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DURHAM -- The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that gushed for months, fouling the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and polluting beaches from Louisiana to Florida, was not the product of an isolated, unforeseeable incident.
The ecological disaster was the result, instead, of "a culture of complacency," said William K. Reilly, co-chairman of President Obama's National Commission investigating the accident. "And we have just paid a huge price for the inattention and complacency."
A former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and president of the World Wildlife Fund, Reilly will testify before Congressional committees Wednesday on the commission's 380-page report -- issued last week -- and its recommendations.
He gave some background on what that testimony will be like Monday night at Duke University's Reynolds Theater, when he said the commission had identified "nine critical and consequential decisions" made during the explosion and subsequent spill.
"And every one of those was a bad call," Reilly said. "And seven of the nine decisions were made to save time."
But the fault was not entirely that of BP, the oil company involved, he added. Equally culpable were Halliburton, which provided services to the rig, and Transocean, which operated the platform.
"Because of that, it's very difficult to believe the same conditions don't exist elsewhere," Reilly said. "It's very difficult to believe that only some companies in certain circumstances make these kind of mistakes. It's clear to us that this was a systemic problem."
But it is, as well, a solvable problem, he said, "and it is in the interest of all to do so."
The commission's report calls for Congress to create an independent safety agency within the Department of the Interior to oversee all off-shore drillling, a "safety institute" established by the oil and gas industry, and significantly increased support for key regulatory agencies.
That would require additional federal funding, a tough task for a Congress looking to cut the budget while the economy struggles.
But the beefed-up regulatory measures would be paid for by using part of the money -- in the billions of dollars -- oil and gas companies spend themselves to obtain the drilling leases, Reilly said.
Spending that money and increasing regulation is "in the industry's own best interest," he explained. "The Deepwater spill is a wake-up call. If we don't respond to it, it won't be the last wake-up call we get."
