In a report released on April 17, a group of former BP oil-spill commissioners gave Congress low marks for failing to enact substantive reform to make offshore drilling safer.
Nearly two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Congress has yet to pass any legislation to improve safety on offshore drilling operations, said Oil Spill Commission Action, which is made up of former commissioners from President Obama’s national oil-spill panel, which disbanded in March 2011.
“Across the board, we are disappointed with Congress’s lack of action,” said Bob Graham, the president’s commission’s co-chairman. He said that apart from a bill to require 80% of the penalties paid by BP and other parties under the Clean Water Act to go toward Gulf Coast cleanup and restoration, which has passed the Senate but not the House, Congress has done little to mandate the types of reforms the commission recommended in its final report last year.