Regulation is a Bad Thing

Hey, Sarah baby -- how about "Spill, baby, spill!"  It's going to be really bad:

The spill was bigger than imagined - five times more than first estimated - and closer. Faint fingers of oily sheen were reaching the Mississippi River delta, lapping the Louisiana shoreline in long, thin lines.

"It is of grave concern," David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press. "I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."

The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life. Thicker oil was in waters south and east of the Mississippi delta about five miles offshore.

And it could have been avoided, except that we all know that businesses are responsible citizens who will take all necessary steps to do the right thing. Yeah, right:

British Petroleum once downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at an offshore rig that exploded, causing the worst U.S. oil spill in decades along the Gulf Coast and endangering shoreline habitat.

In its 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well, BP suggested it was unlikely, or virtually impossible, for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil spill and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals.

It gets worse -- it seems that BP has a habit of cutting corners like crazy:

In a report Sawyer prepared after his review, he said BP's "widespread pattern of unapproved design, testing and inspection documentation on the Atlantis subsea project creates a risk of a catastrophic incident threatening the [Gulf of Mexico] deep-water environment and the safety of platform workers." Moreover, "the extent of documentation discrepancies creates a substantial risk that a catastrophic event could occur at any time."

"The absence of a complete set of final, up-to-date, 'as built' engineering documents, including appropriate engineering approval, introduces substantial risk of large scale damage to the deep water [Gulf of Mexico] environment and harm to workers, primarily because analyses and inspections based on unverified design documents cannot accurately assess risk or suitability for service," Sawyer's report said. He added, "there is no valid engineering justification for these violations and short cuts."

Sawyer explained that the documents in question - welding records, inspections and safety shutdown logic materials - are "extremely critical to the safe operation of the platform and its subsea components." He said the safety shutdown logic drawings on Atlantis, a complex computerized system that, during emergencies, is supposed to send a signal to automatically shut down the flow of oil, were listed as "requiring update."

"BP's recklessness in regards to the Atlantis project is a clear example of how the company has a pattern of failing to comply with minimum industry standards for worker and environmental safety," Sawyer said.

And don't forget, Halliburton's involved. That's the same Halliburton that has such a stellar record, through its former subsidiary KBR, as a contractor in Iraq. The same Halliburton that was once run by Dick Cheney. That's the same Dick Cheney who had secret conferences with the oil industry on energy policy.

And the members in good standing of the boob toob are calling it Obama's Katrina. Puh-leeze.

And of course, this just proves that government regulation of business is A Bad Thing.

A note about offshore drilling: Obama's caving on this issue to the Republicans was wrong-headed to begin with. I'm still firmly convinced that our energy policy should be focused on renewable, non-petroleum-based energy sources. Offshore drilling is the least desirable solution, or one of the major ones. Accidents are going to happen. They're much more likely when the companies getting the leases can't be relied on to do it right.

And it seems that "bipartisanship" is becoming Beltway shorthand for "screw everybody."

Update:

If you want the right-wing/teabagger party line on this, see this post at Mahablog.