Date: 2010-07-30
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. I would strongly urge you to reject the Republican motion to recommit. What we have before us today in the legislation that I am offering along with Mr. MARKEY. is an effort to provide the level of protection that these offshore oil workers on the rigs on the Outer Continental Shelf of the United States of America are entitled to. What the Republicans are suggesting is that a law that was written in 1970 is good enough for these workers. Lets understand the environment in which these workers are working. Theyre working on the most expensive oil rigs in the history of the world. Theyre making the most complex drills in the history of the world. Theyre using the most complex technology in the history of the world. and theyre doing it in constant motion on top of the seas as they drill for these resources. Now. why shouldnt they have the same protection that railroad workers have? that transport workers have? that nuclear workers have? that pipeline workers have? Because they all have a modern whistleblower statute. But those men and women who go out on those rigs today do not have any protection. much less a modern protection. but the Republicans are telling you they should take secondclass protection. Now. as we saw the case of a whistleblower. Mr. Abbott. who called BP. an engineer. and said the designs are wrong. the drawings are flawed. he would not be covered under this statute. The court found his claim to be valid that he passed on serious information to BP that they rejected. Now. lets understand this is about one worker with knowledge and understanding of the drilling processes and procedures making a decision that somethings about to go very wrong. So that worker has the courage to say. "I think we better stop and check it out" in a very complex process. in this case. of withdrawing from the well and capping that well. Theyre telling that worker. "This rig is a half a million dollars a day. Were going to get it off our books. Were going to get it out of here. Just keep going." and then the tragedy happens. Lets talk about who that workers talking to. Theyre talking to a company thats drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. British Petroleum. on American soil. under American laws. who violates willfully and egregiously those laws 807 times. who. in 2005. violated those laws hundreds of times and blew up a refinery in Texas. killed 15 workers and injured another 180. promised to fix those violations. and 4 years later. they hadnt fixed 700 of those violations and were fined $87 million. Apparently. they think its cheaper to pay fines than it is to protect the workers of this country. I dont know if youve been around oil rigs. I dont know if youve watched people in this business. but this is a choreography that takes place among those workers on those rigs that is unbelievable. and it can be lethal. Ive seen it because I know what you have to do on those rigs. This is how workers put themselves in jeopardy every day. Its whether a pipe falls on you. whether a chain snaps. whether a pipe breaks. whether the fluids blow out. whether you get hit from the overhead. This is a very dangerous profession. Companies work hard. some companies. but are we going to really tell a worker that theyre going to go up against BP when BP is so fully prepared to violate the laws. the health and safety laws of this Nation? I think we ought to understand we owe American workers a much better deal on the American Outer Continental Shelf. and thats why this motion to recommit should be rejected. It should be rejected because thats our obligation. Theyre entitled to a modern whistleblower law just like the other workers that I named to you. We can do no less for these workers. We can do no less for those workers who tried to come forward and stop the dangers on this rig and lost their lives because they werent listened to. The workers who told their wives. "Get my papers and my wills and my business in order." Imagine a worker going to work and saying. "Get my affairs in order. Lets check my will." Thats what people do when they go to war. They shouldnt have to do it when they go to work on an American rig in the American Outer Continental Shelf. Give these workers what theyre entitled to. Give them a decent. honest. modern whistleblower law with real protections.