Oil Rig Regulations

There are many regulations that are currently in place for the oil rigs. Tougher laws should be put in place and add harsher requirements aiming at the prevention of equipment failures that cause damage to the environment. Tougher safety requirements could be put in place of the already applied laws such as policies that require the oil industry to regulate oil and gas production, air quality, cultural resources, ecological resources (fish, wildlife, mammals, etc.), energy development, hazardous materials and waste management, health and safety regulations, how much land companies can use, geological resources, water qualities and many other acts and polices that the industry has to follow (Laws and Regulations). Under utilitarianism, if we take a step back and think about who and what these oil rigs all effect then having more and improved regulations may not completely stop an accident from happening but it would lower the chance from it happening. The most that would benefit wouldn’t just be the people and their happiness but also the fish and wildlife that would be affected if spill was to happen (60).
With the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, the management teams that worked with that rig cut corners because of time and …show more content…
Since these policies have been in place the industry has shown great improvement in trying to follow new regulations. New or added regulations for drilling, obtaining permits, inspections, training employees, surveying, and many other regulations cost a lot of money (Regulations in the Oil Industry). With so many oil rigs drilling for oil, it is hard to have every oil rig abide by every policy. Rig owners would argue that having to update their rigs every time there is a new policy put in place would put them out of