And if the government DOES take drastic steps, another deepwater oil spill could devastate the coastal areas.
We already take "drastic steps" to prevent these kinds of incidents -- the industry is heavily regulated, and offshore drilling has significant government input and inspection.
Yet all of that interference didn't stop the BP oil spill. And more interference won't guarantee prevention of another one.
I beg to differ, More interference could very well prevent another event by default... drilling may just stop in the OCS.
It doesn’t take much skimming of the report to the president from the Horizon Commission, especially the recommendations that are a separate document, to be further persuaded that BP has created our Three Mile Island. In the late 70s NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and just about any environmental protection group got enough power to stop any plant they didn’t want and that has proven to be just about all of them up until now. There Mile Island in 1979 put the icing on the cake. There has been a nearly 30 year dry spell for the nuclear industry since.
The recommendations to the president are so broad that we will be mired in endless studies to do just about anything. We will also be reporting to decision makers in the government that don’t want to do anything and they don’t want us to do anything either. Analysis paralysis will make the time line to get anything done so long and costly that we will not.
To say the report is highly prejudiced is a massive understatement, to think it would have been anything less than highly prejudiced would be outright stupidity, not naive, stupid. The report and the committee are not stupid though. They are bold, duplicitous and crafty and have created a set of recommendations to shut down offshore drilling while appearing to all but the informed that it is for the greater good. It has taken them months to prepare 300 pages of justification for the conclusion they had drawn before they even convened.
Unless more powerful forces than the ones that are in control do something I do not believe that the confused and confusing efforts by BOEMRE so far hold a candle to what is to come on the heels of this report.
http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/final-report
Anybody remember the “Mega Borg”, anybody?
“Yet all of that interference didn’t stop the BP oil spill.”
That could be construed as an argument for MORE regulation and oversight.
“And more interference won’t guarantee prevention of another one.”
Actually, there is a way to guarantee prevention of similar incidents.