Blowout Prevention Act Must Be Met With Bipartisan Support Says Republican

By Linn Grubbstrom - Talk Radio News Service 

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said Tuesday at a House Energy and Commerce Committee meeting that new legislation to prevent future oil well blowouts deserves bipartisan support.

Despite criticism that the bill does not clearly define “high-risk” oil wells, the Republican said it’s an issue that everyone needs to pay close attention to.

“We want to improve safety procedures,” Barton said. “We want to make it possible to continue drilling, both in an environmentally safe and economically positive way…We stand ready to work in a bipartisan basis.”

Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes suggested to the committee that America take example from European countries like Norway who have similar safety regulations already in place.

“I think we can learn from each other, and we need to both have better performance standards but also prescriptive standards where appropriate,” said Hayes. “Personally, the sense I have is that Norway [has] put in place perhaps better systems at this point than we have and that’s not acceptable. We need to be leading the world here, in terms of safety.”