oil industry and an agency he seems incapable of controlling, Secretary Salazar has watered down the drilling moratorium to a point where it is virtually meaningless,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity.
“He seems more interested in political damage control than ensuring the Gulf of Mexico is protected from another oil industry explosion,” said Suckling. “Salazar’s so-called moratoriums and reforms are little more than rhetorical dispersants designed to breakup and hide the political scandal threatening to wash up on his shore.”
Yesterday, Interior spokespeople revealed why the “moratorium” has changed so often and caused so much confusion: it does not exist in writing. In keeping with the lax environmental oversight he allowed to rein at MMS, Secretary Salazar never communicated his moratorium to the agency in writing.
New York University Government Professor, Paul Light, told NPR yesterday that a verbal moratorium is “so ridiculous that it defies understanding. It could not be more important to enforce this moratorium and make absolutely clear to the oil industry what is and is not permissible. And yet you have the execution of a critical order that appears to have been basically done through the most casual way possible under federal law.”
Secretary Salazar himself became the victim of his confused, shifting sands moratorium when he falsely told Congress that it stopped all new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Interior spokes people told NPR that “the Secretary misspoke at the hearing.”
Posted by: Dr zuess | May 27, 2010, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
“The Bush-Cheney administration that gutted the regulatory agencies that were designed to provide oversight to profit minded coal and petroleum interests, along with the CEOs of those corporations involved are responsible for the death of the Gulf.” – Steve
Wrong.
Gutted or not, the Deepwater Horizon was inspected in January, February and March. The inspectors didn’t find any of the problems with the rig that were already in place. It’s just classic government ineptitude that no amount of money can fix.
Also, if there is any government responsibility it lies with the current administration.
The Blame Bush sheep call is tiresome and childish.
Posted by: Noz | May 27, 2010, 4:03 pm 4:03 pm
Don´t absolutly in any circomintance blame this oil spil to our administretion, blame only BP.
GDP in this year´s 1. quater grows 3 persent waw, same ting rebublicans failled under BUSH administretion.
Posted by: maxboll | May 27, 2010, 4:19 pm 4:19 pm
Bo is going down.
Posted by: nolongerdem | May 27, 2010, 4:56 pm 4:56 pm
Is he really angry? He made a good jokes in San Fran! HOw angry he was?
Posted by: nolongerdem | May 27, 2010, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
Take our country back from the incompetence. they are all just words during the campaign. when they put their “words” to practice, all are bogus!
Posted by: nolongerdem | May 27, 2010, 5:03 pm 5:03 pm
“Unfortunately we had people in control under the Bush administration who really put the interest and the profit of their friends in the oil and gas, coal industry front and center,” Buccino said.
Buccino points to Former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald, who the agency’s own Inspector General reported forced scientists to change their findings, even giving internal documents to oil companies and land developers.
Posted by: tierra | May 27, 2010, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
Thanks for asking about the tankers vacuuming up the fuel, Jake. Keep on them about that because the oil needs to come off the water NOW before it gets to shore. This is something they should have started on two weeks ago.
“Commander-In-Chief” Obama should have the Navy taking this cleanup task on too.
Posted by: Becky V. | May 27, 2010, 6:48 pm 6:48 pm
All should come to understand that the elected and appointed officials are in reality NOT the ones who run the Government. It is the myriad of high and mid level employees who run things. Generally the elected and appointed folks are just politicians who are owed favors.
The employees are protected by the lobbies that they contribute to. These folks never change much from administration to administration.
The political folks are just front men and women.
Government has gotten so large and complex that change mostly does not happen.
This kind of thing is not unique to government as the same situation exists in large companies, the folks who think they are in charge mostly are not.
Posted by: Mac | May 27, 2010, 7:22 pm 7:22 pm
The Bush administration charged and fired the personnel responsible for the activities mentioned before Obama took office. If there have been these ongoing activities occurring since Obama took office, who has been charged or fired since? Or is this just another cheap shot at the Bush administration??
Posted by: Sigmonde | May 27, 2010, 8:04 pm 8:04 pm
Under the Bush Administration, the Interior Department as a whole was rocked by one scandal after another. Sharon Buccino of the Nation Resources Defense Council told ABC News that for years it was completely mismanaged.
“Unfortunately we had people in control under the Bush administration who really put the interest and the profit of their friends in the oil and gas, coal industry front and center,” Buccino said.
Buccino points to Former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald, who the agency’s own Inspector General reported forced scientists to change their findings, even giving internal documents to oil companies and land developers. One report found that MacDonald kept some at-risk animals, like the Gunnison Prairie dog, off the endangered species list.
“She bullied scientist. She intimidated them into changing their answers,” said Tim Donaghy of the Union for Concerned Scientist.
Though MacDonald’s motives were never made clear, and she did not benefit financially, MacDonald resigned. So did Gale Norton, Interior Secretary for five years under President Bush, after she was tied to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Her deputy, Steven Griles, was sentences to 10 months in prison for lying about his ties to Abramoff to the U.S. Senate.
___________________________________
Those are the kinds of appointments to the Department under the Republican Bush administration. Perfect.
Posted by: tierra | May 27, 2010, 8:45 pm 8:45 pm
“Or is this just another cheap shot at the Bush administration??”
If you mean by “cheap” that it is an easy accusation to make, then yes.
If you mean by “cheap” that it is somehow untrue, then no, it isn’t a cheap shot.
Posted by: Flash Override | May 27, 2010, 9:02 pm 9:02 pm
“If you mean by “cheap” that it is somehow untrue, then no, it isn’t a cheap shot.”
If there have been ongoing problems in MMS since Bush charged and fired those responsible, what has been done since by the Obama administration? Who has been charged or fired?
Posted by: Sigmonde | May 28, 2010, 7:35 am 7:35 am
“Birnbaum took the job in July of last year. Since the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, her agency has been under fire for what critics call lax oversight over the energy leases they approve and managed. ”
Why did she resign? Is it true that she now has another position in the government?
Posted by: Sigmonde | May 28, 2010, 7:39 am 7:39 am
“All should come to understand that the elected and appointed officials are in reality NOT the ones who run the Government. It is the myriad of high and mid level employees who run things.”
“These folks never change much from administration to administration.” – Mac
B I N G O ! ! !
Mac you win the Post-of-the-Day Award™ for the most truthful post among the hundreds posted on May 27th. Your needed insight is an added bonus.
What you said is why the Government will always be inept and incompetent.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a D or an R in the White House.
This is why, folks in the know understand that government needs to be limited.
Spending money on more government is foolhardy and ignorant.
Posted by: Noz | May 28, 2010, 8:54 am 8:54 am
It’s been told what happened that allowed that well to come in unhindered and kill all those people. It’s in the lap of one man.
Posted by: smartlillena | May 28, 2010, 9:45 am 9:45 am
It’s in the lap of one man.
—
It had nothing to do with faulty equipment.
Posted by: smartlillena | May 28, 2010, 9:48 am 9:48 am
If there have been ongoing problems in MMS since Bush charged and fired those responsible, what has been done since by the Obama administration? Who has been charged or fired?
Posted by: Sigmonde | May 28, 2010 7:35:23 AM
_____________________________________
It’s apparent that 1) Bush nominated ‘that crowd’ who selected more of their own, and 2) if they charged or fired some – they didn’t get enough of them.
Posted by: tierra | May 28, 2010, 1:15 pm 1:15 pm