BP Gulf Oil Spill: A Crisis Created to Back Door Climate Legislation?
BP Gulf Oil Spill: A Crisis Created to Back Door Climate Legislation?
- April 20, 2010: BP oil rig explosion causes 'volcano of oil' to erupt into the Gulf of Mexico.
- June 7, 2010: According to a federal document, a nearby drilling rig, the Ocean Saratoga, has been leaking since at least April 30 (this story is not covered by mainstream news sources).
- July 15, 2010: After 85 days, after 172 million gallons of crude oil gushed into the Gulf, and after dumping two million gallons of the highly-toxic dispersant Corexit into the Gulf, BP places a temporary cap on the well.
- July 16, 2010: Two oil pipelines near China's Dalian's Xingang Harbor expode, igniting a roaring inferno shooting flames 60 feet into the air and spilling an estimated 11,000 barrels of oil into the Yellow Sea.
- July 26, 2010: Pipeline spills more than one million gallons of oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River before leak is stopped.
- July 28, 2010: Barge hits wellhead of an abandoned well in southeastern Louisiana, spewing a mixture of oil, natural gas, and water into Barataria Bay.
- July 30, 2010: In response to the oil spill in the Gulf, House passes scaled-back version of the CLEAR Act, aimed at reforming offshore drilling (but with the possibility of adding caps on carbon emissions back into the bill during "conference" talks between the House and Senate).
- August 4, 2010: BP claims victory in plugging blown-out oil well in Gulf.
Halliburton was forced to admit in testimony at a congressional hearing last month that it carried out a cementing operation 20 hours before the Gulf of Mexico rig went up in flames. The lawsuits claim that four Halliburton workers stationed on the rig improperly capped the well. Oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. says it safely finished a cementing operation 20 hours before a Gulf of Mexico rig went up inflames, killing 11 men and ultimately causing a massive oil spill. In testimony prepared for a congressional hearing, Halliburton says it completed work on the well according to accepted industry practice and federal regulators. Halliburton executive Tim Probert says a pressure test was conducted after the work was finished, and the well owner decided to continue. The cause of the April 20 explosion is under investigation, but lawsuits filed after the disaster claim it was caused when Halliburton workers improperly capped the well -- a process known as cementing. Halliburton denies wrongdoing. - The Associated Press, Halliburton Says It Finished Cementing Operation 20 Hours Before Rig Explosion, May 10, 2010
In the House of Representatives, Democrats are preparing to vote on a tough bill (CLEAR Act) Friday that would clamp down on offshore oil and gas drillers. In addition to eliminating the oil spill liability cap, the bill would impose tough new safety rules and ban BP from getting new offshore oil exploration leases for up to seven years for its role in the Gulf oil spill. Any differences between the House and Senate bills would have to be reconciled, which could prove difficult with the looming August recess and November elections. Some Republicans fear that Democrats could use a possible post-election session to ram an energy and climate control bill through Congress. - Reuters, Senate Unveils Scaled-back Version of Climate Bill, Taking Advantage of the 'Crisis in the Gulf' by Focusing on Offshore Drilling Rather Than Carbon Emissions, July 27, 2010
Senate Democrats unveiled a bill on Tuesday that omits setting caps on carbon emissions -- the key element of a more comprehensive energy and climate bill that failed to gain sufficient support in the Senate. Obama said it was "an important step in the right direction" but it was not enough: "I want to emphasize it's only the first step and I intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate legislation." Obama, who spoke before details of the Senate proposal were disclosed, did not set out a timetable for a future climate push and it is very unlikely that any legislation on the subject will be passed this year. If likely Republican gains in November elections change the balance of power in Congress, climate change legislation would face an even more uncertain future. With that in mind, the White House indicated on Tuesday that climate provisions could be added back into a bill once negotiators from the Senate and the House of Representatives hammer out differences between their respective versions during "conference" talks. The House bill, passed last year, includes climate provisions to cut greenhouse gas emissions. - Reuters, Obama Says will Keep Pushing for Climate Bill, July 27, 2010
The House approved a bill (CLEAR Act) Friday to boost safety standards for offshore drilling, remove a federal cap on economic liability for oil spills, and impose new fees on oil and gas production. Democratic leaders hailed the bill as a comprehensive response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and said it would increase drilling safety and crack down on oil companies such as BP. The legislation, which passed 209-193, has yet to be taken up in the Senate, where partisan disagreements will likely delay final consideration of a joint House-Senate bill until after the August congressional recess. - Associated Press, House Approves Bill on Drilling, Oil Spills (CLEAR Act), July 30, 2010
