Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said she is confident strict new offshore drilling regulations will stand up to legal challenges, amid questions by the energy industry and Republicans on why the rules are needed.
Jewell said her agency had “good communication with people on both sides of the aisle … and [is] confident it will stand” both legally and over time, she told reporters Thursday.
The new well-containment rules were issued Thursday six years after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico forced Congress to restructure the agency in the wake of the calamity, which killed 11 workers and led to the biggest spill in the history of the industry.
When asked why it took so long, Jewell said the rule’s delay was due to the need for the department to restructure itself while getting up to speed on the technical proficiency required to ensure a spill like the one that occurred in 2010 never happens again.
The spill was the “largest environmental catastrophe of our time,” Jewell said. The new rules reflect that by taking “great strides” to put in place sweeping reforms, she said.
She said she appreciated the industry’s willingness to step up and work with the government on improving safety for offshore drilling, “but more needs to be done.”
She said Thursday’s rules are “more stringent” in requiring that technologies used to prevent blowouts are constantly tested in real time to make sure that if a spill occurs it can be closed off at the source.
The industry warned the Interior Department that the rules duplicate standards it established two years after the spill, and said the proposed regulations could interfere with the running of oil rigs to the point it makes them unsafe and unable to implement newer technologies to improve safety quickly.
Brian Salerno, the head of the bureau implementing the rules, suggested to reporters that some of the changes in the rule should please the industry, including a big concern over how frequently drillers should test their blowout prevention technologies.
Salerno said the rules changed it from every week to every two weeks.
He also the department included some of the industry’s standards into the rules so as to not be duplicative.
The agency took into consideration the industry’s “thoughtful” and thorough comments and “adjusted the rule accordingly,” he said.
But the industry was not impressed with the final rules.
“This long-anticipated rule, half a decade in the making, was the federal government’s chance to get it right — to implement new offshore operating standards that would balance workable safety measures with the continued development of America’s rich energy resources,” said Dan Naatz, senior vice president of federal affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of America. “Instead, today’s highly prescriptive rule could result in unintended negative consequences leading to reduced safety, less environmental protection, fewer American jobs, and decreased U.S. oil and natural gas production.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, expressed similar disappointment, calling the final version of the regulations “ham-fisted, to the point of potentially making offshore operations more dangerous.”
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, issued a statement titled, “Safety Rules that Undermine Safety Are Irrational.”
“I was not alone in pointing out the many failures in the original draft of this rule that would harm existing safety innovation and undercut responsible offshore development,” Bishop said. “As we review the final rule, one thing remains certain: our nation’s regulatory process is broken.”
But not all Republicans are critical of the new rules.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Florida, is opposed to offshore drilling. He praised the new rules as necessary to protect Florida’s coastline from oil spills such as the 2010 catastrophe.
