The commission looking into the actions of BP Oil concerning the lead up to and events of the oil spill has begun. As expected and unfortunately, it has already shown to be an exercise in the covering up of facts. The truth about the oil spill will never told by this commission. The reality of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is being covered up.

This National Commission was appointed by US President Barak Obama himself. The commission is headed by former Democratic Senator and Florida Governor Bob Graham as well as William Reilly. William Reilly was the head of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Regan years. And this was during the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. He also spent 17 years on the board of directors for the energy company ConocoPhillips.

While I’m sure the commission will investigate what physically caused the accident, you can be sure there will be no criticism of the policies and orders that lead up to the cause of the spill. Meaning at no point will anyone point out decades of corporate deregulation, or the government’s hand in looking the other way with past violations. Both these variables make an accident a foregone conclusion.

The commission opened with statements from BP and the US Coast Guard with no cross examination. Both statements were taken without question or even the slightest grain of salt. Both statements were made simply to placate public anger over the incident and the Obama administration’s handling of it.

The senior vice president of exploration and production in North America, Kent Wells, told the commission about current efforts to clean up the oil spill. He said counter wells are being drilled but could take a few weeks to become active in ending the spill.

Commission inquired as why such an accident was not anticipated, Wells responded by saying the event was unprecedented and therefore implying could not have been prevented. Because he implied it “could not have been prevented”, he was saying no one was at fault and therefore no one could be held accountable. This is an outright lie, blow outs are common and it is a fact that weaknesses in the preventers were known about.

Wells constantly dodged questions by saying, “Right now I’m totally focused on the response to this well.”

This so-called commission will be allowing the criminality of BP Oil to continue unabated.