USA: Lessons of the Deepwater Horizon

According to the New York Times, the latest investigative report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico asserted that industry was far more focused on drilling and profits than it was on the need for preparedness and oversight. It said "the lack of a strong safety culture" was not unique to BP but was shared by its contractors and its regulators in the Interior Department’s former Minerals Management Service.

The service, that has been renamed and reorganized, has vowed that its mission will be to protect the public and the environment, not the industry it is charged with regulating. "The enduring lesson of the Deepwater Horizon is that complacency can easily lead to disaster," concludes the New York Times editorial.