After The BP Spill, Drilling Deep

With Jane Clayson in for Tom Ashbrook.

On the anniversary of the BP spill, we'll ask how the Gulf Coast is faring and look at the future of deep water drilling.

It's been a year since the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The beaches are cleaner - not quite tar ball free, but much better – and the seafood has been declared safe to eat. But dolphins are washing up dead, and the coastal wetlands are still oil-soaked.

The government is back to issuing offshore drilling permits.  Big oil is making political contributions. And BP plans to resume drilling in the Gulf this summer.  What’s changed?  For whom?

This hour, one year out, how the BP spill is redefining the Gulf Coast and the future of drilling.
- Jane Clayson
Guests:

Aaron Viles, deputy director of the Gulf Restoration Network.  See recent photos from the coast on their Flickr stream.

John Broder, New York Times reporter. Read his article “Regulation of Offshore Rigs Is a Work in Progress.”

David Pritchard, petroleum engineer and owner of Successful Energy Practices International. He's a member of the Deepwater Horizons Study Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council and a member of the President’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.