BP Gulf Oil Spill

Miller Statements / Press Releases

BP: RISK vs. PROFITS - Oil giant’s pattern of violations, failures puts workers, environment, local economies at risk (May 27 2010)

New Bill would Deny British Petroleum New Offshore Oil and Gas Leases for up to Seven Years (June 30, 2010)

Committee Approves Miller Amendment to Prohibit BP or other Dangerous Companies from New Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling (July 14, 2010)

Oil Spill Bill Approved by House Includes Rep. Miller’s Provisions to Prohibit Dangerous Oil Companies from New Drilling and Protect Rights of Oil Rig Workers (July 30 2010)

House Approves Legislation to Give Whistleblower Protections to Offshore Workers (July 30 2010)

BP’s environmental and safety track record :

· Two months before the tragic explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery, a consulting firm reported that “We have never seen a site where the notion ‘I could die today’ was so real.”

· After the 2005 Texas City explosion that killed 15 and injured 180, OSHA found 300 safety violations at the refinery, and BP agreed to pay a record fine of more than $21 million.

· In 2006, BP’s pipeline maintenance failures led to a spill of more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil on Alaska’s North Slope, the worst in the area’s history, leading to a guilty plea under the Clean Water Act and another $12 million fine.

· In 2009, OSHA inspected the Texas City refinery again and found another 700 violations that BP promised but failed to fix after the 2005 explosion. OSHA has proposed a new record fine of $87.4 million.

· Earlier this year, OSHA found another 62 violations at BP’s refinery near Toledo, Ohio.

The CLEAR Act

The CLEAR Act, passed by the House on July 30, 2010, contains these important provisions in response to the BP oil spill:
• Strong new safety measures, including independent certification of critical equipment,
• Holds BP and oil industry fully responsible for cleanup costs and recovery after spills – removing the $75 million cap on economic damages to be paid by Big Oil to families and small businesses,
• Strengthens oversight of oil drilling by dismantling the current scandal ridden agency in charge and reforming ethics rules,
• Restores the Gulf Coast and requires oil companies to restore the land and water that belongs to the American people, and
• Provides long overdue taxpayer protections, reduces the deficit by more than $5 billion, and ends tax giveaways to oil companies so that they pay their fair share for drilling in waters owned by the American people.

Backgrounder
Section-by-section summary
Full text of the legislation

Miller Amendment to CLEAR Act

The House Natural Resources Committee approved Rep. George Miller’s amendment to bar new offshore oil and gas drilling permits to British Petroleum or any other company with a significant history of violating worker safety or environmental law.

The Miller amendment would bar a company from drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf if its record indicated five times the industry average for willful or repeat worker safety violations at their oil and gas facilities, if more than 10 fatalities occurred at any of its facilities, or if it incurred fines of $10 million or more under Clean Air or Water Act within the preceding 7 years.

Summary of Miller amendment ensuring that companies’ safety records have consequences

Subsection (b) of Section 206 of the Rahall ANS would disqualify a company from bidding for new leases if it was not meeting safety and environmental requirements on its existing leases, or if it had outstanding obligations under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The Miller amendment would expand this responsibility section to cover easements, rights-of-way, and drilling permits as well, and would add additional criteria as follows:

• (1) The company cannot have more than five times the industry average for willful or repeat violations of OSHA citation rate, and cannot have been convicted of a criminal violation for causing the death or serious bodily injury of a worker at oil and gas facilities over the preceding 7 years;
• (2) The company cannot have more than 10 fatalities caused by violations of state or federal health, safety, or environmental laws at oil and gas facilities over the preceding 7 years; or
• (3) The company has not been required to pay more than $10,000,000 for violations of the Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act at oil and gas facilities over the preceding 7 years.

The company would be required to affirm to the Secretary that it is not in violation of these provisions; false statements would be considered cause for lease denial. To prevent corporate reorganization designed to avoid these requirements, the company would be responsible for the health and safety records of any related company, including parents, subsidiaries, successors, contractors, or subcontractors on oil and gas projects.

A copy of the amendment is here.