BP Opposed Oil Rig Safety Measures

For nearly a decade, BP railed against safety measures for deepwater oil rigs, ABC News reports. Long before an explosion claimed 11 of its employees in an explosion off the coast of Louisiana last week, BP opposed what it called "extensive, prescriptive regulations" dating as far back as the Clinton administration. "We believe industry's current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs ... continue to be very successful," the company said in a letter to regulators last year. Specifically, the industry as a whole has lobbied against an expensive system to remotely shut a wellhead in case of accident. Without one, the Louisiana rig is spilling 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico.