Trump Rolls Back Post-Deepwater Horizon Offshore Safety Regulations
SAFETY SCHMAFETY
After 2010 disaster killed 11, spewed millions of barrels of oil into Gulf of Mexico for months.
Coast Guard Handout/Reuters
President Trump has opted to roll back several offshore drilling rules imposed following BP’s disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 that killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels into the Gulf of Mexico. In April, Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review some of the Obama-era safety rules that were intended to curb such accidents, and on Thursday the agency issued several proposed changes to regulations. The proposal would, for example, scrap the requirement that mandates operators certify—through a third party—that their safety devices are properly functioning. The changes are expected to save oil-industry companies more than $288 million over 10 years.
