Washington, DC - Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI15) made the following comments at today’s Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing “Inquiry into the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Coast Spill:”

“Mr. Chairman – thank you for holding this important hearing today.  The Obama Administration has proposed expanding offshore oil and natural gas drilling in a way that complies with all our environmental and safety laws – and I support expanded offshore oil drilling, if it is done right.  However, as these rigs go further from shore and into deeper waters, it is critically important that we understand what happened to the Deepwater Horizon rig and well, as well as what additional precautions we need to take to prevent anything like this from happening again.

“Now, this is not BP’s first time appearing before the Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee.  Indeed, in a 2007 hearing regarding corrosion in pipeline leading up to the Alaska Pipeline which led to 1 million liters of oil leaked in Alaska’s North Slope, I said ‘Workers were often forced to forgo safety measure to save money and to ultimately increase BP’s profits’ and ‘yet these [safety] programs in many cases appear to have been halted or cut due to budgetary reasons.  This is the cost of what we’ve learned about the way BP managed Prudhoe Bay.  Until BP fully acknowledges the role cost cutting and budget pressures played in creating this mess, I fear other problems, like this, may be incurring at other BP facilities through the United States.’

“The North Slope disaster is unfortunately only one example of BP being before this subcommittee – we also investigated BP’s Texas City operations.  Back in 2007, BP and its subsidiaries agreed to pay $50 million in criminal fines because of the 2005 explosions at its Texas City refinery.  I note with irony and dismay this fine is equal to less than a day’s corporate profits. 

“Sadly, here we are again.  This time, like the explosions at BP’s Texas City refinery, we not only have an environmental disaster, but we have the tragic loss of lives. 

“A little more than a year ago, in April 2009, the Minerals Management Service exempted BP’s lease at Deepwater Horizon from an environmental impact statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.  BP called the prospect of an oil spill “unlikely” and stated that “no mitigation measures other than those required by regulation and BP policy will be employed to avoid, diminish or eliminate potential impacts on environmental resources.”  This, Mr. Chairman is outrageous.  NEPA is the law of the land for a reason.  I know because I wrote it.

“I sincerely hope that when the investigation is completed we don’t find that BP once again tried to cut costs at the expense of safety.  Given their history, I am somewhat skeptical that will be the conclusion, but I am hopeful.

“The Gulf Coast is one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the country.  There are more than 400 species, including rare birds, waterfowl and sea turtles that are at very serious risk from this disaster.  The coastal wetlands are a very fragile ecosystem that deserves protection. 

“Since BP’s effort to get the containment dome in place didn’t work, the company is resorting to golf balls, knots of rope and other miscellaneous materials to try and plug the hole.  If it works, great – it just strikes me as odd that with all the technology we have, golf balls are our best hope.  I look forward to hearing more about this and other efforts to stop the leaking of oil into the Gulf.

“Mr. Chairman, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about their efforts thus far.”

Dingell has spent years investigating BP – between the Texas City incident and Prudhoe Bay pipeline closure due to corrosion in pipelines leading up to the Alaska Pipeline which led to one million liters of oil in Alaska's North Slope.  In a hearing in 2007 regarding Prudhoe Bay, Dingell said, “Workers were often forced to forgo safety measures to save money and to ultimately increase BP’s profits” and “yet these [safety] programs in many cases appear to have been halted or cut do to budgetary reasons.  This is the core of what we’ve learned about the way BP managed Prudhoe Bay.  Until BP fully acknowledges the role cost cutting and budget pressure played in creating this mess, I fear other problems, like this, may be incurring at other BP facilities through the United States.”

For more on Dingell’s work investigating BP, please see the following link:

http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=868&catid=67&Itemid=58