Offshore Drilling Safety and Response Technologies
Opening Statement By The Honorable Brad Miller
Opening Statement By
Ranking Member Brad Miller
April 6, 2011
Hearing on Offshore Drilling Safety and Response Technologies
U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
Thank you, Chairman Harris.
On this side of the aisle the Energy & Environment Subcommittee is also stocked with seasoned professionals. In addition to me and the full Committee Ranking Member, Eddie Bernice Johnson, we have Ms. Woolsey, Ms. Lofgren and Mr. McNerney, all Californians and well-known champions of a clean energy future. Mr. Lujan, representing Los Alamos National Lab, brings his expertise on federal research and technology development to the Subcommittee. Finally, Mr. Tonko draws upon his experience as the CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Like you, Mr. Harris, I can assure the public that we take the jurisdiction of this committee very seriously, and will always look for ways to push our federal research agencies to be more effective and efficient drivers of innovation and economic growth. Our job is to know the agencies’ capabilities, know what the public needs, and build a credible and strong record on government’s performance in meeting those needs. Where the agencies succeed, we will support them. Where they fall short, we will take corrective measures and ultimately may decide to redirect resou
However, today we are here to discuss the progress that industry has made in meeting the public’s needs for safe and responsible oil and gas drilling. Just as we hold our agencies accountable, we also hold these industries accountable and expect them to acknowledge the tremendous risk inherent in the services they provide.
Before the explosion that killed eleven men, sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, and generated the ensuing oil spill that lasted for nearly three months, offshore drilling was not at the center of public attention. As is often the case with energy matters, outside of the policy world, the availability of oil was largely taken for granted and the environmental risks were not widely known by the general public. That all changed on April 20th when we got a violent and lasting reminder of how dangerous our need for oil has become.
As the world’s largest oil consumer, but with less than 8% of technically-recoverable global reserves, our reliance on oil has driven domestic production to ever deeper waters in search of more productive fields. As Chairman Hall has taught us over the years, this is no small feat of engineering. These companies have pushed the boundaries of technological innovation in finding and extracting oil under nearly impossible conditions.
By almost all accounts, in the race to deeper waters the industry’s investment in advancing worker and environmental safety has not kept up with these increasingly dangerous conditions.
To anyone that disputes that, I ask you to tell me how an explosion killed eleven men and sank one of the most technologically advanced drilling rigs in the world? Why did it take three months of failed attempts by a massive team of government and industry experts to stop the oil gushing from the disable
Witnesses
Panel
0 - Dr. Victor Der
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Department of Energy
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0 - Mr. David Miller
Director, Standards American Petroleum Institute American Petroleum Institute
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0 - Mr. Owen Kratz
President and CEO Helix Energy Solutions Group Helix Energy Solutions Group
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0 - Dr. Molly Maccauley
Research Director and Senior Fellow Resources for the Future Resources for the Future
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