Texas governor pans drilling safety regulations, suggests 'God' to blame for

By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, May 3rd, 2010 -- 8:34 pm

If the very Christian, very Republican governor of Texas is right on this one, he may soon find it politically expedient to rethink his allegiances, what with 2010 being an election year and all.

That's right: according to Republican Rick Perry, no amount of safety requirements can prevent an "act of God," which may or may not have occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in 11 dead oil rig workers and a gusher of oil jetting over 2 million gallons of crude per day into the fragile aquatic ecosystem.

Initial estimates claimed just 1,000 barrels of oil per day were leaking, but that number was quickly revised upward to 5,000 barrels per day. Current estimates project as much as 50,000 barrels a day are spouting from the sunken rig, and it may yet increase.

Speaking at a benefit funded by the Chamber of Commerce, Perry suggested that tighter safety regulations just don't have anything on God.

“We don’t know what the event that has allowed for this massive oil to be released,” Perry said, according to Politico. “And until we know that, I hope we don’t see a knee-jerk reaction across this country that says we’re going to shut down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, because the cost to this country will be staggering."

He suggested the disaster might be "just an act of God that occurred."

God, however, does not work for Halliburton, which was cementing the well when the explosion set off. The deity is also not an employee of British Petrolium, which saved a cool $500,000 by not installing "a remote-control shutoff switch" currently required in regulations imposed by other major oil-producing nations.

"Regulators have previously identified problems in the cementing process as a leading cause of well blowouts, in which oil and natural gas surge out of a well with explosive force," The Wall Street Journal reported. "When cement develops cracks or doesn't set properly, oil and gas can escape, ultimately flowing out of control. The gas is highly combustible and prone to ignite, as it appears to have done aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which was leased by BP PLC, the British oil giant."

The remainder of the article (along with additional sources underlined) can be found at:

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0503/texas-governor-perry-calls-gulf-oil-disaster-act-god/