BP rig inspections were fewer than advertised-didn't live up to policy of monthly visits

[kpete]

Source: MSNBC

BP rig inspections were fewer than advertised
With Deepwater Horizon, agency didn't live up to policy of monthly visits

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD
updated 12:32 p.m. PT, Sun., May 16, 2010

LOS ANGELES - The federal agency responsible for ensuring that the Deepwater Horizon was operating safely before it exploded last month fell well short of its own policy that the rig be inspected at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows.

In fact, the agency's inspection frequency on the Deepwater Horizon fell dramatically over the past five years, according to federal Minerals Management Service records. The rig blew up April 20, killing 11 people before sinking and triggering a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since January 2005, inspectors issued just one minor infraction for the rig. That strong track record led the agency last year to herald the Deepwater Horizon as an industry model for safety.

The inspection gaps are the latest in a series of questions raised about the agency's oversight of the oil drilling industry. Members of Congress and President Barack Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37179888/ns/gulf_oil_spill/

[onethatcares]

1. now this is just me talking and I don't have any links to back me up, but

when you cut funding for progams that insure that we have clean water, clean air, oversight on corporation excess, and just don't give a damn about anything but profit for the wealthy, you're gonna have a few items come up that aren't quite right.

when you have the same fox inspecting the hen house they are going to raid when they get out of public service, a few problems may be overlooked.

Meanwhile, the workers of the United States of America are tired, just plain tired of being hit with every fucking scheme that gives those who have, have, and want more, more of their lives.

Sorry for going off track but I'm in overload right now. No one seems to give a flying donut hole about those that actually make the country run and I'm just fucking tired of it.

[Dreamer Tatum]

2. AP IMPACT: Fed'l inspections on rig not as claimed

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – The federal agency responsible for ensuring that the Deepwater Horizon was operating safely before it exploded last month fell well short of its own policy that the rig be inspected at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows.

In fact, the agency's inspection frequency on the Deepwater Horizon fell dramatically over the past five years, according to federal Minerals Management Service records. The rig blew up April 20, killing 11 people before sinking and triggering a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since January 2005, inspectors issued just one minor infraction for the rig. That strong track record led the agency last year to herald the Deepwater Horizon as an industry model for safety.

The inspection gaps are the latest in a series of questions raised about the agency's oversight of the oil drilling industry. Members of Congress and President Barack Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100516/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_inspections

---

Heckuva job!

:eyes:

[SkyDaddy7]

3. There literally nothing left!

The Cheney/Bush era has left every aspect of this country in tuins!

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. Re-read the third paragraph, alas. nt

[IScreamSundays]

5. Check this out:

Deepwater Horizon tragedy: Oil platforms overseen by agency involved in meth-snorting-off-toaster-oven scandal
Fri Apr 30 16:15:00 2010 CST

By Jennifer Peebles
If you're wondering how a giant oil slick could be allowed to form in the Gulf Coast and lap at the Louisiana shoreline, here's a scary thought: The agency responsible for preventing something like this was too busy snorting crystal meth off toaster ovens.

snip>

Don’t let the Denver datelines fool you. The sleaze-soaked federal Interior Department office that grabbed headlines this week is actually in Colorado, but there was plenty of impropriety going on in Houston by workers with Uncle Sam’s Minerals Management Service.

Sadly, our favorite bit of tawdriness in the scandal –- the one that involved a federal official snorting crystal meth off a toaster oven –- took place near the Mile High City, as best we can tell from reading the three special reports issued this week by the Interior Department’s inspector general. But the reports say officials with the federal Minerals Management Service were selling influence, cutting insider deals, getting freebies and meals and who-knows-what-else in the Bayou City.

Funny, that’s not what they were supposed to be doing. They were supposed to be collecting money from Big Oil on behalf of the taxpayers.

snip>

much more at link:
http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2010/04/deepwater-horizon-tragedy-oil-platforms-overseen-by-agency/1272654950.column

[sam sarrha]

6. let's flush all the Bu$h appointee's...

[DeSwiss]

7. K&R

- Now watch while nobody gets fired for doing a LOUSY job.....



Our tax dollars in a coma.

[sakabatou]

8. So many things wrong with the whole matter.

[blueworld]

9. They inspected a rig flying a foreign "flag of convenience"? n/t

[Bragi]

10. Inspections are of no real consequence

Government "inspections" of these platforms is part of the pretense that ultra-deep-sea oil extraction is and can be regulated so as to be safe and avoid accidents. In fact, this incident is just one of many that have occurred and will occur.

Despite our desire to believe we can technically do just about anything we want without consequence, the fact is that a decision to engage in ultra-deep-sea oil extraction includes agreement to put up with despoiled oceans and shorelines.

Nonetheless, we still prefer to think that this kind of incident is an "accident", a "one-off event" that "may" result in the at-least temporary ruination of the Gulf.

It isn't a one-off event. It's the inevitable result of allowing ultra-deep-sea oil extraction. More blowouts will occur in the Gulf, and elsewhere.