Reforms Still Needed to Ensure Drilling Safety; Markey Calls for Hearing with BP, Cameron, Halliburton, Transocean
 
WASHINGTON (September 14, 2011) – Following the release of the last major report on BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) today called for hearings involving the companies involved in the disaster in the Natural Resources Committee. The Interior Department in their Joint Investigative Team report released today with the U.S. Coast Guard announced they planned to issue seven new citations against the companies involved in the disaster, accusing them of not fully protecting workers and the environment, and not taking proper measures to contain the well.
 
Rep. Markey, the top Democrat on the committee, challenged his Republican colleagues to follow on their promises to wait until the facts were in before taking action, and advance Rep. Markey’s legislation to reform offshore drilling safety measures. On top of the previous release of the blue ribbon BP Spill Commission report, the JIT report should eliminate the final excuse to pass safety reforms, Rep. Markey insisted.
 
“The facts are now in, and now it is time to take action and implement comprehensive reforms to ensure this kind of accident never occurs again in U.S. waters,” said Rep. Markey. “Nearly one year after BP’s Macondo well was declared ‘dead’, this report shows that we still need a resurrection of attention paid to the safety of our offshore oil industry.”
 
Rep. Markey will today call on Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) to bring representatives from BP, Cameron, Halliburton and Transocean – the main companies involved in the disaster – before the committee to answer questions about the Joint Investigative Team report. Chairman Hastings announced today that he would bring members of the JIT team before the committee for a hearing on the report.
 
“We need to hear from the investigators, but we also need to hear from those being investigated,” said Rep. Markey. “Congress and the American people deserve a full hearing on the facts of this spill that affected millions of American citizens and countless small businesses on the Gulf Coast.”
 
Rep. Markey has introduced legislation (H.R. 501) reflecting the recommendations of the BP Spill Commission, but Republicans have blocked the legislation. In 2010, during the previous session of Congress, Senate Republicans blocked similar House-passed legislation that would have improved offshore drilling safety.
 
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