Deepwater Horizon Report: 90% of Recommendations Not Complete
(WASHINGTON) – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the below statement in response to a Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) report on the U.S. Coast Guard's (USCG) oversight and implementation of recommended changes after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The report, entitled "The USCG's Oversight of Recommendations from Deepwater Horizon After Action Reports" (OIG-14-42), found that it was difficult to determine whether the USCG had implemented 534 after action report recommendations because the USCG did not provide effective internal oversight of the recommendations or track progress.
While USCG claims 127 of the 534 recommendations are completed, the IG found that only 51 of these were tracked and documented enough to be considered complete. Based on this information, the USCG has completed less than 10 percent of the Deepwater Horizon after action report recommendations which date as far back as April 2010. The IG also found that this lack of coordination and tracking is not exclusive to the recommendations made after Deepwater Horizon as USCG did not have proper coordination and tracking after previous oil spills.
Ranking Member Thompson released the following statement on the report:
"This report uncovers mismanagement at the Coast Guard as it has dropped the ball on implementing substantive changes post-Deepwater Horizon. With over 500 recommendations to tackle, the American people expect the Coast Guard to actively track progress and complete these recommendations so history does not repeat itself. Instead, it seems that almost four years later, the Coast Guard has completely ignored hundreds of recommendations – all of which aim to prevent, or lessen the impact of, future spills. I hope the Coast Guard will pursue the recommendations in the after action reports and efficiently track the developments so we can know whether or not we have progressed on this critical issue."
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Media Contact: Adam Comis at (202) 225-9978
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