The American Petroleum Institute (API) today said the industry already has taken significant action to improve offshore safety operations consistent with the recommendations of the presidential commission investigating the Deepwater Horizon accident.

In a statement released this morning, API's Upstream Director Erik Milito said the presidential commission on the Deepwater Horizon accident did "a great disservice to the thousands of men and women" who work in the oil and natural gas industry by "casting doubt on an entire industry based on its review of a single incident."

"The explosion was a tragic accident that never should have happened," Erik said. "But an accurate assessment must acknowledge all the facts such as the numerous concrete actions that the industry has taken both before an... more »

The presidential commission investigating the Deepwater Horizon accident wrapped up the second day of its two-day hearing in Washington yesterday. At the same time, a federal judge in New Orleans was holding a hearing on the administration's deepwater drilling moratorium. Here's a compilation of the latest news as reported by several publications:

• While it's known that the Deepwater Horizon explosion was caused by a surge of gas that rose through the wellbore, the causes remain under investigation and the commission has not yet assessed blame. The lead investigator indicated that the individuals drilling the well "missed signals" but did not base consciously base their decisions on saving money rather than safety.
• Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans held a closed-door conferen... more »

Whenever this nation is confronted by a major incident such as the Gulf oil spill, opinion-leaders step forward to offer their thoughts in print and online op-ed pages. Their comments are often thought-provoking and informative.

Last week in The Los Angeles Times, for example, Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren of the Cato Institute lamented the "profound intellectual poverty" that is informing the current energy-policy debate, and argued that the "demand for zero environmental risk is unrealistic." They wrote:

"As long as human beings are involved in drilling (or coal mining or petrochemical refining or nuclear power operations or oil transport or natural gas delivery), accidents will happen. The environmentalists' call to flatly reject expanded offshore drilling as unacceptably risky is i... more »

A number of prominent voices in the energy debate are discussing the need for continued safe, environmentally responsible offshore oil and natural gas development. EIA estimates demonstrate that the United States will consume 14 percent more energy in 25 years, including alternatives, renewables and oil and natural gas.

A USA TODAY editorial from yesterday explains that limiting or banning offshore drilling would deny our nation access to 40 to 60 billion barrels of recoverable oil--about six to eight years of current U.S. consumption.

With about one-third of U.S. oil production coming from the Gulf, the editorial makes the point that we need oil, but we also need to find out what went wrong in the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and apply the lessons learned. We couldn't agree more.

A Maritime... more »