Not surprisingly, we hear the administration telling us how they have been in charge since day one regarding the BP oil gusher. But as I have often said before, if there is a major problem in America look for government to be right in the thick of it and this is no exception.
Statists like to blame the free market for such problems and that more government is the answer. You will also hear them mistakenly say that conservatives don’t want any government involvement in the marketplace. Conservatives believe in government, albeit limited government, but we also expect that the government that is in place do its job. There was plenty of regulation in the BP case, perhaps too much government in that there was no one clear responsible agency but an overlapping mess. When it comes to regulation I like to use the sports analogy of a baseball umpire. Congress writes the rulebook and the executive branch is the umpire that makes sure the rules are followed. If the umpire is looking at an attractive girl in the stands instead of the play on the field, he is apt to blow the call. Blown calls seemed to be a way of life in the BP case.
Deepwater exploration progressed faster than the regulations could keep up with the technology, and government was providing incentives to accelerate that exploration. So there we have our first example of the government acting in a push-me, pull-you fashion, that is, incentives to explore but lacking regulations to make sure it is done safely and orderly. Rather than looking at deep water drilling where the physics are different as a different animal needing a comprehensive review of the regulations, the regulations were piecemeal approvals of shallow water regulations.
When BP first looked at drilling in this area they requested from the federal regulators an exemption from a rigorous environmental review. That exemption was granted. They also used riskier equipment that deviated from their own company safety policies. Regulators also approved testing the blowout preventer at a pressure that was lower than federally required. When BP wanted to delay mandatory testing of the blowout preventer when they lost “well control” in the weeks before the rig exploded, again the regulators granted the delay.
One federal agency, the Minerals Management Service, is in the dual role of both promoting drilling and regulating it. They both collect royalty payments and issue fines for violations. Do you think there may be a conflict here? Is this the most effective form of government? Here is a core beef of mine and of other conservatives. The free market should provide the incentives for off shore drilling. Either it is worth doing from a business standpoint or it is not. The government’s role should be in the regulation. When government wades into the middle trying to work both sides, it is doomed to fail.
There are multiple agencies that all have responsibility for regulation in this area in addition to the Minerals Management Service including, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coast Guard, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Where there are gaps in regulation, whose responsibility is it to plug the gap? When there is overlap, whose regulations controls?
The Minerals Management Service approved BP’s drilling plan that projected a “worst case” blowout as producing 250,000 barrels per day of escaping oil. However, the agency did not require BP to develop a contingency plan on how they would deal with such an occurrence. The agency also did not require companies to have a backup systems to trigger in the event a blowout preventer failed.
There were early indications of problems with the well but federal regulators approved proceeding with the drilling rather than order it be halted until the issues were addressed.
So once this disaster spun out of control how did our government respond? Based on laws written after the Exxon Valdez spill the government and BP were supposed to cooperate. How did the administration show their cooperation? They said they were going to keep their “boot on the neck of BP.” Do you feel inspired to cooperate with someone who tells the world they will keep their boot on your neck, or do you start looking for ways to protect yourself? Instead of concentrating on giving BP whatever assistance it needs to cap the well and focusing on containing the spread of oil, the administration sends in lawyers to start a criminal investigation. Can’t that wait until the well is capped? Why divert attention from the problem and have BP start losing focus on the well and more on assembling a legal team?
When governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana wanted to build a sand barrier to stop the oil from reaching the wetlands in his state, he was told to wait while our federal government dithered for three weeks haggling among the White House, Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency over the best approach. If this administration, as they have claimed, has been in charge since day one and all of these agencies fall under the administration, why couldn’t this be hashed out in a day or two? They finally approved one barrier rather than the 23 that were requested but eventually allowed more. For an in depth story see New York Times
For the last year and a half we have been told we don’t have enough government running our lives and telling us what to do. Yet here is a classic case of government regulator piled on top of regulator, and regulators trying to promote and control businesses at the same time. We have regulators granting waiver after waiver of regulations that ultimately led to disaster and our administration instead of stepping up and taking responsibility is trying to look like they are in charge while at the same time blaming everyone else, yes even Bush, for what happened. The head of the Materials Management Service resigned and President Obama says he learned about it afterwards. Interior Secretary Salazar said she resigned on her own volition and that she wasn’t fired. Why not? For all the exemptions and waivers that were granted by the government that could have prevented the worst environmental disaster in history, this administration doesn’t think anyone other than BP should be responsible.
So we are supposed to let this administration grow government and control more of our lives when they can’t take responsibility for what is already under their control. But don’t look for a serious investigation of government’s responsibility unless a large number of incumbents are flushed out of Congress and replaced by new members who actually represent the people.
