FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2010
Contact: Maggie Kao, 202-675-2384
Kristina Johnson, 415-977-5619
Sierra Club Applauds House Passage of BP Disaster Response Legislation
Washington, D.C. - Today, in response to the tragic BP oil disaster, the House voted to pass the of the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act (H.R. 3534). The final vote count was 209-193.
Statement of Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director
The Sierra Club applauds the House passage of the CLEAR Act today to hold BP accountable for their disaster and to prevent against future environmental catastrophes.
We strongly support the CLEAR Act’s inclusion of unlimited liability for polluters to ensure that companies like BP are held fully responsible for the cost of damage and clean-up for their disasters, and to ensure that American taxpayers will not be asked to shoulder that burden.
We support the CLEAR Act’s focus on cleaning up and regulating the oil and gas industry through MMS reform and clarification of the Department of Interior’s role in oversight. These bills will strengthen industry safety standards and prevent future catastrophes like the BP disaster.
We also support provisions to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund to aid in Gulf recovery, benefit communities, ecosystems, and economies.
While the Sierra Club is disappointed by the inclusion of an amendment to overturn the temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling to allow time for safety inspections, we will continue to work for a permanent moratorium on drilling of this kind. We will also strongly advocate for bold and comprehensive legislation to protect public health, reduce global warming pollution, increase the supply of clean energy, and break America’s deadly oil addiction.
We now look to the Senate to take action and pass the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act before the August recess so we can move forward to create badly needed jobs, invest more deeply in clean energy, and hold BP and future polluters responsible for their environmental disasters.
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