Updated 8h 13m ago
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY
The company that owns the offshore well spewing crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico and other major oil companies spearheaded a campaign to thwart a government plan to impose tighter regulations aimed at preventing similar disasters, according to government records.
Tighter regulations would have required that drillers perform independent audits and hazard assessments designed to reduce accidents caused by human errors, but the federal Minerals Management Service (MMS) has so far not imposed the rules in the face of near unanimous opposition from oil companies.
Oil executives — including BP, which leased the rig that exploded April 20 — argued that the industry had a solid environmental record and most companies had voluntarily adopted similar safeguards to protect against a major spill. They also said the new rules would have been too costly.
Since the spill, BP has changed its position on the MMS proposal, BP spokesman Andrew Gowers said. The company expects tighter safety rules and will not oppose them, he said.
Oil industry safety experts and environmentalists say the tougher regulations are needed and might even have prevented the spill threatening hundreds of miles of coastline.
The failure of the government to adopt measures demonstrates the chokehold that the companies have on federal regulators, who seldom impose rules in the face of intense opposition, the safety experts said.
"Whenever the oil industry sees some proposal they don't like, they kill it," said Richard Charter, senior policy adviser for marine programs at the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife. "They throw their money around."
The MMS is still considering the comments as it works toward a final rule, said spokeswoman Eileen Angelico. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose department oversees the MMS, is also considering new safety standards in the wake of the spill, spokesman Matt Lee-Ashley said.
In its June 17 proposal, the MMS said that an extensive analysis showed that existing regulations do not address the most common causes of oil spills and serious accidents on deep-water platforms: human errors, poor communication and corporate failures. The MMS focuses instead on inspecting equipment, which rarely triggers spills, the agency said.
To attack such problems as human error, the proposal would have required companies to take dozens of steps to enhance safety in work rules, training and communication between different companies on the same job.
A who's who of the oil and gas industry wrote to oppose the proposed rule during a comment period. The government put the letters online.
Large companies such as BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil said they generally supported such programs but preferred that they be voluntary and more flexible. Some oil companies also said the measure would be more costly to the industry than the MMS estimated.
"We believe the industry's current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs ... continue to be very successful," wrote Richard Morrison, a vice president at BP America.
The industry is not flatly opposed to the safety measures, said Andy Radford, senior policy adviser for offshore issues at the American Petroleum Institute. "We wanted to keep the dialogue open to see if we could do it better," he said.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2010-05-10-drilling10_ST_U.htm?csp=34
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY
The company that owns the offshore well spewing crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico and other major oil companies spearheaded a campaign to thwart a government plan to impose tighter regulations aimed at preventing similar disasters, according to government records.
Tighter regulations would have required that drillers perform independent audits and hazard assessments designed to reduce accidents caused by human errors, but the federal Minerals Management Service (MMS) has so far not imposed the rules in the face of near unanimous opposition from oil companies.
Oil executives — including BP, which leased the rig that exploded April 20 — argued that the industry had a solid environmental record and most companies had voluntarily adopted similar safeguards to protect against a major spill. They also said the new rules would have been too costly.
Since the spill, BP has changed its position on the MMS proposal, BP spokesman Andrew Gowers said. The company expects tighter safety rules and will not oppose them, he said.
Oil industry safety experts and environmentalists say the tougher regulations are needed and might even have prevented the spill threatening hundreds of miles of coastline.
The failure of the government to adopt measures demonstrates the chokehold that the companies have on federal regulators, who seldom impose rules in the face of intense opposition, the safety experts said.
"Whenever the oil industry sees some proposal they don't like, they kill it," said Richard Charter, senior policy adviser for marine programs at the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife. "They throw their money around."
The MMS is still considering the comments as it works toward a final rule, said spokeswoman Eileen Angelico. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose department oversees the MMS, is also considering new safety standards in the wake of the spill, spokesman Matt Lee-Ashley said.
In its June 17 proposal, the MMS said that an extensive analysis showed that existing regulations do not address the most common causes of oil spills and serious accidents on deep-water platforms: human errors, poor communication and corporate failures. The MMS focuses instead on inspecting equipment, which rarely triggers spills, the agency said.
To attack such problems as human error, the proposal would have required companies to take dozens of steps to enhance safety in work rules, training and communication between different companies on the same job.
A who's who of the oil and gas industry wrote to oppose the proposed rule during a comment period. The government put the letters online.
Large companies such as BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil said they generally supported such programs but preferred that they be voluntary and more flexible. Some oil companies also said the measure would be more costly to the industry than the MMS estimated.
"We believe the industry's current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs ... continue to be very successful," wrote Richard Morrison, a vice president at BP America.
The industry is not flatly opposed to the safety measures, said Andy Radford, senior policy adviser for offshore issues at the American Petroleum Institute. "We wanted to keep the dialogue open to see if we could do it better," he said.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2010-05-10-drilling10_ST_U.htm?csp=34
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