As Oil Spreads in Gulf, BP Insists on Self-Regulation

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5925/bps_friends_in_high_places/

Thursday April 29 12:20 pm


The sun sets on grassy marsh wetlands of St. Bernard Parish near the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, 2010 near New Orleans, Louisiana. An estimated 1,000 to 5,000 barrels of oil a day are still leaking into the gulf from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)


By Lindsay Beyerstein

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig continues to pour oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It was revealed that oil was gushing five times faster than previously reported. The U.S. military is stepping in to help contain the disaster. As usual, the private sector is the very soul of efficiency and foresight...until it needs a government bailout.

As oil spreads over the Gulf, British Petroleum (BP) continues to oppose a proposed rule by the Minerals Management Service (the agency that oversees oil leases on federal lands) that would require lessees and operators to develop and audit their own Safety and Emergency Management Plans (SEMP). BP and other oil companies insist that voluntary compliance will suffice to keep workers and the environment safe.

Whenever a company says that voluntary compliance is good enough, I'm reminded of how philandering South Carolina governor Mark Sanford wrote the fidelity clause out of his wedding vows. He felt a voluntary compliance regime would suffice.

Amongst other things, an SEMP would include a hazard analyses, safe work requirements, training requirements, operating procedures, and emergency response plans. Oil companies are not keeping their own houses in order. An MMS review found that 41 oilworkers were killed while working on the outer continental shelf between 2001 and 2007. Eleven oilworkers died in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

FULL story at link.

[malaise]

1. The sad truth is that BP couldn't try this shit

off the British coast or anywhere else in Europe.

[whattheidonot]

10. not again.

These spills can be stopped rather quickly when the supplies are built and on hand. The government must insist that the companies have these readily available and not have to build them or ship them in. Shut off values absolutely have to work. One more of these and it will be curtains. The damage to fish and wildlife is too great. These things absolutely have to work. The domes, the special ships, special equipment have to be ready on a now basis

[icnorth]

2. Oil leak estimate update...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703871904575216382160623498.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular

[spanone]

3. there is no reason to believe that bp is telling the truth now

[tanyev]

4. I don't think that self-regulatey thing is working out so well.

Not for the country, anyway.

[blindpig]

5. I got a better idea...

Expropriate without compensation.

[Karmadillo]

6. +1

nt

[ladjf]

9. Now that is a cardinal suggestion. nt

[northernlights]

7. the greedy fucktards won't be satisfied until

they've rendered every square inch of earth unihabitable, every sip of water undrinkable, every gasp of breath unbreathable.

[ladjf]

8. BP should be relieved of all decision making. Their greed and

stupidity has caused more than enough destruction already.