Oil Rig Explosion

Congress isn’t wasting any time. With another oil rig explosion, some House Democrats are already demanding answers.

Just hours after a Mariner Energy rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, the House Energy and Commerce committee is asking Scott Josey, the president and CEO of the company, for a briefing on the incident.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are leading the investigation in two subcommittees.

The explosion will almost certainly bolster Democrats’ contention that off-shore drilling is not yet safe enough. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster earlier this year, Republicans said offshore drilling should not be halted, but safety measures should be improved. This incident will likely give both sides more ammo going into an election season where Democrats are furiously trying to paint Republicans as friends of Big Oil.

Congress has spent a good chunk of the last half-year investigating offshore drilling, holding several duplicative hearings on the BP disaster.