Interior Department halts study to improve safety on offshore drilling platforms

The Department of the Interior has issued a stop-work order to researchers attempting to make offshore drilling platforms safer. The mission of the independent study, conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, is to prevent a repeat of disasters like the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion. That means reviewing DOI’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement inspection programs for offshore oil and gas platforms. In August, President Trump’s administration jumped in front of another National Academies review, this one involving the health impacts of mountaintop removal. So much for their claims to support American workers. Someone should tell the belligerent president that shouting “Move along! Nothing to see here!” is not an effective public safety measure.