Harman Amendment to Study Feasibility of Drilling Relief Wells in Tandem with Primary Wells Adopted in Committee

Press Release

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), member of the Energy & Commerce Committee, successfully added an amendment today to H.R. 5626, The Blow Out Prevention Act of 2010, during a full committee mark-up of the bill. The amendment directs the National Academy of Engineering to report to Congress within one year on the economic, safety, and environmental impacts of requiring that one or more relief wells be drilled in tandem with the drilling of some or all covered wells. The committee adopted the amendment with bipartisan support in a voice vote.

"BP did not begin drilling a relief well until 12 days after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill catastrophe on April 20. The relief well is not expected to be finished until August. Had a relief well been drilled in concert with the original well, that delay -- and as many as 200 million gallons of crude oil leaked into the Gulf so far -- might have been avoided," said Harman. "The idea behind this amendment was suggested to me by a very smart constituent from San Pedro."

"Deep water drilling is inherently unsafe and I am pleased that the President is not allowing it off the coast of California. But I understand that even with the BP disaster, off-shore drilling will continue. We must make it safer."

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