Political Quotes

“We just heard a pretty good discussion here a moment ago about the safety issues in the gulf. And the legislation before us seems to ignore every one of the recommendations that the bipartisan, independent commission made about how to conduct deepwater drilling in a safe manner. Actually, BP did have a terrible record. I am pleased that my colleague from Texas pointed out the 800 violations that BP had. There was, however, a bit of a problem for at least 11 members of the gulf oil industry: They died as a result of the inattention to safety. The proposal that I have before us deals with one of the recommendations that the commission made, and that is that there be an independent safety organization created to provide an additional level of review of the requirements that drilling be done safely. The legislation before us ignores that recommendation by the commission and basically says that the American Petroleum Institute is quite capable of doing this. Well, the independent, bipartisan commission, said, ``The American Petroleum Institute is culturally ill-suited to drive a safety revolution in the industry. For this reason, it is essential that the safety enterprise operate apart from the American Petroleum Institute,'' and I could not agree more, Mr. Chairman.…”