Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Chairman, we just heard a pretty good discussion here a moment ago about the safety issues in the gulf. And the legislation before us seems to ignore every one of the recommendations that the bipartisan, independent commission made about how to conduct deepwater drilling in a safe manner. Actually, BP did have a terrible record. I am pleased that my colleague from Texas pointed out the 800 violations that BP had. There was, however, a bit of a problem for at least 11 members of the gulf oil industry: They died as a result of the inattention to safety.

The proposal that I have before us deals with one of the recommendations that the commission made, and that is that there be an independent safety organization created to provide an additional level of review of the requirements that drilling be done safely. The legislation before us ignores that recommendation by the commission and basically says that the American Petroleum Institute is quite capable of doing this. Well, the independent, bipartisan commission, said, ``The American Petroleum Institute is culturally ill-suited to drive a safety revolution in the industry. For this reason, it is essential that the safety enterprise operate apart from the American Petroleum Institute,'' and I could not agree more, Mr. Chairman.

My amendment would require that, as the Secretary is trying to determine whether permit applications meet the critical safety requirements, he must consult with an independent safety organization, and that organization must not be affiliated with the American Petroleum Institute.

Now the institute has said, No problem; we'll create our own. Well, I'm sorry, but that's not the way to provide the appropriate safety standard. We don't need to have more deaths. We don't need to have more blowouts. We need to do the drilling safely, and that it be done in a manner that ensures that lives will not be lost and that oil will not be spilled in the ocean. That's what this amendment does by providing an outside independent organization with the requirement that they consult with the Secretary on the applications. We do not change the 50-day requirement. That remains in place; so there is a timeframe. We don't change any of the requirements with regard to losses and the rest, which I think are inappropriate; but nonetheless, we don't change that in this legislation.

I would ask for the adoption of this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GARAMENDI. An interesting discussion from my colleague from Colorado. I would note that there are numerous examples where the Federal Government does rely upon outside safety organizations. For example, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations provides safety standards for our nuclear industry, specifically, not allowing the nuclear power industry to do the safety reviews, but, rather, an outside organization.

We're simply calling for a level of review that is not associated with those two organizations that caused the problem. The Department of the Interior, and I was the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior in the 90s, has some familiarity of the comings and goings, the shortcomings as well as the strength of that Department.

This particular section of the Department of the Interior has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that, over time, it has not been able to regulate properly the safety and other elements of the natural gas and oil industry. We need to provide an outside level of review on the safety requirements, both to keep the Department of the Interior on the proper course and the industry itself on the proper course.

That's what the amendment does. I think it makes an eminent amount of sense, and we're really talking about both environmental issues here, that is, the health of environment in the coast, which was seriously compromised, and also the well-being of the men and women that work on these oil platforms. And we know that their fate has been jeopardized in the past and should not be jeopardized in the future.

I ask for an ``aye'' vote on this amendment, both here and later on the floor.

I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source