Ed Markey

This is a very bad way that Obama has of having a plot to undermine oil drilling in our country.

Well, they shake up the Etch a Sketch and tell America that the new reason to limit and postpone EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act is to stop gas prices from spiking.

Today is the 17th time this committee has met to discuss some form of repeal of the EPA's Clean Air Act authority during this Congress.

This is not about Obama. This is about OPEC, oil companies and Wall Street speculators.

But that storyline is getting harder and harder to sell as the economy improves and improves and improves month after month after month, and we see positive job numbers.

The Honorable Edward J. Markey

If you are not on the table you are on the menu.

A lot of us, I am included, think there should be kind of a time limit on how long you get a lease.

I just do not like the idea where it has been decided it is OK to keep that oil and natural gas out of the hands of the American people.

You do agree that a $5,000 fine for not having a blowout preventer is----

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much.

That is just going to continue to lead to a drop in the amount of oil that we have to import, and this combination of wind and solar with electric vehicles is the real threat that keeps oil sheiks sleepless at night, because they can see…

We have had a seven percent reduction in oil consumption just over the last year.

Finally, we got the auto industry to get out of their denial.

We are producing more now than we have in eight years in the United States, and very importantly, we are at a 12-year low in our imports.

Because of your great work, because of the Department of the Interior's great work, because of the work in the private sector, we are now down to importing only 45 percent of the oil which we consume in the United States.

Oil companies currently hold 38 million acres of public land, onshore, but are not producing on 68 percent of that land.

I just think the fine structure, the monetary penalties are woefully out of date.

Do you think that an average of $135 per incident is adequate to serve as a deterrent or do you believe the fines should be higher and that the statute should reflect that?

Director Abbey, last month Representative Holt and I sent you a report prepared by the Committee staff that analyzed drilling, safety and environmental regulations that occurred on Federal lands over the last decade.

Yet, the Republican Majority is threatening to raise taxes on the wind industry this year, which would jeopardize those projects and many others, and could kill 37,000 clean energy jobs.

If a fine of $40,000 per day is not a sufficient financial deterrent, it is clear, and I agree with you, that a fine of $5,000 for a serious violation like not having a blowout preventer would not be a sufficient deterrent.

For example, currently, the maximum fine that BLM can issue for a major violation, for something like drilling without a blowout preventer or drilling without a permit is only $5,000.

If the Majority is interested in increasing oil production on Federal lands, they should support this legislation, get the companies to stop sitting and start drilling, if that is what they want.

Ranking Member Markey and I have introduced legislation to establish an escalating fee on oil and gas leases, which would provide strong incentives for oil companies to either start drilling or relinquish the land.