Feds fall short in responsible oversight of drilling industry

Findings from two reports released this month uncover eye-opening and troubling details about the federal government’s commitment to safety and environmental protection in the oil and natural-gas drilling industry. Together, they reveal serious shortcomings by U.S. agencies charged with oversight of one of this country’s most promising yet dangerous industries.

The first report, issued last week by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, accuses the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration with failure to ensure that key state inspectors are properly trained, inspections are conducted frequently enough and inspections target the most-risky pipelines.

“Because it has not set minimum qualifications for state inspectors to lead standard inspections, PHMSA cannot be sure that state inspections cover all federal requirements and ensure pipeline operators maintain safety,” Assistant Inspector General Jeffrey Guzzetti said.

The second report, issued earlier this week by the Government Accountability Office, accuses federal regulators of failing to inspect thousands of oil and gas wells it considers potentially high risks for water contamination and other environmental damage. That investigation covered the 14 states — including Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — where hydraulic fracturing has become the most prevalent method of drilling. Investigators found some states allowed as long as eight years to lapse between inspections, leaving the door wide open for serious violations and dangers.

Such documented incidents of inadequate attention to safety are clearly unacceptable, particularly in an industry that is riddled with potential life-threatening risks to its workers. According to research conducted by Texas A&M University, 24.2 of every 100,000 oil-drilling workers were killed on the job last year, compared with 1.7 per 100,000 in the chemical industry.

FEDS ACKNOWLEDGE SHORTCOMINGS

Fortunately, leaders of the targeted agencies are not trying to slough off the disturbing findings. For example, Jeff Krauss, a spokesman with the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, acknowledged it needed to do more to improve oversight of drilling, pointing to a lack of funding as reasons it failed to inspect oil and gas wells it considers potentially high risks for water contamination.

He said BLM wants Congress to approve a budget request that would allow it to use $10 million raised from fees charged to oil and gas companies to pay for the high-priority inspections. Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate should waste little time in demonstrating bipartisan unity toward fulfilling that legitimate and critical request.

In the larger federal arena, President Barack Obama is gathering input from a variety of sources to issue a comprehensive set of national regulations on hydraulic fracturing later this summer. As the administration does so, it should take stock of the problems revealed in the two federal reports and work to ensure the new rules adequately resolve them.

On the state level, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources — which has gained a reputation as one of the most firm state regulators of the drilling industry — cannot afford to let down its guard. It should pinpoint oversights in federal inspection procedures and double-down to fill any and all potential safety gaps.

On the private level, energy companies should work diligently to lessen public fears over worker safety and environmental dangers by beefing up their own inspection programs.

Collectively, such teamwork among state and federal oversight agencies and private energy companies can go far toward fulfilling the economic promise of the drilling industry without putting workers or the environment in harm’s way.