In 2001 Cheney Told BP That Well Safety Device Was Not Needed

Those who think that the huge spill resulting from the BP offshore well disaster was unavoidable should know that BP uses a safety device called an acoustical regulator on all its offshore wells, which could have closed the well when the manual controls failed. BP uses the device by law on wells off Brazil and in Norway's North Sea. BP voluntarily uses the device on the wells in Britain's North Sea operation and elsewhere in the world as do most other major oil companies. However, in 2001 Dick Cheney met with oil industry leaders and asked them for input on changes to US regulations. BP said the acoustical regulator was too expensive at $500,000 so the Bush Administration waived that requirement. At $14 billion each the estimated cost of the clean up and BP's profit in 2009 are each 28,000 times greater than the cost of the acoustical regulator.

Americans will never know the full extent of the damage to the world, not just America, for which the Bush administration is solely responsible.