Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) made the following statement regarding the Trump administration’s announcement to revise the Well Control Rule.

“After over $65 billion of damage and bipartisan Congressional oversight hearings on the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, new protections were put in place to make sure this type of disaster never happened again,” said Senator Cantwell. “Today Interior is trying to ignore those protections. They are creating an unbelievable liability for taxpayers by ignoring safety.”

On April 19, 2018, Senator Cantwell introduced legislation to protect American coasts from catastrophic oil spills. The Clean Coast Act would codify common-sense safeguards, including the Well Control Rule, including the Well Control Rule, that were finalized by the Department of the Interior in 2016.

Last Friday, April 20, marked the eighth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill—a catastrophic human, economic, and ecological disaster that resulted in the death of 11 members of the crew and the injury of 17 others. Oil spewed into the ocean for nearly three months, resulting in the largest offshore oil spill disaster in the history of the United States.

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