IG report: Meth, porn use by drilling agency staff

[WhipperSnapper]

There have been scandals about MMS and it's cozy relationship with the industry for years. I recall a thread here from a year or two ago on the topic. As I recall the scandals were on the revenue side (collection and contract awarding).

Breaking the MMS into two entities-revenue and enforcement-is an excellent first step. Hopefully it's followed up with meaningful reform.

Isn't this the same group that was allowing itself to be bribed by oil company representatives and was even reported as accepting sexual favors? The only solution is to probably fire every employee at MMS from the top down and start over.

 

[daishi5]

So government stopped BP from testing and maintaining safety equipment? Also, which party was in charge of the government when that happened?

The claim is the government stopped BP from buying warranties on safety equipment, and the warranties would have required maintenance and checks, I would assume the company selling the warranty would either perform the checks themselves, or use a third party they trust.

I don't know if that is true, and I admit I don't know how to find out. I am not trusting the poster who said it either, just mentioning that if he was right your claim falls apart. I know some warranties on equipment require certain maintenance and checks by the company to ensure that the equipment they warranty is being well maintained. We have something like this at work, extending the warranty on equipment requires testing by a third party group. I really have no clue about the oil industry, but the whole things sounds like a giant nightmare.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Hmmm. I remember the SEC having a similar problem and they also didn't do their job.

To quote Jon Stewart:

"They were supposed to be watching stocks and blonds, not watching ***** and blonds."

"They were supposed to be watching financial malfeasance, not watching people ****."

 

[theeedude]

The Democrats have had a congressional majority for almost four years now.

Is that when the safety equipment was purchased?

 

[her209]

Isn't this the same group that was allowing itself to be bribed by oil company representatives and was even reported as accepting sexual favors? The only solution is to probably fire every employee at MMS from the top down and start over.

Its a revolving door. After all, who would be more qualified to work at the "regulate-e" than the regulator?

 

[theeedude]

The claim is the government stopped BP from buying warranties on safety equipment, and the warranties would have required maintenance and checks, I would assume the company selling the warranty would either perform the checks themselves, or use a third party they trust.

I don't know if that is true, and I admit I don't know how to find out. I am not trusting the poster who said it either, just mentioning that if he was right your claim falls apart. I know some warranties on equipment require certain maintenance and checks by the company to ensure that the equipment they warranty is being well maintained. We have something like this at work, extending the warranty on equipment requires testing by a third party group. I really have no clue about the oil industry, but the whole things sounds like a giant nightmare.

Wait, so the only reason the private sector would check and maintain safety equipment is for warranty reasons? Well, now I feel so much better about reducing government regulation and letting them regulate themselves.

 

[BoberFett]

Is that when the safety equipment was purchased?

I honestly don't know. If Democrats were so concerned about the Republicans dismantling regulations, why didn't Democrats do anything about it? Too busy patting each on the back for a campaign well run?

 

[Hacp]

NO! Don't take away my porn :'(

 

[MrEgo]

How the hell is this a partisan issue? It sounds like everyone involved in this cluster dropped the ball.

 

[ElFenix]

On the other hand, you could say that these types of disasters would happen much more often if not for government safety regulations. The oil and gas companies wouldn't even need to pay off the inspectors with gifts - they could just build cheap, half-assed wells without any worry of fucking up.

BP is easily going to end up a billion dollars in the hole due to this one blowout. i doubt they would knowingly build cheap, half assed wells.

Its a revolving door. After all, who would be more qualified to work at the "regulate-e" than the regulator?

vice versa, usually. you need people that know the industry, the technology, and the issues, and those are almost always people that are in that industry. regulatory capture is a huge issue all over government for that precise reason.

 

[MrEgo]

BP is easily going to end up a billion dollars in the hole due to this one blowout. i doubt they would knowingly build cheap, half assed wells.

Correct, but why are they paying the money instead of just walking away?

 

[ModerateRepZero]

not to ruin the Republican celebrations, but this IG report covers activities between 200-2008, when their party was in power.

Yup. The federal government was sure doing their job at that off shore rig.

according to the IG report, we have the Bush Administration's leadership to thank for educating the employees/management that Obama's Administration inherited. *sarcasm*

 

[daishi5]

Wait, so the only reason the private sector would check and maintain safety equipment is for warranty reasons? Well, now I feel so much better about reducing government regulation and letting them regulate themselves.

They didn't check and maintain safety equipment while the government was regulating them, did you miss the statements of the tests being falsified for years? Somehow you expect that, this time, the government will do it right.

 

[CitizenKain]

They didn't check and maintain safety equipment while the government was regulating them, did you miss the statements of the tests being falsified for years? Somehow you expect that, this time, the government will do it right.

You somehow expect a private industry will do it even better? That's hilarious.

 

[ElFenix]

Correct, but why are they paying the money instead of just walking away?

because that would cost them even more money? is that not obvious?

 

[ayabe]

Cheney's energy task force meeting which we still don't have all the details on and probably never will is where the decision was made to make all of these exclusions and where a $500,00 blowout preventer that actually worked was deemed an unnecessary expense.

I think ol' Dick should go down to Louisiana and visit with the folks again, I'll give him 1 chance in 3 of making it out alive.

 

[daishi5]

You somehow expect a private industry will do it even better? That's hilarious.

It might, in theory. For example, lets pretend that BP is allowed to purchase a warranty on their emergency shut off valves. That warranty makes the maker of the shut off valve liable for the valves failure. The company that sells that warranty is risking billions of dollars in losses if BP fails to maintain the valve. Being greedy, the company puts several rules in place to make sure BP maintains that valve, so that they don't lose several billion dollars. The company knows that BP will try to lie to them, so they require third party validation.

Yes, the company selling the warranty, or the third party doing the inspections can be lax, but so can the government. In the case of the warranty, if the inspectors or warranty company are lax, they lose everything. With the government doing the inspections, if they are lax, they lose nothing.

Now, that is all theory, and real life hates conforming to theory. And this theory would require changing some rules, such as not allowing limited liability, and not allowing the liability to be sheltered through corporate shells and such. The owners must be at risk of paying the full costs to the limit of the total value of the company. I think it could work, but I really couldn't tell you if it would.