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WASHINGTON — Congress is getting ready to pass tough new aviation safety measures that were developed in response to a deadly commuter plane crash in western New York in early 2009, a key lawmaker said Wednesday.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in an interview that he was introducing a bill with the safety improvements on Wednesday. He said he expects House passage on Thursday and Senate passage soon afterward.

Besides the safety measures, the bill extends authority for Federal Aviation Administration programs through Sept. 30, the end of the current budget year. Without that extension, the FAA would have to shutdown on Sunday when current program authority expires.

There is strong support in Congress for the safety measures, which were added to a broader aviation bill that lawmakers have been struggling for nearly four years to pass. With that bill stalled over disagreements involving other issues, House and Senate lawmakers have reached a consensus that the safety provisions should be passed separately from the broader measure, Oberstar said.

The impetus for the safety measures was the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. All 49 people aboard and one man in a house were killed. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation faulted errors by the flight’s two pilots and deficiencies in pilot hiring and training by Colgan Air Inc., the regional carrier that operated the flight for Continental Airlines.

The bill “takes a big step forward in improving the safety of our skies,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a statement.

The investigation also revealed the accident was the byproduct of a financially strapped industry seeking to cut costs by farming out short-haul flights to regional carriers. Those carriers often hire inexperienced pilots at low wages, assign them exhausting schedules and look the other way when they commute long distances to work because they can’t afford to live in the cities where they are based.

The last six airline accidents in the United States all involved regional air carriers.

Friends and family members of the victims of the Colgan crash have been lobbying Congress relentlessly for passage of the safety provisions. As a group, they have made more than 30 lobbying trips to Washington at their own expense over the past 17 months. They’ve met with dozens of senators and House members or their staffs, and attended every congressional hearing with any connection to aviation safety. They’ve also pressed their case in private meetings with President Barack Obama, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt.

The safety measures Congress is preparing to pass are “everything we asked for,” said Kevin Kuwik, a spokesman for the families who lost his girlfriend, Lorin Maurer, in the accident. “The bill cuts right to the core of what caused Flight 3407 to crash.”

The bill would require that the minimum flight experience for first officers be raised from 250 hours to 1,500 hours – the same level as captains. That could force regional airlines to hire more experienced pilots and indirectly raise salaries. FAA would also be required to update rules governing how many hours airlines may require a pilot to fly before the pilot is permitted rest, and airlines would have to put in place fatigue risk management plans – programs that use scientific research on fatigue to assess pilot hours and alert airlines to schedules that are likely to induce fatigue.

Other provisions address pre-employment screening of pilots, create mentoring programs between experienced pilots and newly hired pilots and provide remedial training for pilots who have performed poorly on skills tests.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., made a last-ditch effort Wednesday to persuade senators to pass the broader aviation bill, including the safety measures, before the end of the week. The heart of the bill is a blueprint for FAA’s $40 billion program to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system.

The key issue holding up the bill, Dorgan said, is whether airlines should be allowed to fly an additional 16 flights a day from Reagan National Airport near Washington to destinations beyond a 1,200-mile “perimeter” imposed years ago to reduce airport noise and encourage development at the larger Dulles International Airport, which is farther away from the city and less convenient for lawmakers.

“I’ve just had a bellyful of the intransigence that exists in this chamber,” Dorgan said in a speech on the Senate floor. “It’s just fine to represent your interest and your region, but it’s … just not fine to block this bill.”

___

Online:

Flight 3407 Memorial: http://www.3407memorial.com/

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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s nuclear agency began studies Saturday to build an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, something that has yet to be achieved by any nation.

Iran is not known to have carried out anything but basic fusion research, but it does have a nuclear fission program that the U.S. and its allies believe is a front to build weapons – a charge Tehran denies.

Nuclear fusion, the process powering the sun and stars, has so far only been mastered as a weapon, producing the thermonuclear explosions of hydrogen bombs. It has never been harnessed for power generation.

Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who also heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told a conference on the new research program that his agency has set an initial budget of $8 million to conduct “serious” research in the area of nuclear fusion.

Asghar Sediqzadeh, the head of the new fusion research center said Iran will take two years to complete these studies and then another decade to design and build a reactor.

“The scientific phase of the project effectively began today. We have already hired 50 experts for this purpose,” he told state TV.

The United States, the European Union, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea signed an accord in 2006 to build a $12.8 billion experimental fusion reactor at Cadarache, southern France, aimed at revolutionizing global energy use for future generations.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, members have said no single country can afford the immense investment needed to move the science forward.

Salehi, Iran’s nuclear chief, said Iran was willing to join any international grouping to offer its expertise to promote the project. However, he said Iran will go its own way should the world not welcome it.

“We are ready to enter into cooperation with any international group or country,” he told the semiofficial ISNA news agency.

Salehi said it would take 20 to 30 years before nuclear fusion energy can be commercialized but that Iran seeks to make use of all the capacity inside Iran to speed up its research.

The U.N. Security Council has already passed four sets of sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program on suspicions it is being used to produce weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its program is geared merely toward generating electricity.

