Surprise! Oil Spill Commission Critical of Government Response

Nicolas Loris / October 06, 2010

President Obama’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling released four papers discussing several aspects of the federal response, including the use of dispersants and contingency plans for possible future spills. But a large part of the commission’s report and what’s garnering most of the attention in the media is the government’s mismanagement of the spill.

One of the four paper says, “The federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem.”

The commission faults the Administration for underreporting the initial spill amounts and the Office of Management and Budget for denying requests from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make worst-case scenarios known to the public. The report was also critical of the inefficiencies and the overreaction by the Unified Command Center. The Wall Street Journal reports: (more…)