Why regulations are important

The confusion surrounding this latest Gulf spill points up a fatal flaw of America’s oil pollution reporting system, which operates via a virtual honor code. Under present reporting protocols, polluters are tasked with the responsibility of turning themselves in when they’re responsible for an accident — knowing all the while that a federal inspector will probably never be dispatched to investigate. — from an article by Time’s Bryan Walsh on the lessons of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, almost one year later.