This story gets worse by the day. Whoever was part of the Minerals Management Service who allowed such practices to go on needs to be brought in front of Congress immediately. Hearing about this only confirms how much control corporate interests have over the system. Any time I read something like this I’m also reminded that corruption is as present in our country as it is in the developing world. How else can you explain such expensive projects being implemented? NY Times:

The federal Minerals Management Service gave permission to BP and dozens of other oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico without first getting required permits from another agency that assesses threats to endangered species — and despite strong warnings from that agency about the impact the drilling was likely to have on the gulf.

Those approvals, federal records show, include one for the well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and resulting in thousands of barrels of oil spilling into the gulf each day.

The Minerals Management Service, or M.M.S., also routinely overruled its staff biologists and engineers who raised concerns about the safety and the environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the gulf and in Alaska, according to a half-dozen current and former agency scientists.