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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+."

16 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Well, on the upside by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Funny

    They scored an "A" on fund-raising from oil companies.

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    1. Re:Well, on the upside by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As well as protecting them from corporate liability(fine was absolutely trivial compared to harm done), competition from the rest of society(government not only subsidizes oil companies, but restricts harvesting to those who are given contracts), and personal accountability for executives(any of them see a dime of cost for their actions?).

      The commission itself was a joke from its inception. The only criteria of which a government sanctioned investigation like this will approve is more control and involvement by government and less control and involvement by the society these industries supposedly serve.

  2. 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 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.

  3. Oh really? by laughingcoyote · · Score: 5, Informative

    The administration ought to get an 'F', given that they've approved Shell to drill in the Arctic Ocean. You think it's tough to clean up a spill in the nice temperate Gulf of Mexico? Wait until we have a midwinter blowout up there, with no idea how to clean it up or even stop it.

    You'd think they'd at least learn something. Apparently not.

    --
    To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
  4. 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:I'll give them a passing grade... by Sarten-X · · Score: 4, Informative

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

      I'll agree with your disagreement. Government solutions usually need more solutions.

      Story time! I have an in-law who works for a certain energy company that had a pipeline leak within the past few years (it's not BP, and I honestly don't remember the name). He's a manager for a department of about a hundred people whose primary job is to produce reports to accommodate whatever silly requests the government agents want. Among the requests I've heard about:

      • Daily updates on the age of a pipeline
      • Metallurgical review of a piece of pipe, confirmed by four independent metallurgists
      • A list of all airplanes who would be crossing the area during repairs
      • Justification for every piece of equipment (including things like radios and portable toilets) at the repair site
      • Marital statuses of all construction workers

      As it was explained to me, the vast majority of those agents were contractors, who make requests simply to look like they're doing something, which then entitles them to a piece of the government's clean-up money. The energy company faces enormous fines for not complying with every request, no matter how ridiculous the request or how indirect the connection to the incident may be. The end result is that the government money goes to producing useless reports, the company's repair efforts get less funding, and my in-law has a job.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    4. Re:I'll give them a passing grade... by reve_etrange · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
      --Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations

      --
      .: Semper Absurda :.
  5. Useless information by Iniamyen · · Score: 4, Funny

    In other news, the commissioners were given an 'A+' on their use of overly simplified letter grades for summarizing complex issues.

  6. 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.
  7. 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?

  8. Re:commission set up by Obama? by HapSlappy_2222 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I dunno... maybe these people:

    http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/page/commission-members

    are all supporters of Obama... but after reading their bios, I find no reason to believe they're more or less supportive of Obama than your average businessmen or scientists, other than they were selected while Obama was in office. If fact, there's 2 co-chairmen; one's a democrat and the other's a republican. All members seem to be experts in their various fields, specifically marine ecosystems, engineering and oil extraction/spill cleanup (a couple of Exxon Valdez veterans on that list; sounds very useful and logical to me).

    Briefly perusing the meeting minutes, it seems they've been up to a lot more than grading Congress and Obama's administration, anyway. If you have a problem with what they're doing, this site's where to go to learn more, and it's surprisingly full of info.