On Monday Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) sent a letter to the Department of the Interior Inspector General (DOI IG) asking for a review to prevent blowout preventers and well controls.
Perusing the archives of the DOI IG's reports on the Minerals Management Service (MMS), it looks like there may be a February 2000 report worth updating. Titled "Criminal Referral Process, Offshore Civil/Criminal Penalties Program," the DOI IG found that MMS's offshore criminal referral process "did not ensure that potential criminal violations by offshore oil and gas operators were referred to the Office of Inspector General for review."
From the report:
Specifically, only 18 suspected criminal violations have been referred since enactment of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which resulted in one criminal prosecution and two civil settlements by the Department of Justice. As a result, criminal prosecutions have not been used effectively as a deterrent to violators to ensure safe and environmentally sound offshore oil and gas operations, and potential violations of a criminal nature have not been fully evaluated for prosecutorial merit." (Emphasis POGO's).
-- Mandy Smithberger
See also:
- Would the Deepwater Horizon Disaster Have Been Prevented by Stronger Oversight from the U.S Minerals Management Service?
- MMS Thought Deepwater Horizon was Award-Winningly SAFE
- MMS
Scandal: Where Are They Now? Deepwater Horizon Edition
- More Lessons From the Deepwater Horizon Disaster
- MMS Understated Scale and Impact of Oil Spills in Five-Year Plan
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