Report on major oil spill has already been written -- and ignored

Yesterday, I wrote a post about Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu who is one of the biggest cheerleaders for the oil industry. That's no small feat. She wants more drilling now. That oil spill destroying the Gulf of Mexico doesn't seem to faze her.

Landrieu and other elected officials have protected the oil industry. And, the oil industry hasn't had to be responsible. We know that now. But, our leaders have clearly failed us. This could have been prevented or mitigated. Because, what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico has a precedent: The Exxon Valdez disaster. What lessons were learned? None:

But the full story of the Exxon Valdez wreck is far more complex, and it offers striking parallels to today's events in the Gulf of Mexico -- including a central role played by a consortium led by British Petroleum, now known as BP.

A commission that investigated the Alaska spill found that oil companies cut corners to maximize profits. Systems intended to prevent disaster failed, and no backups were in place. Regulators were too close to the oil industry and approved woefully inadequate accident response and cleanup plans.

History is repeating, say officials who investigated the Valdez, because the lessons of two decades ago remain unheeded.

"It's disappointing," said 84-year-old Walt Parker, chairman of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission, which made dozens of recommendations for preventing a recurrence. "It's almost as though we had never written the report."

Marine experts predict that the many panels investigating the Deepwater Horizon blowout -- including a presidential commission that began work this week in New Orleans -- will produce reports with numerous findings that could have been cut and pasted from the 20-year-old report written by Parker's commission or another body that examined the Valdez accident. They also fear those findings may have no more impact than the Valdez conclusions have.

With leaders like Landrieu protecting the oil industry, it's probably true that nothing will change. They just want more drilling without regard for the consequences.