STATEMENT: CAP Director of Ocean Policy on Offshore Drilling Rule to Help Prevent Next Deepwater Horizon
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The Department of the Interior deserves credit for reforming long-outdated drilling standards that will help reduce the immense risks to the nation’s coastal communities, economies, and ecosystems posed by offshore oil and gas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.
Related resources:
- Opposition to Atlantic Oil Drilling Mounts as Big Oil’s Case for It Falls Apart by Shiva Polefka
- Interactive: Where Will BP’s $18.7 Billion Deepwater Horizon Settlement Go? by Michael Conathan and Andrew Lomax
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at tcaiazza@americanprogress.org or 202.481.7141.
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