oil spill hearing

Oceana to Congress: No New Drilling

Posted Fri, May 28, 2010 by Emily Fisher to congress, deepwater drilling disaster, gulf of mexico oil spill, mike hirshfield, natural resources committee, offshore drilling, oil spill hearing

From left to right: Randall Luthi, President of the National Ocean Industries Association; Jack N. Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute; Dr. Michael Hirshfield, Senior Vice President for North America and Chief Scientist, Oceana; Dr. Michelle Michot Foss, Head of the Center for Energy Economics and Chief Energy Economist at the University of Texas

Yesterday Oceana Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist Mike Hirshfield testified about the costs of offshore drilling before the House Committee on Natural Resources.  

Here’s an excerpt of his testimony:

“Mr. Chairman, I wish you didn’t have to hold this hearing. For years, the oil industry has told us all that offshore drilling was safe. They repeatedly downplayed the risks and oversold the benefits. They tried to convince us that catastrophes like the Deepwater Drilling Disaster could never happen. I could easily fill my time with embarrassing industry quotes (like these.) I will spare you that.

We now hear calls for action to ensure that “this will never happen again.” We all wish that could be the case. But let’s be honest, we know another offshore oil drilling disaster will happen, caused by another unexpected combination of technological failure and human error. The industry is asking us to play a game of environmental roulette, and they are taking aim at a long list of targets. Will we see oil foul the beaches of the Atlantic seaboard next? The Pacific? The Arctic?