Mississippi Gov. Barbour Says BP Oil Spill Was Preventable

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said that the Gulf Coast oil spill occurred because the companies involved deviated from industry standards, not because of the inherent risk of drilling offshore.

“I think the biggest lesson learned from the Gulf oil spill is that it was totally preventable, totally avoidable,” Barbor told a meeting in Jackson of the Mississippi Energy Policy Institute.

Barbour, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, also criticized what he called the Obama administration’s “permatorium” on drilling in new areas of the eastern Gulf and the Atlantic seaboard.

Although Barbour placed responsibility for the Gulf oil spill on the three companies involved, the president’s panel concluded that the mistakes were the result of systematic problems, not necessarily the fault of any single company or individual.

The oil rig blast led to more than 200 million gallons of oil spewing from BP’s well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico, according to government estimates.

The Justice Department is conducting on ongoing criminal investigation and already has sued some of the companies involved. BP’s own investigation shared the blame among itself, Transocean and Halliburton.

Topics Energy Oil Gas Mississippi