White House officials stressed again Monday that BP would be held liable for the cost of the cleanup and economic compensation for losses on the Gulf Coast. But Democratic senators said the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, passed in the wake of the Exxon Valdez, caps economic damage liability at $75 million. Democratic Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida and Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey introduced legislation to raise that cap to $10 billion.
Ball, Jeffrey, Stephen Power, and Russell Gold. 2010. "Oil Agency Draws Fire: Republican Seeks Scrutiny of Regulator; BP Tries Well Fix." Wall Street Journal (4 May): A 1.
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In Washington, House minority leader John Boehner said the U.S. shouldn't put new limits on undersea exploration, "as such limits will only make us more dependent on foreign oil, slow the development of clean-energy alternatives, increase fuel costs, and destroy American jobs."
Does the Republican lying and stupidity know no bounds? The cost of windmills, and algae farms is measured in JOBS. All of the energy alternatives are more expensive because they require actual production as opposed to robbing an earthly piggy bank. How any sane person can claim that oil extraction provides more employment than alternatives is a real mystery. The production of energy from wind and algae are monetarily constrained and so too the research necessary to thorium nuclear. And all of these will do more to provide employment than any drilling ever will.
Trucker,
You are failing to give credit for the jobs created by spills and their clean-up. You would do well to consider also that AGW will probably put our construction industry back to work as well as create opportunities in the agricultural sector. You are thinking too much in the short-term! Fossil fuels have long term consequences and benefits!
BP "pollution containment chamber" to be tried this week to contain oil spill after oil rig explosion in Gulf of Mexico. BP hopes to reduce the underwater gusher by more than 80 percent and provide the first successful effort to control the spill that began April 20 with an explosion and fire on an offshore rig.
http://www.smslegal.com/blog/bp-tries-to-contain-massive-oil-spill-after-oil-rig-explosion-in-gulf-of-mexico.cfm
From Democracy Now:
U.S. Exempted BP from Environmental Review
Newly-released documents meanwhile show government regulators exempted BP from a comprehensive environmental review of the project that resulted in the spill. The Minerals Management Service granted BP a “categorical exclusion” from a full review before approving the project just over a year ago. In a statement, the Center for Biological Diversity said: “Instead of protecting the public interest by conducting environmental reviews, [the MMS] rubber-stamped BP’s drilling plan, just as it does hundreds of others every year in the Gulf of Mexico.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/6/headlines#2
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