Offshore drilling is just as “dirty and dangerous” today as it was nine years ago, when the Deepwater Horizon disaster caused the most massive oil spill in U.S. history. That’s the warning of a new report from the conservation group Oceana.
Among the report’s findings:
- The federal agency responsible for offshore drilling oversight relies largely on industry-written safety standards, often allows exemptions even to those, and provides inadequate oversight and enforcement of what rules there are.
- At least 6,500 oil spills occurred in U.S. waters between 2007 and 2017, and are often far larger than reported.
- Existing technology cannot clean up the spills effectively.
- Maximum penalties for rule violations are grossly inadequate, as they are capped at a small fraction of the daily operating costs of an offshore drilling facility.
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