WASHINGTON, DC —House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) issued the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s latest attack on the American energy industry:
“President Obama’s Well Control Rule is yet another one-size-fits-all, Washington regulation that will increase costs and threatens to decrease safety and kill thousands of jobs. Over the past six years, the oil and gas industry has taken great strides to implement the highest possible standards, making drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf safer than ever. It is my hope that technical changes were made to the initial proposal so that the BSEE does not unnecessarily reverse the meaningful progress made since the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
“The last thing we need is an overly-prescriptive rule from Washington that actually reduces the safety of drilling in the Gulf. Because of the dynamic nature of drilling in the deep waters of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a rigid rule created by Washington bureaucrats who never drilled a well does not allow for the precautions that need to be taken on a moment’s notice to protect workers and the environment from the changing pressures of a well.
“I stand with the hardworking men and women of America’s oil and gas industry, whose top priorities are safety and environmental stewardship, who provide for their families and enrich their communities, and who deserve far better from their government than radical regulations that could make them less safe and threaten their livelihood.”