The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Bob Deans, NRDC, 202-289-2393 or bdeans@nrdc.org

Interior's Offshore Drilling Plan Is a Good First Step That Must Go Further, Says NRDC

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar detailed his plans today for
restructuring government oversight of offshore drilling. Regan Nelson,
senior oceans advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council, made
the following statement:

"Creating a Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is
a good first step toward strengthening the protections we need to keep
our workers and waters safe.

WASHINGTON

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar detailed his plans today for
restructuring government oversight of offshore drilling. Regan Nelson,
senior oceans advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council, made
the following statement:

"Creating a Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is
a good first step toward strengthening the protections we need to keep
our workers and waters safe.

"The department, though, needs to go further to ensure that
safety and environmental concerns are insulated from the kind of
political pressure that has compromised this crucial mission in the
past. As planned, the new bureau would operate under the same assistant
secretary who oversees leasing duties. Instead, the safety and
environmental agency should report directly to the Secretary and be led
by a Senate-confirmed fixed-term appointee.

"That is what the independent oil spill commission
recommended last week. And that is what is needed to protect our
workers, waters and wildlife."

NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.

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