As Louisiana’s representative on the House Ways & Means Committee and Chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee, I relish fighting on the front line against the Obama Administration and its assault on Louisiana’s energy producers.

However, I was surprised to see a so-called conservative from our state duped into the same thoughtless, knee-jerk reaction utilized by the President to issue a drilling moratorium off the Louisiana coast that crippled our state’s economy. Similar to the moratorium, this misguided policy expands the reach of federal bureaucrats and imposes overbearing regulations harming energy producers and families along the Gulf Coast.

A provision in the House Coast Guard Reauthorization bill creates additional burdens requiring rig operators to keep a stand-by vessel no more than three miles from offshore installations while performing drilling, plugging, abandonment or work-over operations. This thinly veiled attempt to expand the reach of bureaucrats without any safety benefit is shortsighted and will harm the common interests of energy producers, the maritime industry, service companies and their employees.

Let me be clear, the safety of offshore workers is my foremost concern. We must not forget the eleven lives lost in the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and the need to strive and improve safety. The difficult and strenuous work these men and women engage in each day is demanding and provides thousands of workers and their families with high paying jobs and benefits.

But the provision will exacerbate the exact problems it aims to solve. Increasing the traffic of vessels in the Gulf will only put more workers at risk during inclement weather and times of high seas. There have been no thorough examinations on how best to implement and enforce this provision. Many important questions pertaining to safety remain unanswered. This haphazard provision was put together to score cheap political points instead of effectively placing the safety of offshore workers first.

Updated regulations require operators to conduct meticulous risk assessments of hazards in offshore operations. I support using flexible and risk-based approaches which provide the highest level of safety rather than a “one size fits all approach.”

The commonsense solution removes the clause and replaces it with language placing a priority on offshore workers’ safety.

Eighteen months ago, ill-advised political decisions made by the President stopped all exploratory drilling off the Gulf Coast. With overly-broad, politically motivated regulations, this moratorium imposed an even tougher economic climate to Louisiana families already facing a national recession. Have some of my colleagues learned nothing from this? These reckless policies harmed entities including state and local governments, small businesses, and education
institutions. Unfortunately, the President is getting unlikely help in putting the regulatory squeeze on Louisiana energy producers.

This amendment takes a page out of the Obama playbook by creating excessive regulations on Louisiana operators while hindering the progress we have made to re-start Gulf energy production. This proposal pits common interests at odds and splits the united opposition to Obama’s drilling moratorium. The maritime, oil, and natural gas industries are committed to safety and continuous improvement of standards and have worked hard together to resume normal Gulf operations. Now is the time to work together in achieving goals that benefit all of South Louisiana.

Duplicative and unnecessary regulations do nothing to promote safe, domestic energy production. They merely prohibit domestic energy resources from becoming more viable.

Read the article here: http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20111205/OPINION/112050313/Guest-column-Offshore-rule-would-expand-reach-rigs