Problems were known, had been studied...

The more we learn about the years leading up to the oil drilling catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, a very troubling picture is beginning to take form...

A 1999 report commissioned by the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling suggests failures of underwater blowout preventers designed to stop oil spills like the massive one threatening the Gulf Coast were far from unknown, the chairwoman of a key Senate panel said Friday.

Read more:

Minerals Management Service website