Miller Wins BP Amendment
House committee passes ban on future BP leases
Reuters
WASHINGTON- BP Plc’s safety record would bar the company from getting new U.S. offshore oil and gas exploration leases for up to seven years under bill language passed on Wednesday by a U.S. House committee.
The Committee on Natural Resources voted to pass an amendment by Representative George Miller, a California Democrat, that would prevent BP and other companies from getting new leases from the Department of the Interior unless they pass safety and environmental requirements.
The amendment did not mention BP specifically, but it would not allow any company to get leases that had more than 10 fatalities at drilling and production facilities or refineries that resulted from violations of federal or state health and environment laws within the last seven years.
“The Miller amendment would prohibit BP or any other company with an egregious worker and environmental safety record from new offshore oil and gas drilling,” Miller’s office said in an email after the vote.
The measure was added to a sweeping bill that the committee expected to clear on Thursday morning, but which would have to pass both the full House and Senate before reaching President Barack Obama’s desk.
BP pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from the 2005 blast at its refinery in Texas City, Texas, that killed 15 workers and injured 180.
The Justice Department is interviewing witnesses in its criminal and civil investigations into the April 20 explosion of the rig that damaged BP’s well that is gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico and harming multibillion dollar fishing and tourism industries across five states.
