New data shows that support for offshore drilling has reached its lowest level ever in Rasmussen’s latest polling. Here’s how the GOP-friendly pollster** frames the latest data (emphasis mine):

With the deepwater oil leak apparently capped after three months of gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, support for both offshore oil drilling and drilling further out in deepwater remains largely unchanged. Most voters also remain concerned about the potential environmental impact of new drilling.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% of U.S. Voters now believe offshore oil drilling should be allowed, while 26% oppose it. One-in-five voters (19%) are undecided.

That’s down from 60% last month. Since the oil rig explosion that caused the massive oil leak, support for offshore drilling has ranged from 56% to 64%.

Predictably, Rasmussen leaves most of the useful information out of their analysis. In their polling immediately prior to the rig explosion in the Gulf, 72% of likely voters supported offshore drilling. Even with Rasmussen’s skewed likely voter model, this represents a 16% shift in just 11 weeks. The current level of support among likely voters, 56%, is the lowest ever recorded by Rasmussen for this question. Moreover, support among Democrats for offshore drilling has dropped from 54% in early April to just 29% in the latest poll. Support among Republicans remains relatively flat, down just 4%. GOP support for offshore drilling, at 82%, is actually up 8% from its low point in late May.

Earlier this month, Rep. Carolyn Maloney – one of the members of Congress who fought to protect 9/11 cleanup workers, and who is continuing that advocacy for workers cleaning up BP’s oil disaster – called on OSHA to explain how it would enforce the government’s respirator guidelines. Maloney also pressed the agency in charge of worker health and safety for more details on how it’s protecting workers in the Gulf.

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones writes, “This is stunningly bad journalism… The Bloomberg results make for an exciting headline, but that’s about it. Correlation with reality is pretty close to zero.”

It turns out that the design of the new cap system that has temporarily plugged the blown out BP oil well in the Gulf was submitted (initially anonymously) by Joe Caldart, a plumber in St. Francis, Kansas.

Be wary about celebrating Adam Dillon as a hero, and of attributing “whistleblower” status to someone who could very well be appropriating that status only to discredit it. The importance of real whistleblowers have done should be treated with respect, and protected from association with those who do not deserve to wear that mantle.

I am in town for a week to visit with my family here in Louisiana and am curious to see if there was evidence of the BP tragedy in my hometown. What I do find is very interesting and consistent with a place that lives with the tangible possibility of danger and excitement on a seasonal basis. The two seasons that come to mind are hurricane and Mardi Gras.

Harry Reid has a draft of a climate and energy bill that he plans to bring to the Senate floor within a couple weeks, the Majority Leader said. That would begin the climate debate right around the end of the July work period, so I don’t know what that means for pushing back the deadline on the August recess; it could mean that Reid just wants a vote to highlight GOP obstructionism.

BP sucessfully installed their new, tighter cap on the Macondo well yesterday, and will now begin testing the valves and the other functions. The goal is to fully capture all of the leaking oil from the well, and officials believe they can achieve that goal. This would not stop the drilling of the relief wells, seen as key to permanently closing up the spill.

We’re looking at two main parts to the Senate’s energy and climate bill: a response to the BP oil spill and a renewable electricity standard. A cap on carbon emissions, even a utility-only cap, does not make an appearance.

Earlier this afternoon, I received a phone call from a DNC fundraiser who used the BP Oil Disaster as a pitch to donate to the Democratic Party. When I answered the call from an Austin, TX based number, the woman on the other end promptly thanked me for my past support, and asked if I would like to renew my commitment to the DNC.