A BP executive said an “anomalous” pressure test on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig could have signaled to workers something was wrong hours before the massive explosion that led to the Gulf oil spill.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the new "strong and independent" agency will oversee offshore oil-and-gas safety and environmental protections.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he'll huddle with key chairmen after an end-of-month recess to discuss the future of energy and climate legislation.

Reid acknowledged the energy and climate bill set for unveiling Wednesday by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), but signaled he wouldn't figure out how to proceed with that and other energy and climate efforts until after the Memorial Day recess.

"What I intend to do after that is let this bill be seen by everyone that is interested in the subject, and I think the week that we get back after the Memorial Day recess, and I'll get all the chairmen together and take a look at what we need to do with energy for this year," Reid told reporters at the Capitol following a weekly caucus luncheon.

The majority leader has said that an energy bill would be one of the top Democratic priorities after they finish up work on Wall Street reform, though Reid has also said that the Senate's energy and climate bill might be less sweeping than what Kerry and Lieberman plan to unveil. That plan was negotiated in part with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who withdrew from the effort in recent weeks.

"I can do one this big because I have a couple of Republicans who would help me on that," Reid said Sunday on the Spanish-language network Univision. "But the big bill that we need to do, they are not helping us on that, but I can do a smaller energy bill.”

The House passed a significantly more expansive climate change bill last June in a close vote. Some Democrats had sought to advance similar legislation in the Senate, though those efforts stalled last year in committee.

Cross-posted to the Briefing Room.



Two Democrats active on oil-and-gas issues are applauding Interior Department plans to divide the agency that regulates offshore drilling and collects production royalties.



"It may have the effect of building some additional independence in to the folks responsible for safety issues," Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told The Hill.



Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce plans Tuesday to carve Interior's Minerals Management Service into separate branches.



MMS - which is under new scrutiny following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - currently regulates drilling and production operations in federal waters, and collects billions of dollars in lease bids and royalties from U.S. energy production.



Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) also cheered the plan. 

"I think it's a good move on Secretary Salazar's part and probably long overdue," she told reporters in the Capitol.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday the administration's discussion of splitting up MMS in the wake of the BP spill is "a good thing."

"We have an agency that is primarily focused on the revenue side of the oil industry industry, as opposed to the safety side.  And I think there is going to be some suggestion, with which I agree, to either create another division to separate the responsibilities, so you have a vigorous agency or division to look at the safety aspects, and let somebody else look at the revenue aspects."

Creating a new offshore safety agency would not require congressional approval.

Republican senators used the first hearing into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to warn against pulling back on offshore drilling, even as they emphasized the need for greater safeguards.

While steering clear of the GOP’s “drill, baby, drill” refrain from 2008, lawmakers nonetheless stressed that the U.S. reliance on oil will continue.

“We all agree that we need to steadily minimize the percentage of oil in our overall energy mix, but under anyone's most optimistic scenario, our nation will need a lot of oil for a long time to come,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“For the sake of our nation's economy, for the sake of our national security, and this incident notwithstanding, for the sake of the world's environment, we need to safely produce the maximum amount of that energy at home,” she added.

She said the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig “will teach us here today and for many years to come about how America can strengthen our standards for producing the energy we need without compromising our economy or energy security.”

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said that “blocking future offshore exploration only means we will import more from foreign countries.”

Democrat Mary Landrieu (La.), a strong oil-and-gas industry ally, had a similar message. She said that pulling back on U.S. development would “export some of these problems to countries less equipped and less inclined to prevent this kind of catastrophic disaster.”

The first portion of the hearing focused on increased technical safeguards that may be needed to ensure that blowout prevention devices function proplerly.

Later the lawmakers will hear from executives from BP America Inc., Transocean Ltd.  and Halliburton. BP had leased the Deepwater Horizon rig from owner-operator Transocean, and Halliburton was a contractor on the drilling project.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is introducing a bill that would levy new fees on offshore oil-and-gas leases to fund alternative energy programs, a sign that drilling opponents are seeking to stay on offense politically as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues.

The bill would impose a $10 annual fee on each acre leased for offshore drilling. Lautenberg released letters of support from two environmental groups – the Natural Resources Defense Council and Friends of the Earth.

“Instead of just talking about moving ‘Beyond Petroleum,’ this legislation would force the oil companies to put their money where their mouth is and invest in the next generation of clean energy technology,” Lautenberg said in a prepared statement.

His office said the bill could raise as much as $1.8 billion annually, but that figure would assume every acre of offshore tracts available is actually leased and generating the fees.

Lautenberg is a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which is holding the second of two Senate hearings Tuesday about the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig leased to BP and the subsequent spill.

The Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing began Tuesday morning.

Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) on Tuesday opened the first Capitol Hill hearing into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill with a pledge to work across the aisle on new legislation to prevent future disasters.

Bingaman noted that the April 20 oil rig explosion and ongoing spill present a suite of technological and regulatory questions, and that lawmakers must “determine quickly and to the best of our ability the appropriate next steps.”

“As those steps become clear, through the testimony we receive and the investigative work of our Committee staff, I intend to work with the Ranking Member and the Members of this Committee on a bipartisan basis to develop, introduce and advance the necessary and appropriate legislation through the Senate,” he said.

The committee is hearing today from executives from BP America Inc., Transocean Ltd.  and Halliburton. BP had leased the Deepwater Horizon rig from owner-operator Transocean, and Halliburton was a contractor on the drilling project.

The proposal comes after years of damning reports about the Minerals Management Service.

* On eve of congressional hearings, blame game begins

A day before two congressional committees hold hearings on the Gulf oil spill, executives at the companies involved in the accident began pointing fingers at one another.

From the Wall Street Journal: “BP, the well owner, blames the failure of a big set of valves on the sea floor, known as the blowout preventer, to halt the blowout once it started."

But BP’s contractors, Halliburton and Transocean, as well as by two workers on the drilling rig, are focusing on when a cement plug was installed in the process. 

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