Hearing on Gulf Oil Spill Report
Ranking Member Edward Markey (D-MA) declared that the facts are in and argued that it is well-past time for this Committee to enact comprehensive legislation to ensure that we prevent a similar disaster in the future. He referred to fines levied to date against the oil companies involved as "a slap on the wrist" and advocated for legislation that would increase civil penalties to hold companies accountable for loss of life and environmental damage.
The first witness panel included Co-Chairs of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and representatives from the contributing agencies. Findings of the investigation revealed that a flawed safety management system, including poor maintenance of electrical equipment, bypassing of alarms and automatic shutdown systems and inadequate emergency procedure training, contributed to the Deepwater Horizon accident. Report recommendations aimed at reducing the chance of similar events occurring in the future include, continued safety management research, regulatory action and enforcement, rig design changes and improved emergency response training.
The second panel was comprised of representatives from the oil companies named in the JIT report. All three witnesses, Ray Dempsey, vice president for BP America; Bill Ambrose, managing director of the North America Division for Transocean; and James Bement, vice president of Sperry Drilling for Halliburton. They indicated that they were not able to discuss or answer questions about specific findings in the report given ongoing litigation. Witness testimony did highlight changes companies have made to safety management and contractor review policies since the 2010 accident. Questioning by Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) and Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) challenged suggestions in investigation reports that systemic safety problems exist in the offshore drilling industry.
Both Committee Chairman Hastings (R-WA) and Ranking Member Markey (D-MA) raised concerns regarding the release of information surrounding the hearing. Chairman Hastings noted that the Department of Interior's announcement of citations associated with the spill came just prior to the Committee hearing and speculated that there may have been "effort or intent... to impede legislative activities." Ranking Member Markey criticized the short notice given to Committee Democrats regarding the addition of the second witness panel. He announced the intent of Democratic Members to petition to call witnesses to testify at a second day of hearings on the topic.
