News from the Natural Resources Committee

Top Natural Resources Committee Democrat Wants Answers on Safety Improvements, Use of Public Lands
 
WASHINGTON (March 15, 2011) – Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, today requested that the Chief Operating Officers from the top five oil companies appear before the committee to discuss their industry’s updated safety and response efforts following the BP oil spill, and to answer questions on the fair use of America’s public lands and waters for oil drilling. The request was made in a letter to Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (D-Wash.), which can be found HERE .
 
“The Committee on Natural Resources has jurisdiction over oil and gas activities on public lands and has a duty to ensure that energy companies are operating safely, diligently developing public resources and providing a fair return to the American people,” writes Rep. Markey. “As we seek to reduce the deficit and ensure that oil and gas activities on public lands are safe, it is imperative that the Committee receive testimony from these five companies that are the leaders of this industry.”
 
None of the major oil companies, including BP, has testified following the release of the final report of the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. That report said that the root causes of the BP spill were “systemic.” “As deepwater drilling resumes in the Gulf of Mexico and as Congress has still not yet enacted a single reform,  it is critical that we hear testimony from the largest oil companies on the measures they are taking to ensure that their offshore drilling operations are safe,” writes Rep. Markey.
 
Other topics which Rep. Markey lists in the letter as needing oversight on is the fact that oil and gas companies currently hold 79 million acres under lease but are only producing on 18.5 million acres, even while requesting additional public lands be opened up for exploration; the free drilling occurring in the Gulf of Mexico from a loophole in the law that could cost taxpayers up to $53 billion in lost revenue; and other topics related to our nation’s energy policy.
 
Rep. Markey held similar hearings in the previous two Congresses in the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
 
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