Dolphins view of "truth" was not considered

The New York Timesreported Friday that regulators allowed BP and other companies to drill in the gulf without obtaining the required permits concerning endangered species and waived environmental impact statements despite the protests of staff biologists and engineers. BP had claimed in its drilling plan that the odds of an oil spill were slight and that drilling would not have an adverse impact on endangered species.

This departure from standard procedure raises questions about the possibility of preferential treatment and what might have caused regulators to short-circuit their approval process. Moreover, the BP claim of a minimal threat to the environment now strikes some as a misleading assessment that regulators either accepted blindly or knew to be false and failed to challenge.

A criminal probe is an important next step in finding the truth because many questions are not likely to be fully answered until regulators and drilling executives are hauled into court – with more than civil penalties at stake. Americans deserve a full and appropriate accountability of those involved.