Now The Repubes Want To Be Consulted On Ecological Issues?!?

"What did BP learn last Sunday that it did not know previously that would cause BP to take such precipitous action?" Murkowski asked, noting he was concerned the state was not consulted before the decision was made.

Republican Governor of Alaska, Frank Murkowski, was a little pissy about not having been consulted prior to BP's shutdown of the Prudhoe Bay oil field in his State. While it is obvious that this will cause a great economic strife with certain segments in Alaska, most notably government workers, he actually inferred an indignance about having not been in the loop on BP's decision. And what about a slap on the back to the BP dudes who fessed up and shut this impending disaster down?

This is an equivalent of the Captain of the Exxon Valdeez setting sail a day later because he was drunk, think what that might have saved in terms of not only ecology, but plain old dollars and cents!?

Apparently some critics are charging that for decades, lax government regulation combined with corporate unwillingness to make costly repairs has allowed corrosion and general disrepair to wither away the safety involved.

"I think all the pipelines are in trouble regardless of who operates or who owns them," said Dan Lawn, who previously worked for the Alaska Department of Environment Conservation and is now with the Alaska Forum for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group.

So now that Murkowski has an important election on the line, with apparent stiff competition, he wants to throw a torch at BP's approved use of this pipeline overseen by government officials? This is total BS, both from BP and AK.

"We were shocked and disappointed when we saw the results of our inspection," said Scott Dean, spokesman with BP PLC. "Even though we believe we had a very comprehensive and rigorous inspection program, it was clearly not enough."

Just plain pitiful.

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BP, Prudhoe Bay, Murkowski, Exxon Valdeez, Pipeline Safety, Ecology