Oil Spill Findings Released by Panel

One major finding was that the oil companies, despite multibillion-dollar profits over the past several years, have devoted only minuscule amounts of money to planning to control or clean up after a significant spill.

Government, too, neglected to devote adequate personnel, money and technology to preparing for a major offshore accident, one report said. The Minerals Management Service, in particular, was unprepared to deal with the spill, and even after reorganization (and renaming as the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management) still lags far behind in the capabilities needed to address another accident, the report said.

The report noted that the agency had only four or five employees in Houston trying to oversee BP’s efforts to cap the runaway well and collect the gushing oil.