Remember Obama's emergency Gulf Oil 'SWAT' team inspections? By: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor 05/24/10 7:46 AM EDT
A BP PLC contractor who wanted to remain unidentified, displays a sample of oil in a jar taken from a beach in Grand Isle, La., Thursday, May 20, 2010. Oil from last month's Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has started drifting ashore along the Louisiana coast.
Three weeks ago in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, President Obama's Interior Department dispatched SWAT teams to conduct emergency inspections of all 29 deepwater oil drilling platforms in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf waters of the Gulf of Mexico that use Subsea Blowout Preventers.
The announcement of the SWAT teams received much media attention because it was made as the White House was being criticized in some quarters for a tardy response to the explosion that killed 11 crew members on the platform and the ensuing massive oil spill that followed the structure's sinking in 5,000 feet of water.
But have you noticed we haven't heard much at all about the results of those inspections? Maybe that's because the SWAT teams found virtually nothing of significance?
Actually, what they found on the 29 rigs was a single violation on one rig and three violations on another. That's it. None of the four violations was serious, though one involved flammable materials left in a safe welding area. The other violations included a testing procedure flaw, an uncovered six-inch by 12-inch hole, and expired eyewash bottles in a first aid kit.
Anybody want to guess why these results have gotten no coverage? At a time when lots of people naturally wonder how safe are the rest of the drilling rigs in the Gulf, wouldn't it be useful to know the results of those emergency SWAT team investigations? You can read the full report of the inspections here
Read more at the Washington Examiner: www.washingtonexaminer.co...727604.html#ixzz0or1IbhKO
