So you are saying that MMS did nothing to check the well or have it independently assessed, but okayed it because BP said they were “okay”?
Then I’d say that is yet another federal office we could eliminate if that is all we can expect from them. I sure wouldn’t give them more responsibility, would you?
The proposal in Congress is to split it up. Yes, MMS signed off on BP’s say-so alone. That’s the way it’s been done for at least a decade in that agency, apparently. A lot of the guys who have been working there are former oil and energy execs anyway, who have a natural faith in their old employers.
Yes, we need to rip the whole agency out and get one that actually *does its job*.