Washington, D.C. — Center for American Progress Director of Ocean Policy Michael Conathan issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of the Interior announced an important offshore drilling safety rule. The rule will help to prevent disasters similar to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill that began nearly six years ago.
The Department of the Interior deserves credit for reforming long-outdated drilling standards that will help reduce the immense risks to the nation’s coastal communities, economies, and ecosystems posed by offshore oil and gas development. These commonsense measures are a long-needed response to the tragic lessons of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster—an entirely preventable human and environmental tragedy whose consequences are still being felt throughout the Gulf of Mexico nearly six years later. In particular, the new rules will equip the department to better oversee the safety of oil and gas development in the challenging deepwater frontiers far offshore, where the industry is increasingly centered.
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