Bonus gem

I'm not sure how I feel about this proposal from Ken Salazar to establish an Ocean Energy Safety Institute as a response to Deepwater Horizon. The institute is described as a 'collaborative effort' that would conduct R&D in areas like drilling safety, blowout containment and a broad oil spill response.

Two things are making me nervous about this: 1., it's still going to be housed in the Interior Department, and 2., do we really need more R&D about oil? Or just immediate, stronger regulations to take away the most dangerous forms of drilling (read: offshore) and actually focus on driving compliance with those regulations?

After all, the goal of any regulatory response to Deepwater Horizon should definitely not be this, as articulated by the Interior:

"...ensure that the United States remains on the cutting-edge of offshore energy safety."

The US doesn't need to be on the cutting edge of energy safety. It needs to be on the cutting edge of radically scaling up new clean energy infrastructure, phasing out the traditional resources (read: oil and coal) that will continue to pollute and destroy. There's a major glass ceiling to how 'safe' we make them.

Let's read between the lines of what the American Petroleum Institute has to say about Ken's idea--that always yields some insight.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the Interior Department to find ways forward to expeditiously develop our oil and natural gas resources, which would create jobs, generate revenues and increase our nation’s energy security,’’API said.

Right. I bet API looks forward to continuing to work with the Interior--that means more ambiguous commitments towards R&D 'in the future' and the business as usual of warm and fuzzy relationships.

I'm going to go ahead and vote no on this one. Especially considering Chevron admitted this week that, in light of the BP spill, its offshore drilling project near the Shetland Islands (which is much deeper than the ruptured BP well) could release "77,000 barrels per day – 25 percent more than gushed into US waters this year."