re: #369 darthstar

The MMS has sixty case officers to handle 1500+ permit applications, and a 30 day window. There’s no way in hell they can do a decent job of processing that many permits properly.

The 30 day window is also not an issue in the MC252 blow-out. Nor is under-staffing or whatever. The exact procedures were followed over months. Documented, discussed and the regulator made the decision to approve the steps that led to the blow-out killing those men and creating the ecological havoc.

Grasping at straws to fit a narrative is tempting, but the facts of this case argue that there was no lack of regulation involved. Rather, a failure by the regulators just as there was a failure by the drilling management. They worked together to give us this one.