"Oil Executives Play Pass the Buck"

"An exercise in contrition it was not.

When Big Oil and its contractors came to the Senate on Tuesday to discuss the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, they were really in agreement on only one thing: that the loss of 11 lives on the rig was a tragedy. ...

But that’s where the sentiment ended.

In the same room that housed the Senate’s hearings on the Titanic 98 years ago, senators pointed blame at BP, Transocean and Halliburton for possible failures to the rig. Others pointed blame at the Minerals Management Service for lax oversight and light regulation of the industry. And Elmer Danenberger, an MMS official, blamed the media for digging up a 2008 inspector general report outlining drug use, sex and gift-taking among industry executives and MMS officials."

Marin Cogan reports for Politico May 12, 2010.

See Also:

"Oil Execs Face More Questions About Gulf Spill" (CNN)

"Oil Executives Pass the Blame" (Washington Post)

"US Senators Blast Oil Execs Over Spill, Safety" (Reuters)

"Oil Execs Trade Blame On Spill" (NPR)