A safety engineer I came to know had a different take on this.

BP wasn’t to blame because “accidents happen.”

… because “accidents happen ” when you don’t know what you’re doing and don’t much care.

Anybody know much about chemistry? True Dilbert Boss moment…executive wants to look good, insists that industrial ammonia tanks be made not out of ordinary steel, which might corrode, but instead, out of stainless steel.

BP has one of the worst safety records in the industry. BP lied about the size of the oil spill in the early going.

The Obama administration isn’t mainly to blame, but it hasn’t been all that candid. Engineers and scientists have complained that their names were quoted as having signed off on the necessity and desirability of a blanket ban on drilling in the gulf, when they in fact said no such thing.

You can find more in this vein as easily as I