4 Things We Hate About the Obama Oil Spill Review: Today's Outrage

WASHINGTON D.C. (TheStreet) -- The federal government took its first crack at post-oil spill policing of the oil and gas industry on Monday. There were cracks in the report, too, showing just how messed up the Minerals Management Service process for approving new deepwater wells has been, and how ridiculous were the statements from BP about preparedness for an oil spill that received the blessing of the federal government.

First, let's give credit where credit is due: The big headline sifted from the 41-page report is that the review process for new deepwater wells is going to be more stringent (at least until industry uses a lobbying top kill or bottom kill to gut it). The government is taking aim at the categorical exclusion that has allowed for the rubber-stamping of drilling projects, will require more direct, site-specific environmental assessments, and will aim for longer than the 30-day deadline under which the MMS operated to approve drilling permits to complete reviews of drilling permits.

And you thought the government couldn't do anything quickly.

The reaction from the oil & gas lobby was strewn with rhetoric -- a good sign for those hoping the government is at least starting off from a position of putting dents in the previously impenetrable armor of the oil & gas status quo. The oil lobby worries that the federal oversight will force smaller companies out of the business, discourage future exploration, and increase reliance on foreign oil -- but let's just say it's not the first time these rhetorical quivers have been unleashed by the anti-regulation bow.

"Let's hope it's not our Three Mile Island," was the catch phrase adopted by the head of the Independent Petroleum Association of America in speaking to The New York Times about the government's review. Now that's the type of upping of the usual anti-regulatory rhetoric from the business world in which proponents of more regulation should take comfort. Just wait until the oil and gas lobby starts drawing editorial cartoons of Sheikh Obama in his OPEC cartel headdress.

Still, in redressing the wrongs of the oil and gas industry and Minerals Management Service -- now nicely rebranded as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (and you thought rebranding was just for tobacco companies and private defense contractors) -- the Obama administration oil spill review presented some reasons for outrage.

The following is a short list of our favorite gripes about the Obama oil spill review.