WASHINGTON -- BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill resulted from problems that are systemic throughout the oil industry, and more government oversight and regulations are needed to prevent another disaster, a presidential commission investigating the accident said Tuesday.
In a 380-page report, the commission recommended that the government create a independent oil drilling safety office within the Department of Interior and that the oil industry also create an independent safety oversight board not unlike the ones that help oversee the nuclear and chemical industries. It also recommended that a $75 million cap on liability for offshore drillers be increased significantly.
Improving offshore oil safety, commission members acknowledged, would cost taxpayer money and expand government regulation -- two areas that won't be popular with the new Congress -- but are nonetheless necessary to prevent another disaster, they said.
While the report didn't focus on expansion of drilling into new areas -- such as off the coasts of Georgia and Florida -- commission co-chair Bob Graham said at a news conference that the government should push for development of alternative energy sources instead of expanding drilling.
“At the current level of proven reserves and our current consumption of petroleum, if America were to go to a `drill, baby, drill’ philosophy, we would exhaust our reserves by approximately 2031,” said Graham, the Democratic former governor and senator from Florida. "We need to be holding back" on new drilling.
President Barack Obama in December decided to continue a moratorium on drilling in the Atlantic, reversing an earlier decision he made prior to the BP oil spill.
But just last week, as gas prices moved steadily above $3 in many parts of the country, the American Petroleum Institute called on Obama to reconsider allowing drilling off East Coast states. The industry group indicated that if he didn't, it would try to help push through legislation in the new Congress that would allow oil exploration in the Atlantic.
On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah said he was both "alarmed and disappointed" by the oil spill commission report, but that it didn't change his mind that more drilling should be allowed.
"We have got to responsibly drill our own domestic oil," Kingston said. "We cannot say this is horrible and there should be no more offshore drilling -- too many people in our fossil-fuel economy are affected by the price of gasoline."
In addition to representing a coastal district, Kingston is on the House Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for funding government agencies.
He said he wasn't opposed to the panel's recommendations that the government spend more money to research and regulate offshore drilling, but that it would "depend on how much money you're talking about."
Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss also reiterated his position that drilling should be expanded, carefully.
"The development of offshore oil and gas is critical to our nation's energy supply, and we are dependent upon these resources," Chambliss said in a statement. "However, I believe it is our responsibility to ensure that it is done safely and that environmental damage is avoided at all costs."
Industry groups faulted the report for not considering safety changes companies have already made.
“We hope that the administration recognizes the work already done and the need to rapidly restore vibrancy to the nation’s offshore oil and natural gas production program,” Erik Milito, a director at the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement.
Environmentalists, meanwhile, hailed the report as another indication that offshore drilling should not be expanded.
"This is a great thing," said Jennette Gayer, an organizer with the Atlanta nonprofit group Environment Georgia. "We have an incredibly valuable coast, and we make a ton of money off of tourism and fishing. Drilling puts all that in danger."
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