In the United States, a Presidential Commission is a special task force ordained by the President to complete some special research or
investigation. They are often used
politically in one of two ways: either
to draw attention to a problem (the publication of a report by a commission can
generally be counted on to draw attention from the media, depending on how its release is handled); or, on the other
hand, to delay action on an issue (if the President wants to avoid taking
action but still look concerned about an issue, he can convene a commission and
then let it slip into obscurity). However, there have been cases (the Tower, Rogers and Warren Commissions) where the commission has created reports that
have been used as evidence in later criminal proceedings.
The National Commission on
the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is a bipartisan
presidential commission,
established by Executive Order 13543 signed by Barack Obama
on May 21, 2010, that is “tasked with providing recommendations on how the
United States can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills that result
from offshore drilling.” It came about
as a result of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The first public hearings, held on July 12
and 13, 2010 in New Orleans, included scheduled testimony from Federal
government officials and representatives of BP on the status of the spill and
clean-up efforts, as well as from local officials, community leaders, and
scientists on the economic, cultural, and ecological impacts of the oil spill
on Gulf Coast communities and ecosystems.
On October 6, 2010 the commission released preliminary reports
criticizing the Obama administration for mismanagement of
its response to the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill. Amongst other things cited were, not being fully candid with the
American people, and giving the impression of not being fully competent.
On January 11, 2011, the
commission released its final report,[6] with recommendations to Congress for new
spending and regulations.[7]
The commissioners presented
their findings to President
Obama and several top
advisers on Tuesday afternoon. The
president said he was working to adopt many of their recommendations but also
noted that any actions requiring new financing and regulations would be a hard
sell in the current Congress, said William K. Reilly, co-chairman of the
commission and a former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
David Gergen was the first, and
only, person I heard ask, “When is the Commission going to be established?” I wasn’t aware that one was. Once that I found that a Commission was
established, I was going to look at the membership and show that nobody had the
background necessary to see the Federal Government’s Command and Control
failures. For perhaps the third time in
my life, I was wrong.
The above information is from Wikipedia and the New York
Times (reference 7 in Wikipedia).
Reference 6 leads to http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/sites/default/files/documents/DEEPWATER_ReporttothePresident_FINAL.pdf
The members of the Obama Commission panel to investigate the
Gulf Oil spill are listed by Wikipedia as:
·
Bob Graham,
former Governor of Florida and U.S. Senator
(co-chair)
·
William K.
Reilly, former Administrator of
the Environmental Protection Agency (co-chair)
·
Frances G. Beinecke,
President of Natural Resources Defense Council
·
Donald Boesch,
President of University of
Maryland Center for Environmental Science
·
Terry D. Garcia, Executive
Vice President for Mission Programs for the National Geographic Society
·
Cherry A. Murray,
Dean of the Harvard School
of Engineering and Applied Sciences and John A. and Elizabeth S.
Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences
·
Frances Ulmer,
Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage and former Lieutenant Governor of Alaska
Where was Brian Williams on January 11, 2011?
