WASHINGTON (October 12, 2010) – Following the announcement by Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that there would be a conditional lifting of the exploratory drilling suspension in the Gulf of Mexico, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who chairs the Energy and Environment Subcommittee and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, issued the following statement. Hundreds of platforms continued to operate in the Gulf of Mexico during the temporary deepwater drilling suspension, which affected 33 deepwater drilling rigs.

“This deepwater drilling suspension was always about keeping the Gulf workers and waters safe from another oil spill, and it has been effective in doing so. The new rules that the Interior Department has issued will help ensure that if oil companies are going to drill ultra-deep, they are doing so in a manner that is ultra-safe.
 
“Because there was a suspension of belief on the part of the oil industry that an accident like this could ever happen, a suspension of drilling was necessary to bring those companies back to reality.

“Much more is left to be done in the wake of the BP spill. Senate Republicans continue to block subpoena power for the independent commission investigating the spill, and the Senate has still yet to take up the spill safety legislation that the House approved last summer.”

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