Republicans say Dems are rushing oil spill safeguards bill

House Republicans on Wednesday launched new political assaults on Democratic plans to mandate beefed-up offshore oil-and-gas drilling safeguards, alleging the legislation is premature because investigations into the BP oil spill are ongoing.

A panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to mark up legislation Thursday that would require a host of new precautions at “high risk” wells, such as blocking permits until top federal agency officials have determined that effective blowout prevention measures are in place.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the top Republican on the Energy and Environment Subcommittee that’s considering the bill, said at a panel hearing on the plan Wednesday that lawmakers should slow down.

“I am all for improving the safety of offshore drilling, but we should wait for the investigations to be concluded before we prematurely pass legislation that may not improve safety, and could possibly make matters worse,” Upton said.

He cited the ongoing six-month inquiry into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by a White House-created commission, and a separate joint probe by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Interior Department. Several other Republicans made similar remarks.

“I question the need for the haste ... when we don’t have all the facts in front of us,” said Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas).

But Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) rejected the criticism.

“We know enough already to begin crafting legislative solutions,” he said at the hearing. The committee has spent two months probing the April 20 explosion of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and touched off the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

“If we don’t know enough to start fashioning legislative solutions, then I don’t think we know enough to start drilling,” Waxman added.

Many Republicans and Gulf Coast lawmakers from both parties have spent weeks attacking the Obama administration’s six-month freeze on deepwater drilling.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has called on committee chairs to complete work on oil spill response proposals before the July 4 recess.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Republicans and some Democrats criticized several provisions of the “Blowout Prevention Act” authored by Waxman and Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who are senior members of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Several said they feared that too many drilling operations could fall under the category of “high risk,” and some said the bill would stymie drilling.

“This bill is a Trojan horse to shut off domestic energy production, offshore and on,” said Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).

Markey said the bill is not “written in stone” and vowed to work with colleagues, but defended the measure as a needed response to the BP disaster.

“We have worked hard to uncover the truth about the causes of the disaster, in part to ensure that the responsible parties are held fully accountable. But it is equally important, if not more so, that we use the knowledge we have gained about the Deepwater Horizon disaster to ensure that such a thing will never happen again,” Markey said.

Various other provisions of the bill require redundant blowout prevention mechanisms, tougher well casing and cementing standards, third-party certification of blowout preventers and well designs, beefed-up rig inspections and other new mandates.

It also allows criminal penalties of up to $10 million for violations of the act and up to 10 years in prison. The plan also allows citizen lawsuits to compel compliance with the law.

— Puneet Kollipara contributed.