The safety case regulatory regime is touted as a “tripartite system consisting of active and equal participation from the regulator, workforce, and industry.” Indeed, a potentially, more socially beneficial regime would be a quadripartite system that includes the neighbors of the regulated facilities. The neighbors are often aware of problems that workers don’t or won’t…

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The new Acting Director of the Minerals Management Service (MMS), Bob Abbey, fired an environmental whistleblower, Earle Dixon, in a previous job with BLM.  Dixon had complained about lax environmental standards.  Here’s a link to the settlement with Dixon.  Let’s hope it was an aberration.  Regardless, interesting choice in the wake of the current oil spill … ….

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