Whistle Where You Work #26 - BP Oil Rig Accountability; Legendary Whistleblower Frank Serpico

The BP oil rig disaster is quickly becoming one of the worst environmental catastrophes of our time. The parties involved are pointing fingers...but did someone have foresight into this type of event happening? A whistleblower from a different BP oil rig has been trying to expose critical safety lapses for years, but his efforts seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The group representing the whistleblower filed a lawsuit in May against the federal government, attempting to force it to shut down this other rig. They say this rig could turn into an even worse disaster than the first.

What are the similarities between the problems of this rig, and the problems with the one that exploded? Why wasn't more oversight performed? Could this event have been avoided? What is the track record of the agencies in charge?

Guests:

Wenonah Hauter is the Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, a non-profit organization that advocates for common sense policies that will result in healthy, safe food and access to safe and affordable drinking water.

Mandy Smithberger is an investigator with the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit that investigates and exposes corruption and other misconduct in order to achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government. They've been monitoring the Department of Interior and Minerals Management Service for some time.

For our second segment, we go to the Whistleblower National Assembly first day on May 24, 2010, where legendary NYPD whistleblower Frank Serpico, whose story is memorialized by the classic film that shares his name, gave the opening remarks.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• gap
• pogo
• mandy smithberger
• investigation
• food and water watch
• wenonah hauter
• bp oil spill
• oil spill
• gulf oil spill
• gulf of mexico oil spill
• whistleblower
• bp atlantis
• deepwater horizon
• atlantis
• oil rig
• oil platform
• offshore drilling
• oil
• frank serpico

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