I guess I should have made the reference to “not seeing the forest for the tress more clear”? In the vernacular drilling means “extraction”. Defending one or two steps or components over another in this case doesn’t defend the failure at “safe drilling”. Something else will fail next. Maybe even the aspect(s) you are associated with. That’s a lot of oil and destruction.
I don’t have a pragmatic enough answer for the larger power/money/energy/ecological issues.