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AP IMPACT: Fed'l inspections on rig not as claimed - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100516/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_inspections - broken link)
"Whatever the correct citation total — five or six — the Deepwater Horizon's record was exemplary, according to MMS officials, who said the rig was never on inspectors' informal "watch list" for problem rigs. In fact, last year MMS awarded the rig an award for its safety history. "
okay....so how does 2 million BARREL OF OIL end up on the bottom of the gulf?
That wasn't the point. The point was the federal management office in charge of oversight of oil rigs was not performing their safety inspections in the frequency required which led to this rig being given a safety award just last year in spite of the problems found in the rare moments they bothered to show up for an inspection.
Oh, and notice that I did not once tie this federal agency to President Obama. The President can't be everywhere at once and it's very possible that he couldn't have known exactly what was happening or not happening in this agency. It would be interesting to see the bank accounts of the agencies bosses and inspectors for signs of mystery deposits from an unknown source.
That wasn't the point. The point was the federal management office in charge of oversight of oil rigs was not performing their safety inspections in the frequency required which led to this rig being given a safety award just last year in spite of the problems found in the rare moments they bothered to show up for an inspection.
You can't have it both ways Dave. Would they have the funding and training to do thorough inspections, they'd be on the bottom of the ocean checking concrete. Self policing, or lacking meaningful spill response plans... it's not really working out. Presuming they'll step up is nothing more than that- a presumption.
I find it bordering clinical insanity that smaller operations downstream the chain of oil custody are held to a higher standard with stakes much smaller. I'm not a fan of 5 million add on regulations, but what do you propose ought to be done about this situation? I'm willing to hear anything reasonable that restores accountability to the picture. I'm not willing to hear weakened laws and reducing liability. We trusted they knew what they were doing and clearly that trust has been misplaced.
You can't have it both ways Dave. Would they have the funding and training to do thorough inspections, they'd be on the bottom of the ocean checking concrete. Self policing, or lacking meaningful spill response plans... it's not really working out. Presuming they'll step up is nothing more than that- a presumption.
I find it bordering clinical insanity that smaller operations downstream the chain of oil custody are held to a higher standard with stakes much smaller. I'm not a fan of 5 million add on regulations, but what do you propose ought to be done about this situation? I'm willing to hear anything reasonable that restores accountability to the picture. I'm not willing to hear weakened laws and reducing liability. We trusted they knew what they were doing and clearly that trust has been misplaced.
Please go back and read the linked article from start to finish. There's enough "blame" go go around in the oil rig explosion and resulting leak. However, everything that went wrong which led to the explosion and leak should be discovered and corrected before laying financial (lawsuit) blame at anyone's feet. The office being in Louisiana, I would not be surprised if the inspectors or managers at that office were receiving kickbacks/bribs to either look the other way or reduce the amount of inspections going to a particular rig. If such a case did happen, then that is a criminal case. When asked about the infrequent inspections, the person began giving excuses.
That wasn't the point. The point was the federal management office in charge of oversight of oil rigs was not performing their safety inspections in the frequency required which led to this rig being given a safety award just last year in spite of the problems found in the rare moments they bothered to show up for an inspection.
The MMS shirked their responsibility and suspiciously close to the oil companies. They should be investigated.
The MMS shirked their responsibility and suspiciously close to the oil companies. They should be investigated.
Exactly. Notice, I'm really don't like Obama but I don't blame him in this one bit and I hope others here who also don't like Obama won't try to make it about him. This is about people in a particular government agency that wasn't doing their job as prescribed and are trying to make excuses as to why they weren't doing the timely inspections. If they can show that they were truly short handed due to budget cuts and just didn't have the manpower to conduct such inspections on each rig monthly then that's fine. But that wasn't what he said in his excuses.
Please go back and read the linked article from start to finish. There's enough "blame" go go around in the oil rig explosion and resulting leak. However, everything that went wrong which led to the explosion and leak should be discovered and corrected before laying financial (lawsuit) blame at anyone's feet. The office being in Louisiana, I would not be surprised if the inspectors or managers at that office were receiving kickbacks/bribs to either look the other way or reduce the amount of inspections going to a particular rig. If such a case did happen, then that is a criminal case. When asked about the infrequent inspections, the person began giving excuses.
MMS is a shill agency.
Dave what do you think it means when a politician is elected to office on a platform of 'government is the problem' and 'regulations are killing our economy'? They put pressure on what should be an independently operated law enforcement agency. They do it by deliberately underfunding them, or threatening to do so. They do it by targeting individual officers who fail to look the other way. See EPA enforcement decline the moment Clinton left office.
They also do it by hobbling legislation that's already on the books. Enough is enough already. There's a reason why judicial is to act independently of executive branch. I guess the paradigm du jour isn't working out so well today when multi billion consequences can't be paid for? Look at the net worth of the corp vs the liabilities... it's not adding up.
I started out on regulatory side of oil and went civilian side of oil. Don't use these tired arguments anymore, they just don't work. Oil can be delivered safely and for the most part that is the normal occurrence for the majority. The bad apples like Exxon wanting to ride on grandfather clauses forever, and found it more economical to buy off the supreme court than do the right thing. Other companies don't have their track record. Other companies are profitable doing the right thing.
Blame the government? PLEASE! 30yrs of corporations saying "don't hassle me man", we're responsible, we'll police ourselves... comes the day they have to pay the fiddler and they back peddle to hell. Letting them off the hook would be far worse than bank bailouts.
Dave what do you think it means when a politician is elected to office on a platform of 'government is the problem' and 'regulations are killing our economy'? They put pressure on what should be an independently operated law enforcement agency. They do it by deliberately underfunding them, or threatening to do so. They do it by targeting individual officers who fail to look the other way. See EPA enforcement decline the moment Clinton left office.
They also do it by hobbling legislation that's already on the books. Enough is enough already. There's a reason why judicial is to act independently of executive branch. I guess the paradigm du jour isn't working out so well today when multi billion consequences can't be paid for? Look at the net worth of the corp vs the liabilities... it's not adding up.
I started out on regulatory side of oil and went civilian side of oil. Don't use these tired arguments anymore, they just don't work. Oil can be delivered safely and for the most part that is the normal occurrence for the majority. The bad apples like Exxon wanting to ride on grandfather clauses forever, and found it more economical to buy off the supreme court than do the right thing. Other companies don't have their track record. Other companies are profitable doing the right thing.
Blame the government? PLEASE! 30yrs of corporations saying "don't hassle me man", we're responsible, we'll police ourselves... comes the day they have to pay the fiddler and they back peddle to hell. Letting them off the hook would be far worse than bank bailouts.
You didn't read the article. If you had, you would have read that what you listed was not among the excuses they gave.
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