Page 17 - The Pass News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> you really need to go back and redo that entire decision. instead what's happening, the department of interior is allowing the bad decisions to stand and come around the back and fix it with safety inspections. that's just not good enough. you've really got to go back to square one on this stuff. >> reporter: sometimes starting over is hard to do. especially if you've already gotten the lease, leased the rig, and hired the crew. erik milito is with the american petroleum institute. >> you don't want to hurt that industry any more. this industry provides a lot of economic input and jobs to t...

This industry provides a lot of economic input and jobs to that gulf region. >> reporter: there are other environmental reviews prior to this final one bp and others did not have to pass. none as rigorous. the law allows 30 days for this review. given the slow pace of government bureaucracy, no one thinks they can get done in 30 days. that's another reason why the agency gave bp the pass. the interior department won't comment because of pending litigation. now the whole process is being reexamined by the white house, too late to help. >> this whole thing stinks. if bp hadn't taken the shortcut...

Review it would face before drilling. that final environmental review would have taken time. it would have itemized in detail all the things that could go wrong, and how that could hurt the vice president. and that would almost certainly have delayed final approval to drill. instead, bp got the pass from the agency at the interior department that's supposed to regulate it. keeping them honest, as bad as all this sounds it gets worse. it's not just bp and deepwater horizon, in fact, most oil companies working in the gulf get the same pass. that means of the hundreds of oil projects operating to...

Rig might pose to the environment. >> the whole thing is a mess. >> because it got this pass, here's what bp did not have to do, it did not have to produce specific information on the equipment or the place where it was drilling. bp didn't have to answer this question. could there be a serious accident affecting the environment? in other words, bp got to skip what would have been the toughest and final environmental review it would face before drilling. that final environmental review would have taken time. it would have itemized in detail all the things that could go wrong, and how that could...

How many votes she gets, i don't know. tomorrow is the day when they have a chance to question her. her good fortune is that the republicans are going to be going after her at the same time that david petrais is going to be testifying on capitol hill. so it probably won't even get that much attention. no news is good news for her. >> all right. jeffrey toobin, appreciate it. thanks. next on the program, did bp get a free pass when it got its operating permit from the government for that deepwater horizon rig. and tropical storm alex possibly soon to be a hurricane. - ♪ hey, what you doin...