Protection of the Public Interest: Senate Hearing on Industry Influence on Government Regulators

In light of the lax oversight that contributed to the BP oil spill, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) held a hearing Tuesday on the industry influence on government regulators. The concern is what is known as "agency capture," whereas the regulators themselves have been captured by industry to become an interest group of that industry.

This was most notably seen in the Minerals Management Service which has since been broken up by the Obama Administration to prevent a reoccurrence of the events that led to the catastrophic BP oil spill on the Gulf floor.

The entire hearing is available at this link (VIDEO).

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