Who’s to Blame for the Gulf Oil Gusher? (Grist Pie Graph)

[tekisui]

Source: Grist



We all know there's a lot of blame to go around for the ongoing disaster in the gulf. In the weeks since the Horizon rig first came unglued, all the principals in this mess have taken turns pointing fingers at one another. Now, it's our turn. We applied Grist's scientific, who's-fault-is-it-really, assessment method. The results are now in. And the proud winners are . . .

BP, 37 percent
Topped the chain of command on the Deepwater Horizon rig. Took risks to lower costs. Cut corners on testing cement. Failed to implement safety measures like an acoustic switch. Misled about its ability to prevent spills in deep water. Overruled crew objections on day of explosion. Grossly underestimated the rate of the spill.

Minerals Management Service, 11 percent
Long history of cozy relationship with oil and gas industry, including a busy revolving door. A "culture of ethical failure," according to the Interior Department's inspector general, including scandals involving sex, drugs, and gifts from regulated corporations. Allowed oil and gas companies to set safety standards and procedures. Cut back number of safety inspections. Regularly granted oil companies exemptions from environmental studies. Top management overruled objections from staff biologists and engineers about safety and environmental impact. Let oil companies evaluate own performance, and even turn in reports written in pencil that MMS staffers would then trace over in pen. Failure to collect billions in royalties from oil companies -- "a jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic bungling," the inspector general says. Read more about MMS corruption and incompetence.

more: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-06-03-whos-to-blame-for-the-gulf-oil-gusher-we-break-it-down

[Rex]

1. The chart is wrong, it should be just three companies

that are to blame and no one else imo.

[ZombieHorde]

2. Everyone who supports offshore drilling? nt

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Graph is ridiculous...

Bush and Cheney get as equal share of the blame as Pres. Obama why? Because Obama didn't act, within his first year, to reform something badly in need of it? Okay. Maybe he does deserve some of the blame there. However, how can that equal to eight years of gutting the Department of Interior and Minerals Management Service, promoting zero regulation on drilling and, as seems evident, being in the backpocket of Big Oil?

The reason the departments were in need of reform is because of Bush/Cheney.

So because Obama didn't act within his first year, he deserves as equal blame as those who spent eight years putting us there?

:eyes:

[tekisui]

4. I would have given bush/cheney a greater share, too.

They get more blame than the collective people, IMO.

[FBI_Un_Sub]

5. Others

1. Bush, Cheney, Rove
   
2. Roger Smith - Late CEO of General Motors -- who killed small cars at GM during his too long tenure
   
3. America's love affair with big gas guzzling living rooms on wheels.
   

[gulliver]

6. I can't figure it out.

Is grist.org for idiots or just by them?

Bush/Cheney equal to Obama? I guess this is not an environmental site...but what is it?

[Scuba]

7. The rest of us? Get real....

We didn't tell Big Oil to bribe the MMS regulators to pencil-whip permits so they could drill in an unsafe manner.

Besides politicking for better government and regulations, what do you think those of us who burn gas should be doing?

Moving near where we work? Unfortunately, the current employment culture in America means you'll likely be in a new job every few years. Are we supposed to move every time?

Bicycle to work? Same problem. Many of us commute thousands of miles to work, not because we want to, but because we have to. At one point in my career I had to fly 1,200 miles back and forth each week for two years, consuming vast quantities of jet fuel that wouldn't have been used had my seat on the plane been empty, like the one next to me sometimes was.

Change careers? Pretty hard to do without burning down everything you've worked for and starting over.

Change lifestyle? Do we live better than the average European? Some of us, a little, in terms of home and PERHAPS fuel-consumption history. But the graphs showing how Amerians use more than their fair share of fuels don't show splits between military, corporate and private gasoline consumption. (Can anyone provide this breakdown? Thanks.) I suspect the average consumer may look pretty innocent with that data at hand.

Retire? Hah. I'm not in the top 20% of Americans who own 93% of American wealth. Like most of us, I have just been scraping by, saving for retirement, and then seeing it vanish when the casino my 401K's played in turned out to be fixed.

Meanwhile, note this taken from http://www.observer.com/2009/o2/yacht-update regarding Paul Allen's fishing boat. "The yacht, which houses a crew of 60, two helicopters, seven boats, a submarine, and a remote controlled vehicle that crawls the ocean floor, costs the billionaire $20 million a year (or $384,000 a week) to keep up. Maybe he can cut his fuel consumption. Maybe he could scrape by with just one of his two helicoptors.


Anyway, I want to help. Please suggest some alternatives on how I can change the world by not buying $30 bucks worth of gas a week. Thanks