Gulf Disaster 'Might Well Recur,' Commission Finds

'Absent significant reform,' welcome to Macondo II
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 6, 2011 8:51 AM CST
Gulf Disaster 'Might Well Recur,' Commission Finds
In this April 21, 2010 file image provided by the US Coast Guard, fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon.   (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, File)

The management blunders that led to the Deepwater Horizon explosion aren’t particularly uncommon in the oil industry, a presidential commission investigating the spill has concluded, meaning there’s every chance it could happen again. The commission blamed all three companies involved in the well—BP, TransOcean, and Halliburton—saying that each had made decisions that increased the risk, but saved them time and money, the Daily Telegraph reports.

“The blow-out was not the product of a series of aberrational decisions made by a rogue industry or government officials that could not have been anticipated or expected to occur again,” the commission wrote. “Rather, the root causes are systematic, and absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur.” It added, however, that better management from the three companies “would almost certainly have prevented the blowout.” (More Deepwater Horizon stories.)

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