Political Quotes

“An interesting discussion from my colleague from Colorado. I would note that there are numerous examples where the Federal Government does rely upon outside safety organizations. For example, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations provides safety standards for our nuclear industry, specifically, not allowing the nuclear power industry to do the safety reviews, but, rather, an outside organization. We're simply calling for a level of review that is not associated with those two organizations that caused the problem. The Department of the Interior, and I was the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior in the 90s, has some familiarity of the comings and goings, the shortcomings as well as the strength of that Department. This particular section of the Department of the Interior has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that, over time, it has not been able to regulate properly the safety and other elements of the natural gas and oil industry. We need to provide an outside level of review on the safety requirements, both to keep the Department of the Interior on the proper course and the industry itself on the proper course. That's what the amendment does. I think it makes an eminent amount of sense, and we're really talking about both environmental issues here, that is, the health of environment in the coast, which was seriously compromised, and also the well-being of the men and women that work on these oil platforms.…”