The possibility of spills caused by offshore drilling is once again raising concerns in Congress, but it's not BP PLC drilling off Louisiana. It's drilling off Cuba, 90 miles from Key West, Fla.

The nation to the south is working with Spanish company Repsol to begin drilling a well in its waters before the end of the year. American lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are opposed to the plan to drill up to 16 wells, but the project is beyond the reach of U.S. regulators.

Still, the Obama administration's top offshore drilling regulator says it is not sitting idly by. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that his agency is preparing to prevent and limit damage from oil spills in Cuban waters. That includes preparing U.S. companies to respond to spills and planning to inspect the drilling rig that will be used in a Cuban project this year.

"The U.S. government is taking steps to protect U.S. waters and environmental and economic resources by promoting drilling safety to prevent spills in the first place and by preparing response contingencies in the event of a spill," Bromwich said. "The U.S. is also taking measures to ensure that the appropriate private industry parties are able to respond quickly in the event of an oil spill in Cuban waters."

Bromwich said Interior Department's drilling regulator said the Interior, Commerce and Treasury departments are taking steps to make sure private companies can legally participate in a Cuban spill response. He said the department's understanding of Cuba's ability to oversee drilling suggests that "it is not highly developed."

The House Natural Resources Committee's Energy and Minerals Subcommittee will look into that during a hearing Wednesday to investigate oil spill readiness and response in foreign waters adjacent to the United States.

The hearing could also touch on Mexico's oil spill readiness and spill-response capabilities in Arctic waters as a handful of nations -- including Russia -- are clamoring to explore beneath the icy waters. But the hot issue is Cuba.

Several lawmakers have proposed legislation that would penalize foreign companies for working with Cuba on its drilling schemes, but Bill Reilly, co-chairman of the presidential commission that investigated last year's BP spill, says such proposals are a bad idea.

"What you want is a company like Repsol, which has its own interest in the United States, has rigs in the Gulf, applies for permits from the United States government," Reilly said. "I don't know who we would get -- maybe [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chávez -- if it were so limited that we couldn't have a responsible company doing that drilling."

Reilly said this summer that Mexican drilling regulators have agreed to enhance their regulations, and he has pressed Cuban and Russian officials on the topic.

"I have been causing grief to the State Department," he said this summer (E&ENews PM, May 16). "That's something that's very important to us, I think, given that they're drilling 50 miles off Key West, so I've asked to be invited to Cuba to talk about the report."

Schedule: The hearing is Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.

Witnesses: Michael Bromwich, director, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement; Vice Adm. Brian Salerno, deputy commandant for operations, U.S. Coast Guard; and more TBA.