by Agence France-Presse. WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to overhaul offshore-drilling safety rules and protect whistleblowing workers in a sweeping response to the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The White House-backed legislation would end a $75 million cap on energy firms’ liability for economic damages from oil spills, a controversial provision that has run into stiff opposition in the Senate. The Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act would also impose safety standards like independent certifications of critical equipment, increased inspections, and stiffer penalties for safety violations. The measure, which passed by a 209-193 margin, would deny new offshore drilling leases for up to seven years to companies, like BP, that have poor safety records. It would also break up the embattled federal Minerals Management Service to separate its inspection mission from its revenue-collection efforts, and aims to end “revolving door” hiring from the oil and gas industry. The measure would also impose a new conservation fee of $2 per barrel of oil and 20 cents per million British thermal units of natural gas for all oil and gas leases on federal onshore and offshore areas. The Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act, meanwhile, aims to give offshore oil-firm workers who blow the whistle on health or safety issues their first-ever legal protections from retaliation. The bill, which passed in a 315-93 vote, would extend protections to Outer Continental Shelf workers involved in oil and gas exploration, drilling, production, or cleanup. Lawmakers who backed the bill have pointed to accounts from relatives of the 11 workers killed in the Deepwater Horizon blast that triggered the Gulf spill, who said their loved ones were afraid to report major safety concerns. The measure would notably forbid companies from firing or otherwise punishing a worker who reports, in good faith, a possible safety violation, either to their employer or to regulators. Both measures — approved as the House went into a six-week recess set to stretch to mid-September — face an uncertain fate in the Senate. Related Links: EPA strongly reaffirms scientific basis for regulating emissions that endanger public health Google searches for ‘global warming’ go down when unemployment rises New BP boss says there will be ‘pullback’ in cleanup, but no abandonment
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House passes oil-spill response bills
