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House Panel Approves Offshore Drilling Reforms |
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Washington, D.C. – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., (NJ-06) along with members of the Natural Resources Committee Wednesday approved legislation to abolish the Minerals Management Service and inject greater accountability, transparency and efficiency into the leasing process. The “Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act,” was approved by a vote of 27-21.
The key provision of the bill divides the beleaguered agency blamed for approving permits to BP and Transocean for the Deepwater Horizon rig into three different entities which separately manage offshore leasing and permitting, safety investigations and environmental enforcement, and collection of all revenues from these leases.
“Reforming the agency responsible for approving offshore drilling permits is a significant step forward in a larger process to reform our offshore drilling policies and dependence on fossil fuels,” said Pallone. “I’m proud of this committee’s work in demanding more scrutiny of these leases, the safety records of oil companies, and increasing the government’s enforcement ability.”
Pallone offered two amendments during the markup which address strictly limiting new offshore drilling leases. The first amendment Pallone proposed would trigger a prohibition on offshore oil and gas leasing if 5,000 barrels or more were spilled into the ocean again. In the markup, Pallone made the point that if the technology truly exists to prevent future oil spills than there should be no concern of triggering his provision.
The second amendment would prohibit oil and gas leasing in the New York/New Jersey Bight as well as in National Marine Monuments and National Marine Sanctuaries. Pallone argued that the coastal waters off New Jersey are vitally important to the regions economy and ecological significance and should not be open to offshore oil and gas development which would greatly jeopardize the regions vitality. Both amendments were withdrawn for future consideration before the bill moves to the floor of the House of Representatives.
“It is unfortunate that these policies were not in place to prevent the Gulf of Mexico spill in the first place which only confirmed what I’ve ben saying for the past 20 years – that the technology does not exist to do this deepwater drilling safely and the oil companies sold the MMS a bill of goods. It makes logical sense to move forward with this legislation and additional measures to ensure our nation’s coasts are protected and to place a greater emphasis on developing a clean, renewable energy plan for the United States.” |
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