Energy Today - January 25, 2011
Rayola Dougher
Posted January 25, 2011
The Washington Post: Many steps have been taken to make deepwater drilling safer: Months before the White House oil spill commission's report on the Gulf of Mexico accident, the U.S. oil and natural gas industry had produced guidance on well cementing, begun a new standard on deepwater well construction, seen its safety management practices adopted into government rules, started an effort to produce state-of-the-art well containment systems, held workshops on implementation of a safety case (a comprehensive safety management system) and initiated work on an independently audited safety body. Critics discount these efforts, but these sensible changes, along with carefully improved regulations and the industry's existing best practices, are the best way to enhance offshore safety. No one works harder on offshore safety than the millions of men and women who work in this industry, and government data reflect this consistently improved performance. The number of injuries per hours worked - the most reliable and statistically relevant indicator of safety - is steadily trending downward and shows our industry to be safer than our global competitors, and safer than most American businesses. To suggest that the incident data - or even one horrifying but unprecedented accident - prove that the U.S. offshore industry was "stunningly complacent" ignores the facts. Politico: Poll: Americans want bipartisan State of the Union: A majority of Americans want to see President Barack Obama offer a bipartisan message in his State of the Union, according to a new poll out Monday. Fifty-one percent of those polled ahead of the president's Tuesday address to the nation said the country needs "more bipartisanship and cooperation," while only 23 percent said partisanship is a "healthy part of the two party system."
The Foundry: Regulatory Costs Are Boiling Over: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been ordered to issue job-killing regulations that the agency and industry both agree are faulty and unfeasible. The EPA's blunder is an object lesson on the costly consequences of reckless rulemaking and regulatory excess. The impending regulations address emissions from industrial boilers and incinerators. Agency officials have projected that the new standards will kill (yes, kill!) between 5,000 and 10,000 jobs--and cost nearly $10 billion to implement. In contrast, an independent study by IHS Global Insight, an economic forecasting firm, determined that 16,000 jobs would be at risk for every $1 billion spent on compliance.
Additional Resources:
The Baton Rouge Advocate: Environmentalists, oil industry seek mention of Gulf
Marketwatch: Slow recovery ups stakes for Obama speech
The New York Times: Split Up Oil Companies to Unlock Their Value