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Congress' Gulf Oil Spill Response Given a 'D' By Commissioners

Posted by Soulskill on from the they-sure-talked-about-it-for-a-few-weeks dept.

ananyo writes "Many of the problems that led to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill have not been addressed, say the members of a commission set up by U.S. President Barack Obama to study the disaster. The group released a report today (PDF) on progress towards its 2011 recommendations for preventing future disasters and improving spill response. The U.S. Congress fares worst in the new report, earning a 'D' rating for its failure to enact any meaningful legislation in response to the disaster. The Restore Act would allocate 80% of any fines that BP pays for the spill under the Clean Water Act to restoring the environment and economies of the states in the Gulf of Mexico, but the act has stalled in the House of Representatives. The Obama administration did better, with a B, thanks in part to new drilling regulations, while the oil industry's efforts to improve safety saw it awarded a C+."

11 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Self-evaluation. by GodInHell · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Obama's administration gave itself a 'B' . . . dude needs to learn how "patting yourself on the back" is supposed to work.

    1. Re:Self-evaluation. by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Still two orders of magnitude below flying onto an aircraft carrier deck in a flight suit under a huge "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" sign.

    2. Re:Self-evaluation. by Norwell+Bob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We need a new Godwin's Law regarding the invocation of Bush. The parent specifically brought up Obama's administration... but you can't make a criticism of Obama without people immediately saying something along the lines of, "Yeah? Well, what about the time that Bush did yada-yada-yah? Huh?"

      Also, I realize I am opening up a whole new branch of Bush-as-Hitler metaphors. Resist the temptation, people. That shit is old.

    3. Re:Self-evaluation. by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The difference is Bush actually did what I said, while the GP is just making shit up. Also, I seem to remember an awful lot of Clinton blow-job jokes during the Bush years. Sauce for the goose and all.

    4. Re:Self-evaluation. by sunwukong · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I seem to remember an awful lot of Clinton blow-job jokes during the Bush years. Sauce for the goose and all.

      Cue uncomfortable silence.

    5. Re:Self-evaluation. by sycodon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Now, that's a narrative I've yet to hear.

      The fact is that the Left and Obama in particular have used Bush as an excuse for everything. They do so to excess, to the point of it being a Saturday Night Live parody.

      As for going back 8 years, things were going as well as could be expected after 9/11 until about 2007, when the Dems got a hold of the check book again.

      I, for one, do look back with fondness on the dollar something a gallon gas and the 4 something percent unemployment rate.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  2. I'll give them a passing grade... by flaming+error · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... for doing nothing. This was, as I understand it, more a problem of lax regulation than lack of regulation.

    I don't like the "but we must do SOMEthing" philosophy. Most problems are caused by solutions.

    1. Re:I'll give them a passing grade... by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      BUT BUT BUT BUT the free market will take care of it! Incentives and all that shit.

      The free market doesn't work when the fat cats have control over all the levers of government. This just shows it once again.

    2. Re:I'll give them a passing grade... by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The free market isn't free when the laws are purchased.

  3. Re:But an A by BP by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Insightful

    what bp did was already illegal.

    there's a problem with how the court/justice is implemented when they're not doing time for it..

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  4. Contractors, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So you mean private individuals whose position comes on them creating some reason to justify their employment?

    How exactly is the problem with government as a whole, as opposed to the privatization of government into the hands of those who benefit not by doing their job properly, but who have corrupted the process for their own benefit?

    What does that tell you? Which party is the one who continually claims that outside individuals are somehow going to be better? Whose ideology is that?