Senate Recesses Without Vote on Bill to Reconfigure Oil Drilling Oversight

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate has begun its August recess without a vote on the lengthy House-passed bill that would reconfigure federal oversight of offshore oil drilling and eliminate a $75 million liability cap in maritime disasters (H.Res. 3534).

The House of Representatives voted 209-193 on July 30 to approve "The Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010," which is opposed by Gulf Coast interests that say small firms will be unable to obtain insurance without a liability cap.

The 282-page bill would created a new Bureau of Energy and Resource Management within the Department of the …