"House Democrats are demanding an explanation from the Trump administration for the hundreds of times the Interior Department has allowed energy companies to deviate from a key offshore drilling safety rule.
Natural Resources Committee leaders cited POLITICO's report that Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement granted nearly 1,700 waivers over 20 months to provisions of the Well Control Rule, a set of safety standards the Obama administration devised after the 2010 explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
The report adds concerns that drilling would risk coastal businesses like fishing or tourism, Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), chairman of the subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, wrote in a letter Tuesday to BSEE Director Scott Angelle."
Ben Lefebvre reports for Politico February 26, 2019.
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