The mining debacle

Stand Back, and bear with me, as I attempt to clear out my bookmarks once again. This time, however, I likely shall write articles on each one.

Mineral Management Service

The article points out the difficulties a governmental organization can have when, by nature, it has a conflict of interest.

The mineral management service has had the dual task of forging partnerships with corporations for mineral extraction and exploration, while at the same time regulating said partnerships and projects.

Oddly enough it goes against the very nature of the federal government; it has no checks and balances. It should be structured so one government body deals with these corporations and forges partnerships for mining etc (I don't think it would necessarily fly in this country if the government itself did its own mining) and have another government body, entirely separate, that deals with if these mining sites are all up to standard and following proper protocols.

The article goes in length to describe how congress repeatedly blocked offshore oil drilling for most of the coastline. Sadly, this might have had the effect of forcing wells into deeper water within the western gulf region, the only region largely open to drilling.

Really, the issue with the BP well disaster was two-fold -- there was little to no regulation on a well that clearly was not up to code; the well was in deep water territory.

Deep water, by itself, wouldn't be that big of an issue. On the surface, it simply means larger operating costs (larger and deeper platforms) and longer trips to refineries. When something does go wrong, which should be very rare if proper regulation is in place, it means repairs must be done remotely (the water is too deep for scuba crews). Repairs, therefore, take much much longer to complete -- hence the long time-frame of the oil spill.

So what should the legal ramifications of this matter be?

Obviously, the well was not built within regulation, but the regulators weren't doing any regulating...

Should, then, the regulators be held responsible for this? Given the power and influence of a large multi-national corporation of British Petroleum, it's likely the regulators will get thrown under the bus, while BP gets away with so much as a slap on the wrist and a marred public image. Should they be put under criminal charges? Probably, especially given the ecological damage. The courts would be wiser to focus on the business impact of the burst well, lest they be cast off by conservative media outlets as a hippie court (liberal media outlets would likely support the prosecution regardless, though I wouldn't be surprised to hear a few legislators trying to focus on the environmental impact). I wonder if there is actually any precedent for anything like this, maybe some mine leaking waste water into a river, polluting it. I dunno.

This article likely edited out anything about this perilous relationship existing between congress and lobby groups (both left and right). It would be interesting to find a way to accurately fix this, seeing as how there are few other jobs for a voted-out congressman than to work for lobby groups close to whatever their cause happened to be. For former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, this turned out to be a healthcare related lobbying firm. This lobbying job then prevented him from becoming the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Anyways, I digress.

The Mineral Management Service needs to be split. Regulators must not have their favor curried if we expect the law to be carried out.

-- Knuttel