Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I rise to support this amendment. This Office of Good Jobs would help ensure that the Interior contracting employment decisions encourage the creation of decent paid jobs, implementation of fair labor practices, and responsible employer practices.

The Federal Government should set an example to the Nation when it comes to contracting decisions, and the office will guide Interior to make responsible contracting employment decisions.

Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of the amendment.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment.

The amendment would allow OMS to deal with the continuing problems posed by mountaintop mining removal because this practice contaminates, destroys streams, and negatively impacts human health. Two lawsuits challenge this Bush-era rule, and in February 2014, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated a 2008 stream buffer rule.

It is important that we allow this to move forward, and I am going to simply state why.

In a study in 2011, it found that counties near mountaintop mining areas had higher rates for five out of six types of birth defects, including circulatory, respiratory, skeletomuscular, central nervous system, gastrointestinal, and I could go on and on. Clearly, we know that the health effects from mountaintop mining-related air and water contamination is cumulative and is dangerous to public health.

OSM must be allowed to go forward with this water protection rule to guarantee the public an opportunity to live a healthy life.

I urge my colleagues to support the Beyer amendment.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment.

Can you imagine a 30-year-old oil and gas production rule and not being able to update it? This amendment allows a 30-year-old rule to comply with today's technology to make sure that we are doing what is best practices in the industry and we can work with the industry to do proper oversight.

As was pointed out, if this provision stays in place, States, tribes, and Federal taxpayers would lose royalty revenues. We should be doing everything we can with our public lands to make sure the taxpayer receives full value whenever there is a lease.

I support this amendment, and I urge for its adoption.

Just once again, imagine not being able to update 30-year-old rules and not being able to update current royalty rates. We need to do better by the American taxpayer; we need to strike this provision; we need to do the updates; we need to update 30-year-old regulations; and we need to make sure that the American taxpayer gets a fair return on its royalties.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. I thank the gentlewoman.

Mr. Chairman, investigations were conducted by industry experts, and they determined the actual causes of the catastrophe of the Deepwater. Many of the requirements of this rule are not new, and they already exist in industry standards.

This rule has one goal for me, and that is to save lives. Eleven lives were lost in that explosion. We have learned from that event. It was a tragic event what happened with the Deepwater Horizon. We should do everything we can to put workers' safety ahead of Big Oil's profits.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the gentleman's amendment.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would clearly block the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from finalizing guidance to clarify financial assurances for oil and gas companies operating in the Outer Continental Shelf.

The guidance is important because it details the procedures that will be used to determine the lessee's financial ability to carry out its obligations so that we, the taxpayer, our constituents, can be sure that the oil company can pay for all of its costs associated with offshore drilling. The guidance is necessary to ensure that oil companies have the financial capability to properly decommission outer shelf facilities instead of abandoning them and leaving the American taxpayer, our constituents, on the hook to pay the cost.

The guidance will modernize the financial assurance regulations to match the current industry practices, provide updated criteria for determining the lessee's ability to self-insure its liabilities based on the lessee's financial capacity and financial strength. We should be working together to ensure that the U.S. taxpayer never pays to decommission an OCS facility and that the environment is protected at the same time.

This amendment protects the special interests of Big Oil at the taxpayer's expense, so I must protect the taxpayer and oppose this amendment.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, we need in this day and age to make sure that the American taxpayer is protected. We have seen time and time again when environmental disasters happen and brownfields are left behind or what is going on in Flint, the taxpayer picks up the bill.

I just really believe that this guidance is necessary to ensure that oil companies have the financial capability--that they have on the books the financial capability to properly decommission their Outer Continental Shelf facilities instead of abandoning them, leaving the American taxpayer to pay for the cleanup.

Mr. Chairman, I oppose the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to this amendment.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I am surprised this amendment is being offered because there is already a rider in the bill that pretty much accomplishes what the gentleman's amendment would do. Let's be clear what this amendment does.

It reverses the safety improvements that were developed following the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. It would delay or prevent the implementation of a rule that was developed directly from the recommendations of numerous investigations. There was a full investigation. These are the recommendations from it. The investigations were conducted by industry experts, and they determined the actual cause of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and the impact on the Gulf of Mexico and on the surrounding States and on the local communities, as we heard Ms. Castor from Florida talk about earlier.

Many of the requirements of this rule are not new. They were already in existence as industry standards, notice to lessees and guidance and equipment and operation requirements that were already part of the regulation. What the rule does is consolidates these requirements into one section and makes them enforceable--yes, enforceable. The Department of the Interior estimates that the regulation amendment blocks would prevent between $657 million and $4.4 billion of damage caused by well blowouts over 10 years.

Most importantly, this estimate does not take into account the human element of these protections. I think we can all agree that you cannot put a price on human life. The Deepwater Horizon was a tragic event. Eleven lives were lost in that explosion. It is unconscionable that this amendment, once again, looks to put the profits of big oil companies ahead of workers' safety; so I oppose this amendment.

Mr. Chair,

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, how much time do I have remaining?

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, in closing, that is why I do not understand the redundancy, the duplicity--why we keep doing this over and over and over again. This bill already undoes a lot of what the regulation would do to protect the environment and to protect workers' safety.

I read from the bill at page 69, line 4, section 124, and this is about drilling margins:

``None of the funds made available in this act or any other act for any fiscal year may be used to develop, adopt, implement, administer, or enforce any change to regulations and guidance.'' It goes on.

This amendment would reverse the safety improvements that were developed following the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, something to which, I think, America said no more: no more loss of life, no impact like this on our environment.

I oppose this amendment, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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