Katy-area Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Austin) yesterday added an amendment to a bill designed to ensure environmentally responsible oil and gas exploration.
Citing the ongoing oil spill from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, McCaul’s amendment said deepwater drilling “presents a unique set of technological challenges.”
The amendment, accepted in committee with bipartisan support, provides for federal research funding on research and development for safer exploration and production methods.
The bill reprioritizes funding in the existing program by increasing research and development funding for Safety and Accident Prevention and Mitigation within the Department of Energy.
“This may help to advance, for example, understanding of the potential impacts of and alternatives to chemicals added to drilling muds, such as that used in the recent ‘top kill’ procedure,” McCaul said during yesterday’s Science and Technology Committee markup of the bill. “Similar research needs exist with respect to onshore deep natural gas drilling activities.”
The amendment said “initial investigations of the Deepwater Horizon incident indicate that the primary technology failure lay in the blowout preventer,” commonly called a “BOP.”
“Many stakeholders inside and outside of the industry, including the CEO of BP, have concluded that the design of the blowout preventers must be rethought altogether. Witnesses at the June 23 Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing testified about the need for research into BOPs and a range of other accident prevention and mitigation technologies and practices,” the amendment said.
