On Sept. 4, a federal district court in Louisiana ruled that BP’s “gross negligence” and “willful misconduct” resulted in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers and resulted in millions of barrels of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. The finding could subject BP to roughly $18 billion in civil penalties under the Clean Water Act, or up to $4,300 for each barrel of oil that spilled into the Gulf.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) efforts to protect scientific integrity make the agency a leader among its federal counterparts, OMB Watch said in comments filed last week.

Rep. Darrell Issa, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is using the one-year anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster as an opportunity to criticize the Obama administration for exercising more caution when issuing offshore drilling permits. After the spill, “the Administration’s subsequent assault on off-shore drilling has [damaged] economically vulnerable communities,” Issa says.

In the latest issue of The Watcher, OMB Watch discusses (here and here) the recently passed House budget and the many non-budget provisions attached to it, including the anti-environmental riders that prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies from doing this or that.