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Markey, Dems blast oil industry as unprepared for major spills
Senior House lawmakers opened their hearing with oil company executives by blasting them as unprepared to cope with major offshore spills.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee holding the hearing, lambasted what he called lax industry-wide readiness to respond to spills.
“The other companies here today will contend this was an isolated incident. They will say a similar disaster could never happen to them, yet it is this kind of blind faith that is ironically the name of an actual rig in the Gulf,” Markey said. “All of these companies, not just BP, made the exact same assurances.”
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the full Energy and Commerce Committee, offered similar comments as the hearing opened.
Oil companies have increasingly looked to distance themselves from BP in recent days. On Tuesday, they also implored Congress to not pull back on offshore drilling.
“This devastating chain of events is far from the industry norm,” noted the opening entry on “Perspectives,” Exxon’s new blog that launched Monday.
“What we do know is that when you properly design wells for the range of risk anticipated; follow established procedures; build in layers of redundancy; properly inspect and maintain equipment; train operators; conduct tests and drills; and focus on safe operations and risk management, tragic incidents like the one in the Gulf of Mexico today should not occur,” it continues.
In their testimony, oil companies noted their own safety records while warning Congress that barring deepwater drilling in the Gulf would hurt the U.S. economy.
“We remain confident in our drilling expertise and procedures, built on a foundation of multiple required safety barriers, proven methods and strict company standards,” stated Marvin Odum, president of Shell’s U.S. division, in testimony submitted to the Energy and Commerce panel.
“The first imperative of any project is that it be done safely. Safety and environmental protection are, and always will be, Shell’s top priorities,” he added.
Odum also, however, said the company would incorporate the results of inquiries into the spill into its safety standards. Similarly, Chevron Corp. CEO John Watson said his company would welcome new standards and safeguards that would help prevent future accidents.
The comments come with BP’s stock in freefall. Separately, Fitch, a credit rating agency, lowered BP’s rating from AA to BBB on Monday as concerns widened about the company’s long-term survival.
BP executives are to meet on Wednesday with President Barack Obama, who is set to deliver an address to the nation on the spill Tuesday evening. Obama’s administration is negotiating with BP to set up an escrow account with an independent overseer to handle damages from the spill.
Obama in Tuesday’s address may also make a new push for energy legislation that includes a mechanism for limiting carbon emissions.
In their testimony, oil executives say that deepwater development is vital to U.S. energy supplies and the country's economy.
Chevron's Watson criticized the six-month ban on deepwater drilling permits issued by the administration, which has also halted 33 existing exploratory drilling projects.
In his prepared statement, Watson calls U.S. offshore production in deep waters vital to U.S. energy security and calls for quick implementation of new safety standards that would allow development in the Gulf to resume.
“The moratorium will likely draw drilling rigs away from the Gulf of Mexico to overseas basins, further delaying development and negatively affecting crucial U.S. jobs that support these operations,” he said.
“It’s important to keep in mind that, as tragic and significant as this incident is, it occurred in an industry with a strong record for safety and environmental protection,” he later adds.
“Our nation would lose more than it has already if this single incident became the basis for scaling back or shutting down the many positive benefits of offshore development in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere — the jobs, the economic development, the revenue, and the increased flexibility of America’s energy supply.”
The hearing is unfolding as Obama is on the second day of his two-day visit to the Gulf region, his fourth since the fatal April 20 accident at the Deepwater Horizon rig that touched off what has become the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the containment system that BP has put in place — with federal prodding — could be containing as much as 90 percent of the oil spewing from the company’s ruptured undersea well by the end of June.
“I think the containment strategy that the Coast Guard and the federal government pushed BP to accelerate will capture most of the oil that is leaking from the Gulf right now,” Gibbs said during an appearance on "Good Morning America" on ABC this morning.
—Michael O’Brien contributed.
