Deepwater Horizon: One Year Later

By Mandy Smithberger and Bryan Rahija

We decided to reflect on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster by poring though our coverage of the spill in its immediate aftermath. One thing that struck us: it's kind of remarkable how many questions are still not definitively answered when it comes to accountability.

Have government regulators made the right adjustments? Do they have enough funding to do their jobs? Do they have enough training? Can taxpayers trust the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement to work in the public's best interest when it comes to collecting taxpayer royalties for oil harvested on federal lands? What happened to the legislative reforms proposed in the wake of the spill?

We've listed our coverage of the spill in April and May below. You can find additional material here.

• April 28 - How Much Will the Deepwater Horizon Spill Cost Taxpayers? 
• April 29 -
  • MMS Thought Deepwater Horizon was Award-Winningly SAFE
  • More Lessons From the Deepwater Horizon Disaster
• April 30 - MMS Scandal: Where Are They Now? Deepwater Horizon Edition
• May 3 - Would the Deepwater Horizon Disaster Have Been Prevented by Stronger Oversight from the U.S Minerals Management Service?

• May 4 - MMS Understated Scale and Impact of Oil Spills in Five-Year Plan
• May 5 - Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: IG Report on Criminal Prosecution Process
• May 7 - The Amount of Royalties Taxpayers Have Lost in the Gulf Oil Spill
• May 10 - IG Warned Congress About Failures of MMS, Interior
• May 11 -
  
  • Questions to Ask Salazar About Splitting the Minerals Management Service After the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf
  • Splitting MMS a Good Start, but Mission Conflict Remains
• May 12 - Deepwater Horizon Disaster Results in a Gusher of New Misconduct Instances
• May 14 - President Obama Agrees with POGO: Cozy Relationship Between Industry and MMS Must End
• May 17 -
  
  • Top Offshore Drilling Regulator Resigns
  • Ethics Pledge Should Help Put Some Distance Between Regulators and Industry
• May 18 - Salazar Testifies Before Senate on Gulf Oil Spill Disaster
• May 19 - Salazar Untangles Conflicted Functions of Minerals Management Service
• May 20 - Oil Ganache: The MMS Alaska Office's "Drill Baby Drill" Cake
• May 21 - Can a Lab Paid by BP Assess the Environmental Damage from the Gulf Oil Spill Without Bias?
• May 24 - 
  • BP is Liable for Royalty Payments in Deepwater Horizon Spill
  • The Life of Reilly: How Will the New Oil Spill Commission Co-Chair Balance His Interests?
• May 25 -
  
  • MMS District Manager to IG: "Obviously, We're All Oil Industry"
  • MMS Inspector and ConocoPhillips Employee Discuss Bribes over Email
• May 26 - Notes from Today's House Natural Resources Committee Hearing on Deepwater Disaster
• May 27 -
  
  • MMS Director Fired
  • What Sort of Guidance Came from the MMS Solicitor's Office?

Mandy Smithberger is a POGO Investigator. Bryan Rahija edits POGO's blog.

Comments

[gaetano marano]

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BP can't sue anyone (for $80 billions nor less) because it would been able to STOP the oil spill from the EARLY DAYS of May 2010 (just using a tool that was already available in its tool box) but HASN'T DONE IT (for unknown reasons) as explained in this CNN iReport
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http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-472981
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and here: http://www.ghostnasa.com/posts2/070oilspillsolution.html
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