It's a pitch that only someone such as Joe Barton could believe. Big Oil lobbyists have adopted the position that mistakes happen and more regulations couldn't help. Deep water drilling in other countries such as Norway and Canada (where Big Oil is lobbying for US-style self regulation) require more safety precautions but the oil industry prefers the US model because it helps provide more profits since there's little oversight. LA Times:
Oil and gas companies have told the Obama administration that environmental regulations for deep-water drilling rigs do not immediately need to be toughened because the Deepwater Horizon explosion was an unforeseeable event, not a failure of federal oversight, according to documents filed last week with the White House.
The industry's chief lobbying arm, the American Petroleum Institute, submitted written comments to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The council is reviewing whether the federal Minerals Management Service — the now-splintered and much criticized agency charged with regulating oil drilling — has appropriately conducted reviews mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA.
"One accident does not mean that the practice and procedures of MMS are inadequate to implement NEPA's requirements, especially when the cause of the accident has yet to be determined," wrote the lobbying group, which represents 400 oil and gas companies, including BP.
