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Aftermath of BP Gulf Disaster
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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.
The Senate must pass the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act before the August recess to promote deeper investment in energy efficiency and to hold BP and other polluters fully responsible for damage and clean-up of their environmental disasters. This package of legislation will help end our dangerous addiction to oil, create new jobs, and protect our economy and environment. The Home Star program will create over 100,000 jobs in hard hit industries while simultaneously saving over 40 million barrels of oil per year. The Outer Continental Shelf drilling reforms, drilling safety and response provisions, and unlimited liability for oil companies will help us prevent future disasters like the BP spill and hold polluters accountable for the damages they cause. Plans to create infrastructure for electric vehicles and incentives for natural gas-powered trucks will help us make smarter transportation choices and reduce our reliance on oil. Last, fully funding the $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund will allow for necessary land acquisition to protect our wild places and waterways.
The time to act is now. Vote for the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act
"To be clear, we are not putting forth this bill in place of a comprehensive bill," Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said. "But we will not pass up the opportunity to hold BP accountable, lessen our dependence on oil, create good-paying American jobs and protect the environment."
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.
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.
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.