Special Topic: BP Oil Spill

Articles & Analysis

NOAA Takes Lead on Protecting Scientific Integrity

(Gavin Baker 08/22/11; 0 comments)

House Gets Amnesia, Passes Bill to Rush Oil Drilling

(Matthew Madia 05/11/11; 0 comments)

Issa Feigns Sympathy for Oil Spill’s Victims

(Matthew Madia 04/20/11; 0 comments)

Offshore Drilling Poised to Expand, but Transparency Still Lags

As the Obama administration increases approvals of deepwater oil drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico, environmental advocates have seen little meaningful increase in the transparency of the permitting process. A lack of transparency in the regulatory process was identified as a contributing factor in BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster and the highly criticized response effort.

House Budget: More Exemptions and Lower Payments for Big Oil

(Matthew Madia 02/23/11; 0 comments)

Obama Continues Post-Spill Reforms to Better Police Drilling

The Obama administration continued revamping offshore oil drilling regulation by recently announcing the next step in its plans to reorganize the Department of the Interior – creating a new agency to oversee drilling safety.

Commentary: Did OMB Block Worst-Case Estimates of Oil Spill?

A working paper by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling has ignited a controversy about the role of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in controlling information about the spill. The working paper alleges that, soon after the April 20 explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig, OMB blocked plans to disclose the government's worst-case models of the spill. The administration's response to the allegations leaves several key questions without clear answers, which can only be resolved by disclosing the drafts and feedback through which these critical documents were developed.