Especially when they were paying for parties.
Related: U.S. Oil Inspectors Asleep at the Switch
Actually, they were wide awake watching porn.
"Federal agency set the stage for deepwater drilling; After gulf spill, actions are seen in a new light" by Jason Deparle, New York Times | August 8, 2010
NEW ORLEANS — The Minerals Management Service, the agency that led the way into the deepwater age, has been abolished, ridiculed as a pawn of the oil industry it was supposed to oversee. And the agency’s gulf office which Chris Oynes, an obscure federal official with a puckish grin, ran for many years has attracted particular scorn.
While the causes of the spill remain unclear, a number of the agency’s actions have drawn fire: It shortened safety and environmental reviews; overlooked flaws in the spill response plan; and ignored warnings that a crucial piece of emergency equipment on the Deepwater Horizon rig, the blowout preventer, was prone to fail.
For decades, Washington and Louisiana were joined by the minerals agency. Washington got oil and royalty fees, Louisiana got jobs, and the agency got frequent reminders of the need to keep both happy.
Seldom do regulators work in a place so dependent on the industry they oversee. Oil saturated the state’s culture long before it covered its marshes. Oil is equally prized as a source of jobs and of tax revenue....
Even though they get an oil depletion allowance?
The result was a culture that favored trust over doubt, saying yes over saying no....
And you see the result, America.
But don't worry; this government is looking out for you.
"Storm forecast cut because of slow start" by Washington Post | August 6, 2010
WASHINGTON— The National Weather Service announced yesterday that it was reducing the number of possible Atlantic hurricanes it anticipated this year but stressed that the season was just heating up and that conditions were just now coming together to create the potential of a busy hurricane season through the rest of the summer and fall.
WTF are they talking about? It always tails off after August!
Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at the agency’s Climate Prediction Center, added that the season doesn’t really get going until mid-August and that “everything is in place’’ for this year to be very stormy....
Just stay fearful, 'kay?
Government was wrong again, huh?
