Florida congressional delegation opposes rolling back oil drilling regulations

Jan. 09--WASHINGTON -- Twenty members of Florida's congressional delegation sent a letter Tuesday to the Trump Administration opposing any rollback of safety regulations adopted after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The letter was released by delegation co-chairmen U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, and Alcee Hastings.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, the Florida representatives warned that "an oil spill can devastate a regional economy and inflict long-term environmental damage" and asked the secretary to "reject any proposals to roll back regulations that were specifically adopted to address systemic safety failures that led to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill."

A division of the Interior Department, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, recently said some of the regulations adopted in response to the tragedy created "potentially unduly burdensome requirements" on oil and gas operators, Buchanan's office said in a news release. The proposal to roll back safety rules was published in the Federal Register at the end of 2017.

Proposals to weaken safety requirements reportedly under consideration include:

Reversing a rule that called for more frequent testing of blowout preventers -- the same device that failed in the Deepwater Horizon spill, which is intended to serve as a fail-safe against explosions in undersea oil and gas wells.

No longer requiring independent auditors to certify that safety and pollution prevention equipment works under extreme conditions. This would remove any federal requirement and instead allow industry to adopt their own set of standards, the guideline industry utilized prior to the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Scrapping the requirement that an investigation into equipment failure be completed within 120 days. This would enable oil companies to delay indefinitely with no required date of completion.

Removing the federal government's authority to regulate maximum or minimum drilling pressures at new sites. This important provision maintains a safe pressure for drilling that prevents surges and potential blowouts similar to what occurred in the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The Florida members of Congress said, "It would be a huge mistake to weaken these safety regulations and risk not only lives, but catastrophic consequences to our environment. Florida's coastal communities depend on a clean and healthy ocean and we should not jeopardize the state's economy or environment by gambling on operations that lack adequate safeguards."

The letter was also signed by Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Kathy Castor, Charlie Crist, Carlos Curbelo, Val Demings, Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Al Lawson, Brian Mast, Stephanie Murphy, Bill Posey, Fraincis Rooney, John Rutherford, Dennis Ross, Ileanna Ros-Lehtinen, Darren Soto, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Frederica Wilson.

Last week, Buchanan opposed an Interior Department plan to expand offshore drilling operations off the coast of Florida including in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

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