The White House panel investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has called for a major overhaul of the regulation and oversight of the oil and gas industry in the United States. In its final report, the presidential oil spill commission called for establishing an independent safety agency within the U.S. Department of Interior, tougher fines and regulation, and an industry-run safety organization. Commission co-chair Bob Graham unveiled the report in Washington, D.C.

Bob Graham: “A fundamental finding of our six-months investigation is that the Deepwater Horizon disaster did not have to happen. It was both foreseeable and preventable. That fact alone makes the loss of the 11 lives to serious injury to others on the rig and the enormous damage that the explosion caused even more tragic. We recommend, therefore, that Congress and the [Obama] administration create an independent safety agency within the Department of Interior with enforcement authority to oversee all aspects of offshore drilling safety.”

Commission co-chair Bill Reilly also called on Congress to enact “serious oversight” over the agencies regulating the oil industry. In a statement, the environmental group Greenpeace said, “The oil industry will resist the recommendations of the Commission at its own peril. The Administration will do right by taking swift action … to stop risky offshore oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic and work with Congress to … redouble regulation of existing drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and spill response apparatus nationwide.”