WASHINGTON D.C.: Ive listened with interest to the opening statements of Chairman Markey & Chairman Waxman. I want to say that in terms of doing the investigation I commend the majoritys staff especially on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee that Mr. Stupak chairs. We are getting the facts assembled and putting them out in an open and transparent fashion so the American people understand to the extent that its possible to understand exactly what happened."
Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton (R-Ennis/Arlington) made those comments Tuesday at a hearing entitled Drilling Down on Americas Energy Future: Safety Security & Clean Energy".
Its no question that British Petroleum oil company which is the owner and chief operator of the rig that had the accident is responsible for the accident. Its also as Mr. Waxman has pointed out the responsibility of our major oil companies to have adequate contingency plans when things go wrong. So Im not trying to whitewash the private sector in terms of their responsibility for causing this problem.
But I want to point out something that hasnt yet been pointed out. The five people most concerned about solving the problem are probably sitting before us today. ExxonMobil Chevron ConocoPhillips Shell Oil and BP America have huge interests in getting it right and preventing it from ever being wrong again.
If you add up the market capitalization of those five companies it still would not equal the market cap of some of the oil companies that are owned by sovereign nations such as Saudi Arabia Venezuela Republic of Mexico.
I would stipulate Mr. Chairman that BP has caused this particular problem. I will also stipulate that the gentlemen before us are a big part of the solution. But if the president of the United States has got a better idea about how to solve this problem right now he can pick up the phone and tell BP exactly what to do.
It is a federal issue in terms of the mitigation plan in terms of the cleanup plan. If theres anybody from President Obama on down who really knows the solution and you can stop that oil from spilling right now by golly all you have to do is pick up the phone and tell them what to do. Youve got to know exactly what to do and youve got to have the engineering and the technology available to do it.
America needs the energy that is below the Gulf of Mexico and in the Outer Continental Shelf. Thirty percent of our oil and gas is coming from the OCS right now and 80 percent is coming from what are called deep rigs. We have a depletion rate of existing production in this country Mr. Chairman of 30 to 40 percent. That means that the 8 million barrels of oil and gas that were producing per day next year were only going to be able to produce about five and a half or 6 million.
Youve got to replace that energy and since we have drilled millions of wells onshore since 1896 or the 1870s in Pennsylvania the fact of the matter is if youre going to find significant oil reserves in the continental United States theyre going to be in the Outer Continental Shelf. We need that energy.
Now I agree with Chairman Waxman that having a 500-page document thats a cookie cutter approach on what to do when you have a problem is not an answer. You cant have a contingency plan that says cross your fingers and hope the blowout preventer works. And that was the contingency plan.
We havent had a major accident in the OCS in 50 years so everybody had decided these blowout preventers are so good and so effective that all you had to do was push that magic button on the BP rig but it didnt work. So Chairman Waxman is right: We need more than a cookie cutter contingency plan. Where I disagree with Chairman Waxman and Chairman Markey is that the gentlemen before us have the wherewithal the expertise and they certainly have the incentive to put that plan together.
Now I dont know what the answers are. Maybe we need a full-time safety inspector on these rigs. Maybe we need a real-time data center somewhere where all the drilling information goes to a central data point where theres somebody in charge of safety that looks at it. It does appear that if people had been looking for the problem that we now know happened the data was there to tell them what to do.
But they werent looking for that. This rig was 40 days behind schedule and millions of dollars over budget. There was pressure to finish the job. There was nobody on that rig whose job was to make sure that they made the safe decision. When you start making decision after decision after decision that are not in and of themselves a bad decision but cumulatively minimize safety eventually you reach a critical mass and you have an accident.
Our job Mr. Chairman as the watchdogs for the American people is one to get the facts on the table. Two listen to people who have possible solutions. Three if theres a federal issue and a federal role lets do it. But when you take a patient to the emergency room the solution is not normally to kill the patient. The solution is to stabilize the patient determine what needs to be done to save the patient and then implement that strategy. I will stipulate Mr. Chairman America needs the energy beneath the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of the United States of America and the five men before us who represent five of the largest privately owned companies in the world while they are part of the problem they are a big part of the solution."
Thank you Mr. Chairman."
Barton also submitted his written statement for the record:
Mr. Chairman today we are 56 days into one of the worst environmental disasters ever faced by this country. For 56 days crude oil has gushed out of the destroyed wellhead once beneath the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Several lives were lost in the initial explosion and as the crisis has worsened every day were seeing the effects on people and wildlife.
The initial cause or causes of this tragedy are under investigation and it is critical that we get the real facts about the causes. I think folks may know that I am a strong supporter of energy production both onshore and offshore. But I know that the only way we can continue with drilling is if we are all sure that this production can be done safely without harm to people or the environment.
I believe firm oversight and safety are critical and strongly support the investigation. When I was chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee we conducted investigation and held hearings on the BP pipeline spill in Alaskas North Slope and the Texas City refinery explosion which killed 15 workers in 2005. We need to take all the steps necessary to find out the causes of this incident and ensure that this never happens again. Once we establish what went wrong we will take whatever legislative or regulatory measures are necessary to protect people and the environment.
Since April 20 a gargantuan effort has taken shape to stop the leak at the drilling site and protect the shoreline from experiencing catastrophic damage. In attempting to accomplish these objectives the federal government has supervised and directed BPs efforts with consistently disappointing results. The leak has not been plugged oil is destroying marshes fishing fleets are tied up in port plumes of oil swell under the surface. We need answers not only about what went wrong but about how we can do a better job at stopping the leak and cleaning up the spill.
Unfortunately the administration response to the spill has been disappointing. Instead of marshalling all the resources available the administration used the occasion to justify a new push for its economy-destroying global warming bill. Instead of calling for tougher safety requirements and inspections on offshore facilities the administration issued an arbitrary and ham-handed moratorium on all deepwater exploration threatening to add thousands more lost jobs to our nations 9.4 percent unemployment. Instead of looking for ways to support energy independence the Administration is increasing our dependence on foreign oil.
Mr. Chairman this was a human tragedy. Eleven lives were lost and were continuing to see an ecological disaster unfold that could last years. But anger and frustration do not solve problems. Likewise the leak at the ocean floor will not be plugged by the words spoken in this room today. I support producing American energy from all sources including the Gulf of Mexico but also include solar wind and anything else that makes sense. I look forward to the day when a broader variety of made-in-America energy is affordable and available. I want to see that day. But we must focus on the real problems: how to mitigate the spill assist Gulf residents and ensure a disaster like this never happens again."