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NEW ORLEANS (Associated Press) – BP and the Obama administration offered significantly differing views Sunday on whether the capped Gulf of Mexico oil well will have to be reopened, a contradiction that may be an effort by the oil giant to avoid blame if crude starts spewing again.

Pilloried for nearly three months as it tried repeatedly to stop the leak, BP PLC capped the nearly mile-deep well Thursday and wants to keep it that way. The government’s plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but would require up to three more days of oil spilling into the Gulf.

“No one associated with this whole activity … wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico,” Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, said Sunday. “Right now we don’t have a target to return the well to flow.”

An administration official familiar with the spill oversight, however, told The Associated Press that a seep and possible methane were found near the busted oil well. The official spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because an announcement about the next steps had not been made yet.

The concern all along — since pressure readings on the cap weren’t as high as expected — was a leak elsewhere in the wellbore, meaning the cap may have to be reopened to prevent the environmental disaster from becoming even worse and harder to fix.

The official, who would not clarify what is seeping near the well, also said BP is not complying with the government’s demand for more monitoring.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s spill response chief, demanded BP provide results of further testing of the seabed by 9 p.m. EDT Sunday night.

“When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours. I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed,” Allen said in a letter to BP Managing Director Bob Dudley.

When asked about the situation earlier Sunday before the letter was released, BP spokesman Mark Salt would only say that “we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this.”

Allen insisted Sunday that “nothing has changed” since Saturday, when he said oil would eventually be piped to surface ships. The government is overseeing BP’s work to stop the leak, which ultimately is to be plugged using a relief well.

Allen decided to extend testing of the cap that had been scheduled to end Sunday, the official who spoke on condition of anonymity said. That means the oil will stay in the well for now as scientists continue run tests and monitor pressure readings. The official didn’t say how long that would take.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security referred questions to a statement issued by Allen; neither he nor BP officials could explain the apparent contradiction in plans.

Suttles’ comments carved out an important piece of turf for BP: If Allen sticks with the containment plan and oil again pours forth into the Gulf, even briefly, it will be the government’s doing, not BP’s.

The company very much wants to avoid a repeat of the live underwater video that showed millions of gallons of oil spewing from the blown well for weeks.

“I can see why they’re pushing for keeping the cap on and shut in until the relief well is in place,” said Daniel Keeney, president of a Dallas-based public relations firm.

The government wants to eliminate any chance of making matters worse, while BP is loath to lose the momentum it gained the moment it finally halted the leak, Keeney said.

“They want to project being on the same team, but they have different end results that benefit each,” he said.

Oil would have to be released under Allen’s plan, which would ease concerns that the capped reservoir might force its way out through another route. Those concerns stem from pressure readings in the cap that have been lower than expected.

Scientists still aren’t sure whether the pressure readings mean a leak elsewhere in the well bore, possibly deep down in bedrock, which could make the seabed unstable. Oil would be have to be released into the water to relieve pressure and allow crews to hook up the ships, BP and Allen have said.

So far, there have been no signs of a leak.

“We’re not seeing any problems at this point with the shut-in,” Suttles said at a Sunday morning briefing.

Allen said later Sunday that scientists and engineers would continue to evaluate and monitor the cap through acoustic, sonar and seismic readings.

They’re looking to determine whether low pressure readings mean that more oil than expected poured into the Gulf of Mexico since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people and touching off one of America’s worst environment crises.

“While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it is important that all decisions are driven by the science,” Allen said in a news release.

“Ultimately, we must ensure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage from numerous points on the sea floor.”

Both Allen and BP have said they don’t know how long the trial run will continue. It was set to end Sunday afternoon, but the deadline — an extension from the original Saturday cutoff — came and went with no word on what’s next.

After little activity Sunday, robots near the well cap came to life around the time of the cutoff. It wasn’t clear what they were doing, but bubbles started swirling around as their robotic arms poked at the mechanical cap.

To plug the busted well, BP is drilling two relief wells, one of them as a backup. The company said work on the first one was far enough along that officials expect to reach the broken well’s casing, or pipes, deep underground by late this month. The subsequent job of jamming the well with mud and cement could take days or a few weeks.

It will take months, or possibly years for the Gulf to recover, though cleanup efforts continued and improvements in the water could be seen in the days since the oil stopped flowing. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

The spill has prevented many commercial fishermen from their jobs, though some are at work with the cleanup. Some boat captains were surprised and angry to learn that the money they make from cleanup work will be deducted from the funds they would otherwise receive from a $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP.

The fund’s administrator, Kenneth Feinberg, told The Associated Press on Sunday that if BP pays fishermen wages to help skim oil and perform other cleanup work, those wages will be subtracted from the amount they get from the fund.

Longtime charter boat captain Mike Salley said he didn’t realize BP planned to deduct those earnings, and he doubted many other captains knew, either.

“I’ll keep running my boat,” he said Sunday on a dock in Orange Beach, Ala., before heading back into the Gulf to resupply other boats with boom to corral the oil. “What else can I do?”

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AP – Scientists got an extra day to evaluate whether the giant cork bottling BP’s busted well in the Gulf of Mexico will hold, while officials overseeing the disaster pondered their next step.

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Scientists get another day to study Gulf spill cap
(AP)

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