Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Gulf oil spill could usher in new safety agency - New Orleans News .

Deepwater Horizon sinks into the gulf after a massive explosion on the dark of April 20, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) - The presidential panel investigating the massive Gulf oil spill will likely recommend to President Barack Obama next year new ways for both the union authorities and the oil industry to oversee offshore drilling safety.

xperts with the presidential oil spill commission on Thursday recommended that oil and gas companies drilling off the U.S. coast set up a safety institute similar to the one the nuclear industry formed after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. The plant would address lapses that led to the Gulf spill.They also said the federal government needed an independent authority to ensure offshore workers, drilling rigs and production platforms operate safely.The staff recommendations, and the board members' reactions, are the first indications of where the mission is headed as it prepares to publish its concluding report to the Chair in January.The committee on Thursday said that the calamity that erupted from the Macondo well resulted from questionable decisions and management failures by 3 companies: BP PLC, the well owner and operator; Transocean, Ltd. the rig's owner; and Halliburton Co. which was leased to mix and pump cement that is vital to securing the swell against a blowout."This perception in some quarters of the oil and gas manufacture that Macondo was the issue of one company's decisions but does not stand," said William K. Reilly, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator under President George H.W. Bush and the panel's co-chair. "It has been conclusively and indisputably established that we own a larger job than that."The jury found 11 decisions made by these companies increased risk. Most saved time, and all but one had a safer alternative."All of these companies were involved - either as the main decision maker, or in the decision-making process," said Robert Sears, the commission's senior science and engineering adviser. "To recall these three companies screwed up like this bothers me."The panel's staff called for a further separation of powers within the Home Department, which renamed and reorganized its offshore drilling agency after the Gulf accident to separate its charge and money-collecting duties from its enforcement of safe and environmental laws.The new government safety agency - which could be inside or outside the department - should be led by an engineer who would not be politically appointed, the experts said."This regulator would take one mandate - which is safety and the technical integrity of these facilities," said Shirley Neff, a senior analyst with the commission.On the industry side, experts said the safety institute should not be led by the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas association that drafts standards but also lobbies on behalf of the industry.Online:National Oil Spill Commission: www.oilspillcommission.gov(All Rights Reserved.)

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