Missed Inspections on Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig

The Interior Department's Mineral Management Services (MMS) is responsible to perform monthly inspections on all oil rigs, yet BP's Deepwater Horizon rig had missed sixteen such inspections in the last five years.

The most recent inspection of the leaking rig was performed April 1, 2010 by an MMS inspector-in-training, Eric Neal. Neal was sent to the deepwater rig to perform the inspection by himself, which Texas A&M University's associate professor of petroleum, Gene Beck, stated was a bit risky on the part of the MMS (CBS News).

As part of the ongoing investigation into the oil spill, an investigator from the Deep Water Joint Investigation team interviewed Neal on May 11, 2010. Neal revealed he had been in training for four months and had only participated in rig inspections as part of his training when he was assigned to inspect BP's rig.

The government, namely the Interior Department, did what it does best when CBS News attempted to solicit answers about inspection activities on the BP oil rig--it deferred to answer any questions, stating, "These questions will be best addressed in the context of those investigations" (CBS News). The Interior Department's mention of "investigations" refers to the Deep Water Joint Investigation.

The Mineral Management Services group is no stranger to allegations that their relationship to the oil and gas industries they oversee is more of a friendship than an inspector/inspected entity one. In September 2008, the Interior Department's Inspector General completed an internal investigation into the practices of the MMS for the period 2002 through 2006. The investigation revealed numerous unethical practices by the MMS staff, including 19 employees who had received gifts and gratuities from members of the gas and oil industry.

As recently as May 24, 2010, the activities from this investigation have not been sufficiently addressed by the MMS or the Interior Department as evidenced by a letter written by Mary L. Kendall, Acting Inspector General of the United States Department of the Interior to the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Kenneth Salazar.

There is no shortage of people, agencies and businesses to which the finger of blame may be pointed for the accident that happened to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The problem with finger pointing is that is accomplishes nothing. It is time for our federal government to take action in what has been a long-occurring problem and sufficiently address it so that future such accidents may be prevented.

Sources: CBS News