The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an ecological disaster, but in some ways it is similar to the recent financial disaster caused by Wall Street's biggest banks and investment firms.

In both cases, excessive risks in the interest of profits were taken by giant corporations with strong financial ties to government officials and industry regulators. In both cases, regulators failed to stop and, in some cases, even see the dangers. In both crises, government officials in Washington offer tough talk, but appear unwilling to impose the kind of rules that are most likely to prevent a repeat disaster.

Coverage of the oil spill in the Gulf has for weeks dominated the news, pushing aside progress reports on the status of proposed financial reforms being worked out by congressional leaders.

A few weeks ago, news reports suggested a fairly strong reform package was emerging from Congress, despite the efforts of Wall Street lobbyists to weaken the legislation. But now, doubts are being raised about last-minute changes that could happen before the legislation crafted by House and Senate leaders is finally approved and sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.

One troubling sign came May 30 with an article titled "3,000 Pages, But Still Not Enough," by Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times.

In her article, Morgenson notes that the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act that separated risky investment banking from more traditional deposit-taking and loan-making banks was 34 pages long, while the financial reform legislation now in Congress covers 3,000 pages. Yet, according to Morgenson, "despite all that verbiage, there are flaws in both bills that would let Wall Street continue devising financial black boxes that have the potential to go nuclear."

Morgenson explained that even small changes, a word stricken here or added there, can create huge loopholes to be exploited by the big banks and investment firms that helped cause the financial crisis.

So, while politicians in Washington reassure the public that financial reform will be tough and prevent another financial crisis and taxpayer bailout, the reality is that Wall Street firms, which have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying and campaign donations, are working to tweak the language of the reform bills to suit their needs and allow them to continue taking huge risks in hopes of making huge profits — with implicit backup of billions of dollars of taxpayer money if things go badly.

The shift of news coverage to the Gulf and away from Washington and efforts to finalize financial reforms is troubling. This is not the time for public attention to be diverted away from financial reform efforts. It's important to let Washington officials know that people are paying attention.

With the nation focused on the tragedy in the Gulf, there are fewer people keeping track of the compromises, changes and loopholes being created by the Washington-Wall Street power elite.

Additional troubling coverage of financial reform developments came in another New York Times headline: "As Reform Takes Shape, Some Relief on Wall Street." Some commentators have gone even further, saying that behind closed doors at the nation's biggest banks and investment firms, champagne corks are popping. The banks see financial reform, in its current form, as little more than a bump in the road that will cause only a slight and temporary drop in profits and bonuses.

The fear that financial reform will not address all the underlying causes of the financial crisis was reinforced by a report last week from the financial rating firm Moody's Investors Services, which concluded the "too big to fail" issue will not be solved by the current legislation.

Proposals to break up the largest banks, championed by a few members of Congress, have been defeated in committee votes and fought by White House and Treasury officials.

Capping the size of the megabanks is seen by many as the best — and only — way to escape the too-big-to-fail mind-set that led to trillion-dollar federal bailouts. But Wall Street's influence in Washington is, so far, preventing any limits to the size of financial institutions from being included in financial reform legislation.

The latest news reports suggest there is a risk that financial reform eventually passed by Congress will be like health care reform — enough changes to give politicians something to boast about and offering some positive reforms, but lacking the critical changes opposed by powerful interest groups.

In other words, nonreform reform from Congress — and a missed opportunity for the American people.