Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
- 70,230
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SNIP:
Tom Doggett
Reuters
2:47 p.m. CDT, May 5, 2011
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House sharply criticized a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday that would expand offshore drilling as part of a broader Republican effort to stimulate domestic production in the face of rising gasoline costs.
The bill, which easily cleared the Republican-dominated House, would require lease sales to proceed that were canceled or delayed by the Obama administration offshore Virginia and in the Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil spill.
The White House said the bill would "undercut" new offshore drilling safety reforms imposed after the massive oil spill last year.
"These reforms strengthen requirements for issues ranging from well design to workplace safety to corporate accountability, and they require operators to show that they can contain a subsea oil spill like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill," the White House said.
The White House also said the Interior Department would hold new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico by mid 2012. The administration had planned to open up drilling offshore Virginia but backtracked on the idea after an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig sent millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
read it all here.
White House slams Republican offshore drilling bill - chicagotribune.com
Tom Doggett
Reuters
2:47 p.m. CDT, May 5, 2011
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House sharply criticized a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday that would expand offshore drilling as part of a broader Republican effort to stimulate domestic production in the face of rising gasoline costs.
The bill, which easily cleared the Republican-dominated House, would require lease sales to proceed that were canceled or delayed by the Obama administration offshore Virginia and in the Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil spill.
The White House said the bill would "undercut" new offshore drilling safety reforms imposed after the massive oil spill last year.
"These reforms strengthen requirements for issues ranging from well design to workplace safety to corporate accountability, and they require operators to show that they can contain a subsea oil spill like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill," the White House said.
The White House also said the Interior Department would hold new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico by mid 2012. The administration had planned to open up drilling offshore Virginia but backtracked on the idea after an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig sent millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
read it all here.
White House slams Republican offshore drilling bill - chicagotribune.com