Rig owner refuses to honor oil spill subpoenas

[kpete]

Source: FOX


Rig owner refuses to honor oil spill subpoenas

Published December 29, 2010

| Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS – The owner of the rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico is refusing to honor subpoenas from a federal board that has challenged the company's involvement in monitoring the testing of a key piece of equipment that failed to stop the oil spill disaster.

Transocean said the U.S. Chemical Safety Board does not have jurisdiction in the probe, so it doesn't have a right to the documents and other items it seeks. The board told The Associated Press late Wednesday that it does have jurisdiction and it has asked the Justice Department to intervene to enforce the subpoenas.

Last week, the board demanded that the testing of the failed blowout preventer stop until Transocean and Cameron International are removed from any hands-on role in the examination. It said it's a conflict of interest. The request is pending.

Testing at a NASA facility in New Orleans is on hold for the holidays anyway and isn't expected to resume until Jan. 10, according to officials monitoring the tests and a status update distributed to interested parties.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/29/rig-owner-refuses-honor-oil-spill-subpoenas/?test=latestnews

[Angry Dragon]

1. Throw the execs and the board in jail, seize all assets

until they comply

[NorthCarolina]

12. Don't hold your breath. nt

[Igel]

25. Due process.

It's not just for your friends and those you approve of.

"The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the agency's board members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate." (CSB = chemical safety board; it's from their website).

That means they can properly have subpoena power but they have no real enforcement mechanism. We don't want to give independent federal agencies the authority to just lock up anybody who doesn't comply with their subpoenas and seize their assets, though, do we? How many private-public federal police forces and judiciaries do we want? So, first, let's at least make sure that the request is valid and they have jurisdiction, throwing enforcement into the realm of the courts.

But then you have due process to worry about.

Note that jurisdiction, and therefore the validity of the subpoena, is the complaint. Perhaps it's stalling; perhaps they'll win because the CSB is overreaching.

[primavera]

26. No, it's not for your friends...

... it's for corporations who wrote the laws to ensure that they were protected and no one else was.

[nc4bo]

2. Unbelieveable. Seems as long as you're a huge Corp., you are free to do

whatever, including ignoring subpoenas.

Didn't the same happen with BP when the government told them to cease spraying COREXIT?

No fear of punishment whatsoever.

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. Didn't Condi Rice ignore supoenas?

Didn't others in the Bush administration ignore supoenas and nothing happened?

[nc4bo]

4. It never seems to end but we're told to just keep looking forward.

Sometimes I find myself fantasizing on what would happen if the entire rotten house of cards collapsed right to the foundation.

Seems this would be the only way to "fix" what ails this country. It's obvious the foundation is beyond repair and rehabilitation that's why we're told to ignore it.

[OnyxCollie]

8. Condi blew off two subpoenas, IIRC.

She was called to explain the forged document regarding yellowcake. She finally showed up.

Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, and Josh Bolton blew off their subpoenas regarding the US Attorney scandal. Rove was out of the country at the time, and was a keynote speaker at the Yalta European Strategy Conference (with Mikheil Saakashvili, one month before Georgia would invade S. Osettia.)

John Conyers (Johnny Letter) brought forth (statutory) contempt of Congress charges against them. Conyers could have used inherent contempt and sent the Sargent-at-Arms to hold them in the Capital jail, but since his wife Monica was being investigated by the FBI at the time (she would receive three years for corruption) he wussied out.

[molly77]

19. Seems like it was several in the bush administration who

were above the law.Same ones I am sure calling for Julian Assange's head. And their sympathizers like Joe Biden.

[denverbill]

5. Arrest the corporation and seize it's assets. n/t

[Nite Owl]

9. Hey, why not

after all they are 'people', the SCOTUS said that they had the same rights so they should have the same consequences.

[truth2power]

10. They want it both ways. corporations are "persons", but when it comes to

treating them as such, then they're not persons anymore. I say kill the corporation, put it out of business, take away it's charter if there still is such a thing. What crap!!!

[AsahinaKimi]

6. This is from Fox News...

Are we sure we can trust this information? :shrug:

[truth2power]

11. Distributed by Fox, but source is AP. Not that they're very credible, either. eom

[AsahinaKimi]

14. so FOX wouldn't take an AP story

and edit it just a tiny bit? You know, they are allowed to lie.

[truth2power]

16. Yes, of course they would. But this seems fairly straightforward...

A battle over jurisdiction. the board wants certain documents and Transocean says the board doesn't have jurisdiction. Probably the best thing Transocean's lawyers could hang their hats on.

You would think the US Justice Dept. could easily make a determination on that, but I'm not optimistic.

[Bandit]

7. The Bush* Cabal PROVED subpoenas do not have to be honored

Just as they PROVED War Crimes can be committed without any repercussions what-so-ever...

[FiveGoodMen]

22. Actually, it was Pelosi and Obama who proved that war crimes have no repercussions

when they openly refused to pursue the culprits

[Bandit]

23. Actually it is the American people that proved the LAW does not apply equally.

If the American people were truly up in arms over it something would get done..

[FiveGoodMen]

24. No argument, there!

[truth2power]

13. The most hilarious part of this article is that the Chemical Safety Board

asked the Justice Department to intervene. As if...

I about fell off my chair laughing. :rofl:

[defendandprotect]

15. Meanwhile, workers have rewarded corporations which has reduced their salary and

benefits by increasing their productivity in fear of losing their jobs --

Most workers are doing 1.45 jobs -- and some are actually carrying two jobs

on the job!

We need to do something about this -- it's an unending downward spiral --



http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?n=21&ei=utf-8&fr=fp-yie8-s&fr2=tab-img&tnr=21&sado=1&p=auld+lang+syne+youtube&vid=285879238939&dt=1229068800&l=214&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts4.mm.bing.net%2Fvideos%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D285879238939%26id%3Dafc1a7f667c1000565b6843ad04a06c0%26bid%3DLHNN1LUa1iYzqg%26bn%3DThumb%26index%3Dch1%26url%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.youtube.com%252fwatch%253fv%253d9CSoNu0AosQ&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2F9CSoNu0AosQ%26autoplay%3D1%26fs%3D1%26autoplay%3D1&tit=Auld+Lang+Syne+-+Celtic&sigr=11vshq49e&newfp=1

PEACE AND LOVE IN THE NEW YEAR FOR ALL !!

[Hawkeye-X]

17. Send the entire bill due immediately or seize their leases

and freeze all assets. Arrest the entire executives of that rig. Fine them 500 billion.

[forty6]

18. 500 Billion is hardly enough!!! Let's go for some REAL money!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. Scope is a valid issue here...and could have been solved ahead of time

If the Gov had a strong unified approach under the clear direction of a single federal law enforcement agency/POC, stuff like this would not happen. Instead it is fragmented. The administration caved to the meme of independent jurisdictions and the investigation is suffering.

[sulphurdunn]

21. Against the poor and vulnerable

our government is all fangs and claws. Against wealth and power it is a paper tiger.