By the time the full Congress completes action on this offshore drilling bill (CLEAR Act) -- and it is uncertain that it will -- it could be November or later. A similar offshore drilling bill is pending in the Senate, without the House's new provision to end the drilling moratorium. But it was unlikely that measure would pass before that chamber begins its summer recess on August 6... The Senate energy bill has an added component: new incentives to encourage more natural gas-powered trucks and electric vehicles to clean up the environment. It also provides $5 billion to help improve home energy efficiency. But Senate Democrats abandoned attempts to attach climate change provisions that would have set mandatory limits on some companies' carbon dioxide emissions. - Reuters, House approves oil spill reform bill, July 30, 2010
Democrats Start to Play Hardball on Climate by Lumping Energy with Oil, Dubbed the 'Spill Bill'
Senate Democratic leaders, with Obama's help, are planning to push ahead next month with floor debate on that energy and climate bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he has not decided whether the bill will entail mandatory caps on greenhouse gases or simply focus on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, energy efficiency, and a nationwide standard for renewables. But Reid insisted after a visit to the White House yesterday that he wants to follow the lead of the House, which adopted a broad climate and energy proposal almost a year ago. Reid said he favors placing mandatory greenhouse gas limits on industry, just not using the controversial "cap and trade" name that has been demonized by Republican opponents. "We don't use the word 'cap and trade,'" Reid told reporters. "That's something that's been deleted from my dictionary. Carbon pricing is the right term." - Dems look for optimism on energy after vote to preserve EPA climate regs, E&E News, June 11, 2010June 25, 2010
The Altlantic - Thanks to BP's oil spill, significant climate-change legislation now has a real shot at passing, though not because it will gain votes for the Senate's struggling energy-reform bills. Democrats have another tactic in mind.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's latest energy strategy is to fold a comprehensive climate bill in with bipartisan legislation reforming the oil industry. The "spill bill," a response to the BP oil spill that would impose new safety and environmental rules and reform regulation of offshore oil exploration, is fast-tracked for approval in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee next week. Both Democrats and Republicans have rallied behind the need for refined regulation to ensure that a disaster like the Gulf spill does not happen again. Democrats are hoping that by sneaking energy provisions into the bill, Republicans won't be able to vote against it without looking like they're siding with Big Oil.
Daniel J. Weiss, Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, lays out the dilemma Democrats are hoping to place in Republicans' laps:
People have never been enamored with big oil companies, and now they're even angrier at them. The upcoming debate will pose a choice for senators to either vote with Big Oil and block reform or vote with the American people to make our rigs safer, reduce oil use, and reduce oil pollution.
Democrats took a similar strategy with financial reform, using the economic collapse to pressure Republicans into voting for more Wall Street regulation. Next week's vote will determine the success of this strategy once and for all, but Democrats are confident that the bill will enjoy bipartisan support. With climate, however, they'd risk torpedoing vital reforms to the oil industry if the strategy did not work.
They'd also risk compromising key energy provisions, not just because of the dual-bill strategy but because of the accelerated timeline. Democrats have not yet decided which climate legislation they want to pursue. At caucus meetings yesterday and last week, they debated the merits of three different bills: John Kerry and Joe Lieberman's cap-and-trade version, Maria Cantwell and Susan Collins' cap-and-dividend one (CLEAR Act), and Jeff Bingaman's energy-only bill.
Emerging from yesterday's closed-door meeting, Democrats were bizarrely effusive about the proceedings. According to The Hill, Lieberman called the meeting "absolutely thrilling," Reid termed it "very, very powerful" -- "inspirational, quite frankly," and Kerry said it was "without doubt one of the most motivating, energized, and even inspirational caucuses that I've been part of since I've been here in the Senate in 26 years." Asked about specifics, however, Kerry was mum.
Climatewire reported that Chuck Schumer suggested assembling a small group of Democrats to draft compromise legislation and rally the party around it. A similar method was used to pass the health care bill, which, though it did not get any Republican votes, did eventually achieve relatively unified Democratic backing. This kind of party discipline would be vital to passing a joint oil/energy bill and would likely require similar strong-handed maneuvering to achieve. Democrats have been far from united on the climate front, with some refusing to vote for a bill that does not price carbon and others refusing to vote for one that does. Coal and oil state Dems are in a particularly tough spot and will likely require extensive provisions for clean coal technology and nuclear energy as well as a compromise on offshore drilling.
Yesterday's caucus meeting did signal a shift in tone, however, and attendees were glowing about a renewed sense of unity and purpose. The decision to lump energy in with the oil bill is a change of strategy, one that shows Democrats are ready to play hardball. If Senate leaders and the White House back this effort with the force they (eventually) put behind health care, it could have its first realistic shot in a long time at passage this year.
