Oil Commission Warns Drillers To Slow Down and Wise Up

The document asserts that the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill serves as a warning against drilling in high-risk, sensitive areas like the Arctic. It highlights the Oil Spill Commission's finding that the Gulf disaster was preventable and that significant gaps in understanding deepwater and Arctic drilling persist. Earthjustice advocates for a science-based permitting process involving ocean researchers and argues that the safest approach to the Arctic is to avoid drilling entirely to reduce oil dependency.

• The Oil Spill Commission concluded that the Gulf of Mexico spill was a preventable event resulting from errors during drilling in high-risk conditions that neither the government nor the industry were prepared for, and that the industry remains unprepared.
• The Arctic Ocean presents extreme challenges for oil drilling and spill response, including 20-foot seas, frigid temperatures, prevalent ice, and a lack of infrastructure, making it nearly impossible to adequately manage an oil spill.
• The Oil Spill Commission recommends that the Department of Interior and the White House collaborate to improve the quality, transparency, and consistency of the permitting process, asserting that drilling on the outer continental shelf is a privilege to be earned rather than a private right.
• Earthjustice suggests that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) should integrate ocean researchers and ecosystem scientists into the environmental review process to address scientific gaps regarding Arctic drilling.

APA

Earthjustice (2011). Oil Commission Warns Drillers To Slow Down and Wise Up. https://earthjustice.org/article/oil-commission-warns-drillers-to-slow-down-and-wise-up

Chicago

Earthjustice. Oil Commission Warns Drillers To Slow Down and Wise Up. 2011. https://earthjustice.org/article/oil-commission-warns-drillers-to-slow-down-and-wise-up.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Oil Commission Warns Drillers To Slow Down and Wise Up |date=19 January 2011 |url=https://earthjustice.org/article/oil-commission-warns-drillers-to-slow-down-and-wise-up |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2011oil, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Oil Commission Warns Drillers To Slow Down and Wise Up}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2011}, month = jan, url = {https://earthjustice.org/article/oil-commission-warns-drillers-to-slow-down-and-wise-up}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }