Aftermath of BP Gulf Disaster

On April 20, 2010, a BP-leased drilling platform, the Deepwater Horizon, that was exploring in mile-deep Gulf waters exploded and caught fire, killing 11 men. Two days later, on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the rig sank unleashing a torrent of oil from the bottom of the ocean. On July 15, BP shut the well down but not before over 200 million gallons poured into the Gulf in the worst oil-related disaster in American history. The Obama administration responded with a formal investigation of the causes that revealed BP was neither prepared nor adequately cautious about the risks of drilling in waters so deep. Neither was the federal government's Minerals Management Service, an Interior Department unit charged with oversight, but which internal audits had found was much too cozy with the companies it was supposed to inspect. The administration replaced the MMS with a new agency, the Bureau of Ocean Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

The BP disaster, though, did not prompt a fresh discussion in the United States about the risks of a fossil fuel-based economy, nor was it the focus of gubernatorial or congressional campaigns prior to the national elections in November, 2010. On October 12, 2010, three weeks before the election, President Obama lifted a temporary moratorium on offshore exploration, signaling that the U.S. was comfortable with the risks and its capacity to minimize them.

----------------------------------------------------------------

8.11.10
House Approves CLEAR Act; Senate Delays Oil Disaster Response Bill

Late on Friday, July 30, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act by 209-193 margin. The measure principally concerned with limiting the hazards of deep ocean energy exploration and production, and also contains modest additional measures to strengthen energy efficiency programs and expand the use of natural gas as a fuel in heavy vehicles.

Meanwhile, on August 5, during the very same week that BP sealed the blowout at the bottom of the Gulf and brought the oil disaster near to a a close, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Senate would wait until September to take up an oil disaster response bill. Earlier, Sen. Reid had stripped the bill of any provisions related to direct climate action. Environmental leaders expressed a mix of frustration, anger, and resolve to keep trying.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

7.28.10
Narrow Energy Bills Introduced in House and Senate

Goals: Make Deep Ocean Drilling Safer;

Improve Energy Efficiency

By Keith Schneider
US Climate Action Network

House and Senate Democrats on Tuesday introduced separate energy proposals that are principally concerned with limiting the hazards of deep ocean energy exploration and production, and also contain modest additional measures to strengthen energy efficiency programs and expand the use of natural gas as a fuel in heavy vehicles.

Both proposals were unveiled five days after Senate Democrats pulled provisions to respond to rising carbon emissions out of their comprehensive climate and energy proposal. That decision prompted a chorus of condemnation from many of the nation’s influential editorial pages and leaders of major American environmental organizations.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Senate Drops Climate from Energy Bill

Climate Advocates Say Lawmakers Cave to Energy Industry, Resolve to Keep Trying

By Keith Schneider
US Climate Action Network

7.23.10

WASHINGTON, JULY 22 – Though he vowed last week to introduce a comprehensive climate and energy bill before the end of the month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged this afternoon from a meeting with Democratic colleagues and announced that the new bill would not include specific measures to limit emissions that are warming the Earth.

A much less ambitious bill will be introduced, said Sen. Reid, that focuses on a response to the BP Gulf disaster, improvements to energy efficiency, converting vehicle fleets to natural gas, and other narrower energy measures.

The introduction of such a bill would appear to have the effect of squandering the work of the House, which passed a cap-and-trade bill in June 2009 that set a national cap on carbon emissions and required companies to have permits for such emissions.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Other Features on the Senate Bill:

• Draft Senate Energy Bill, released 7.27.10
• Senate Democrats Abandon Comprehensive Climate Bill
• Climate Bill Tabled, Blame Game Begins
• Pelosi: No Regrets Passing Climate Change
• WRI Report on GHG Emissions