On the recordMay 10, 2011
I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Chairman, here is the BP Blue Ribbon Commission report that was conducted to investigate and to make recommendations as to what the causes were and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. Right now, nothing that is in this report has been implemented in terms of legislation here on the House floor. So I will tell you what my bill does. It will require multiple lines of defense against a blowout and ensures that these defenses are redundant so that failure of one does not lead to cascading failures of the entire system as occurred with BP's Macondo well. First, the amendment sets minimum standards for blowout preventers, including a requirement that blowout preventers operate as intended even when the force of an ongoing blowout shifts the drill pipe out of position. The amendment also requires new standards on safe well design and cementing to ensure multiple redundant barriers within the well against uncontrolled oil or gas blow that could lead to a blowout. The amendment also requires independent third-party certification of blowout preventers and well designs. Finally, the language ensures that if the Department of the Interior finds by some other measures that it has or may one day require would provide an even higher level of safety, that the Secretary can substitute those better alternatives instead. This is the direction we should be heading in. I reserve the balance of my time.
