We knew all along that the reasons for the Deepwater Horizon blowout and the catastrophic effects on the environment that followed were corporate greed and insufficient oversight, and the report from Obama’s probe into the matter confirm that. What is not in the report, however, may be more telling.
Decisions intended to save time and money created an unreasonable risk that triggered the largest offshore oil spill in US history, which could happen again without significant reforms, reported the top-level panel probing the BP blowout.
The commission findings – the result of a probe requested by President Obama after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion – described systemic problems within the offshore energy industry and government regulators who oversaw it.
Poor decisions led to technical problems that the commission, and inquiries by BP and the US Congress, have identified as contributing to the accident that killed 11 people and led to more than 200 million gallons of oil spewing from BP’s well a mile under the Gulf of Mexico.
BP, Halliburton and Transocean, the three key companies involved with the well and the rig that exploded, each made decisions that increased risks of a blowout, but saved significant time or money.
But ultimately, the Deepwater Horizon disaster came down to a single failure – management. When decisions were made, no-one was considering the risk they were taking… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <The Scotsman>
What the report does not mention is that Dick Cheney, at the behest of these very companies, gutted regulations that would have prevented this disaster, that the Republican Party gutted the oversight agency’s finances, preventing enforcement of the regulations that did exist, and that Obama appointee, Ken Salazar did nothing to correct this abuse of power.
What the report does not mention is that the technology to plug a blowout and contain the oil is thirty years old and completely inadequate.
What the report does not mention is that we are in just as much danger of a another blowout as we were when Deepwater Horizon exploded.
That mist be changed!
2 Responses to “Commission Confirms Causes for GOPB Gusher”
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It won’t be changed anytime soon now that the president has thrown his hat in the ring with business concerns including the chamber of commerce (national) and Giethner and Bernanke’s Wall Street again. I have lost all faith and confidence in the entirety of this government with the coddling administration, the obviously overt corrupt legislature, and the extremely activist supreme court.
Mark, I share your lack of faith, but will continue to try to influence it in my opwn small way.