This article was posted (and extensively discussed) yesterday in the comments on the other Deepwater Horizon story:<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1389647" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1389647</a><p>The WSJ also has a lot more detail on how the rig was being run prior to the accident:<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704026204575266560930780190.html" rel="nofollow">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870402620457526...</a>
Just wait until their deepwater Atlantis fails, it will make the Horizon failure look like a puddle.<p><a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/whistleblower-sues-to-stop-atlantis-bp-rig-from-operating" rel="nofollow">http://www.propublica.org/article/whistleblower-sues-to-stop...</a><p>Half of it's critical systems that were installed were not reviewed or tested.
I posted this yesterday, but it didn't get picked up on. It appears that the Niger Delta experience a Deepwater Horizon every single year....<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1390246" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1390246</a><p>Direct link: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-niger...</a>
I just hope for all of our sakes that this is the final nail in the coffin of industry self-regulation. It does not work when it is against your interests to be safe; after all, we love to take risks.<p>I also hope that America begins to realize that large corporations rarely have the interests of the population in mind. There needs to be checks and balances here.