This summary of investigations and legislative action prompted by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico omitted one bill. A measure approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would remove oil companies' $75 million liability limit and retroactively remove the liability cap for BP and the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The summary also misidentified the CLEAR Act that is related to the spill: The legislation in question is the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act, not the Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal Act, which is an unrelated measure. The text below has been modified to reflect these changes.
Monday, July 12, 2010;
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Update July 13 at 2:50 p.m.
The April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig and the massive oil spill that has stemmed from the accident have prompted 10 formal investigations, and more could be coming.
Probe National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore D rilling, a bipartisan team created by executive order of the president.
Who's in charge: Seven-member team co-chaired by former Florida governor and former U.S. senator Bob Graham, and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator William K. Reilly.
Focus: Commission is tasked with providing recommendations on how to prevent -- and mitigate the impact of -- any future spills that result from offshore drilling.
Status: Initial hearings being held July 12 and July 13.
Marine Board of Investigation.
Who's in charge: Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (formerly known as the Minerals Management Service).
Focus: To identify the factors leading to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
Status of investigation: Two sessions of hearings in May. A third session is scheduled for later this month. First session investigated the circumstances surrounding the fire, explosion, pollution and sinking of the rig. Second session focused on gathering information on the rig's materiel condition, crew qualifications, emergency preparedness and casualty timeline. The third session of hearings will focus on the "how" and the "why."
Highlights: Documents and testimony showed that work on the well was behind schedule and over budget, that the well plan was changed several times shortly before the accident, and that BP decided not to perform a test on the mud at the bottom of the well before starting to place the final cement lining, which experts think was a likely source of the gas that eventually blew out the well.
House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Who's in charge: The panel's chairman, Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), along with two subcommittee chairmen, Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.).
Focus: The cause of the accident, the extent and impact of the oil spill, and the response to it.
Status of investigation: The panel held eight hearings in May and June.
Highlights: Panel found that the blowout preventer that failed to stop the oil spill had a dead battery in its control pod, leaks in its hydraulic system, a "useless" test version of a key component and a cutting tool that wasn't strong enough to shear through steel joints in the well pipe and stop the flow of oil. In a scathing letter to BP, Waxman and Stupak accused the company of taking shortcuts to speed up finishing the well, which may have led to the explosion.
House Natural Resources Committee.
Who's in charge: The committee's chairman, Nick J. Rahall (D-W.Va.).
Focus: Problems in how the MMS exercised oversight over offshore oil drilling.
Status of investigation: Held seven hearings in May and June.
Highlights: Panel is scheduled to mark up the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act on July 14.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Who's in charge: The committee's chairman, Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.).
Focus: Potential lapses in oversight by the MMS in the years leading up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and what Towns has called "'revolving door' issues, conflicts of interest within MMS, and its apparent lack of oversight of offshore oil rigs."
Status of investigation: The panel is gathering information.
Interior Department Outer Continental Shelf Safety Oversight Board.
Who's in charge: Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Wilma Lewis, Interior Department Inspector General Mary Kendall and Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget Rhea Suh.
Focus: Safety rules and oversight for offshore drilling.
Status of investigation: The board issued a report May 27.
Highlights: The board is recommending several measures aimed at ensuring redundancy in blowout preventers, promoting the integrity of wells, enhancing well control and fostering a "culture of safety" in offshore drilling operations. It proposed requiring mandatory inspection of each preventer to be used on floating drilling operations, requiring that these have two sets of blind shear rams spaced at least four feet apart to prevent failure. New design, installation, testing, operations and training requirements relating to casing, cement or other elements that make up an exploratory well.
Internal BP investigation.
Who's in charge: BP head of safety and operations Mark Bly, who runs a unit that is independent from the business lines and reports directly to BP chief executive Tony Hayward.
Focus: The cause of the explosion at Deepwater Horizon and the failure of the blowout preventer.
Status of investigation:Release of preliminary report anticipated in August.
National Academy of Engineering.
Who's in charge: An independently appointed group of unpaid academy members from around the world.
Focus: Analysis and technical assessment of the cause of the accident.
Status of investigation: Study is underway, and preliminary report is expected no later than Oct. 31, with a final report due by June 1.
The White House Council of Environmental Quality and the Interior Department.
Who's in charge: Council chairwoman Nancy Sutley.
Focus: Review of how the MMS conducted its procedures under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Status of investigation: The report has been completed and is undergoing internal administrative review. It should be released in a matter of weeks.
U.S. Chemical Safety Board
Who's in charge: Chairperson of CSB Rafael Moure-Eraso and Supervisory Investigator Donald Holmstrom
Focus: The root cause of the accident to determine how the blowout occurred, and all factors leading up to it, including equipment, maintenance, training, hazard analysis, safety management and planning.
Status of investigation: Document collection is underway from BP, Transocean, and Halliburton, the board will begin holding public meetings in the fall and preliminary findings will be released as they become available, with final report and investigation video expected to take up to 2 years.
Legislative action:
-- Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed a measure that would raise the civil and criminal penalties for a spill, require more safety equipment redundancies, boost the number of federal safety inspectors and demand additional precautions for deep-water drilling.
-- Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed measures that would remove oil companies' $75 million liability limit and retroactively remove the liability cap for BP and the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
The measures are pending full chamber approval.
-- Juliet Eilperin and Madonna Lebling
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