In the wake of the BP oil spill, the Obama White House rushed out a report from an independent group of scientists and engineers that strongly suggested they supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling.
Economic damage resulted throughout the Gulf region (red-state territory, by the way), thousands of jobs were lost, income plummeted, offshore drilling equipment was sent to overseas locations, oil production plummeted , prices went up, and oil exporting nations benefited from the rise in oil prices.
The problem? The White House cheated and lied.
From Politico :
In the wee hours of the morning of May 27, a staff member to White House energy adviser Carol Browner sent two edited versions of the department report's executive summary back to Interior. The language had been changed to insinuate the seven-member panel of outside experts - who reviewed a draft of various safety recommendations - endorsed the moratorium, according to the IG report obtained by POLITICO.The report regarding the creative editing came from the Inspector General of the Department of Interior who investigated the issue at the behest of several Gulf state Congressmen.
"The White House edit of the original DOI draft executive summary led to the implication that the moratorium recommendation had been peer-reviewed by the experts," the IG report states, without judgment on whether the change was an intentional attempt to mislead the public.
There is predictable pushback with the White House saying the report vindicated their version that it was all just a "misunderstanding" and that the report from the panel of experts did not summarize "the recommendations and associated timetables well enough" so it required improvement from the White House.
The White House "edited" report was then used to justify the moratorium imposed by the administration.
When the experts and scientist read the final report issued by the White House they registered their surprise and dismay and disavowed the edited version and the moratorium. Later, the Interior Department's ban was overturned by a federal judge who stated that the Department had exceeded its authority.
Imagine that: Barack Obama's administration exceeding its legal authority.
I am just shocked!
Of course, again we know why Barack Obama and his team have publicly fired and lambasted Inspector Generals (Gerald Walpin, Neil Barofsky ) and tried to cut them out of a planned new $30 billion dollar program (i.e., slush fund ).
The Obama team now have a name for their internal enemies list: the Interior Department Inspector General.
These Inspector Generals are truly the "Unsung Heroes of the Federal Government".
They will have their stories told as Congressman Darrell Issa (chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee) and other Congressmen in charge of committees finally have the power to call hearings and issue subpoenas that will start revealing the mischief that Obama's White House has been perpetrating over the last two years.
American Thinker
