Boosterism Led News Today

The companies had to prove before theyd be allowed to risk all of us by drilling in deep waters off american shores, if there were high expectations, could they really raise the bar in terms of whats expected from these companies on safety? >> of course, they could. if the cop on the beat is, in fact, threatening to punish, severely, an oil company because they are running the risk of endangering the entire gulf coast, i think theres no question, that they would have seen a response. but after a...

Before theyd be allowed to risk all of us by drilling in deep waters off american shores, if there were high expectations, could they really raise the bar in terms of whats expected from these companies on safety? >> of course, they could. if the cop on the beat is, in fact, threatening to punish, severely, an oil company because they are running the risk of endangering the entire gulf coast, i think theres no question, that they would have seen a response. but after a while, this boosterism led...

Engaged in a whole generation of boosterism. that accidents couldnt happen. they actually said nothing could go wrong here. and obviously, they werent prepared for a worst-case scenario. and boosterism led to kplas sevency. complacency led to disaster. the only way drilling can begin again in a serious way, is if like president carter naming john kennedy, the president of dartmouth to do a complete evaluation after three mile island. we need a complete independent evaluation of what happened her...

Weve known that. people ended up being indicted over some of the problems, so how could they come in and not take this by the horns? >> i think mms, which has been an extremely troubled agency and the culture in that agency during the bush years became so compromised that without question, it is an agency that has to be completely overhauled. and what happened was bp constantly promised that an accident could not happen. that it was impossible to happen. and what happened was that boosterism led...

>> the -- >> expansion of it? >> bp and other oil companies engaged in a whole generation of boosterism. that accidents couldnt happen. they actually said nothing could go wrong here. and obviously, they werent prepared for a worst-case scenario. and boosterism led to complacency. complacency led to a disaster. the only way drilling can begin again in a serious way, is if like president carter naming john kennedy, the president of dartmouth to do a complete evaluation after three mile island. we...

Wouldnt be nylons and hair, and i think its very discouraging obviously for the people who live down in the gulf, but its dismaying i think to every american to think that this is the level of response to such a catastrophic event that the oil industry can provide. >> how much of this was a failure of oversight on the part of government officials? >> i think that there was an assumption that an accident could not happen. i think that bp kept saying, dont worry, an accident cannot happen. and in ...

I think that bp kept saying, dont worry, an accident cannot happen. and in this instance, boosterism led to complacency and complacency told a disaster. >> and clearly yesterday we saw in testimony, i mean theyre all pointing fingers at each other. bp at transocean. transocean at halty burton. halliburton back at transocean. transocean back at bp. do you believe what these guys say? i mean were you satisfied with the testimony yesterday? did they seem apologetic enough? did they see humble at al...

Of government officials? >> i think that there was an assumption that an accident could not happen. i think that bp kept saying, dont worry, an accident cannot happen. and in this instance, boosterism led to complacency and complacency told a disaster. >> and clearly yesterday we saw in testimony, i mean theyre all pointing fingers at each other. bp at transocean. transocean at halliburton. halliburton back at transocean. transocean back at bp. do you believe what these guys say? i mean were you...

They had the capability to deal with any accident, although they did believe that no accident would ever occur. in fact, last summer they certified that they would be able to handle an accident in the gulf of mexico that was 50 times larger, that is, 250,000 barrels a day as opposed to 5,000 barrels a day as an accident. well, its very clear that, one, they werent ready to deal with an accident thats 1/50 the size of the one they certified that they could. and two, that they had promised the fed...