Listen to my thoughts from the hearing during today's Tuesday with Tom radio press conference.
Last month's oil spill in the Gulf of New Mexico makes clear that we need tougher regulation of our offshore oil industry.
Today I had the opportunity to question high-ranking executives from BP America and its major contractors, Transocean and Halliburton, during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee.
The industry must change its de-regulatory and self-regulatory attitude. Regulations impose modest costs, but these highly profitable companies can easily afford them. Compared to an oil spill, regulation is a bargain.
The disturbing thing is learning that these blowout preventers failed numerous times in the 1990s, and we didn't have an aggressive regulator to call them on it.
Most of the countries around the world that have this kind of activity going on in their governments have a separation between leasing and safety. We should be doing the same. We must hold energy companies accountable for following the law and ensuring the safety of their workers and the environment.
