(Host) Senator Patrick Leahy is sponsoring legislation that would lift the cap on liability damages for big oil companies found to be responsible for major oil spills.
Leahy is also supporting efforts by the Obama Administration to open a criminal investigation into the actions that caused the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) Leahy says the owner of the deep water drilling station, BP Oil, has failed to provide an honest account of many of the issues surrounding the huge spill.
Speaking on VPR’s Vermont Edition, Leahy said he no longer has any faith in the leadership of BP and he supports a decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to launch a criminal investigation into all aspects of this oil spill:
(Leahy) "I think we should find out exactly if there were laws broken what they were find out if there other of the hundreds of oil rigs out there that have equipment that might do the exact same thing and ultimately I want to make sure British Petroleum is held liable."
(Kinzel) Leahy is backing legislation that would lift the cap on liability damages for major oil spills. He says the legislation has been filibustered by Senate Republicans in recent weeks and he hopes GOP leaders will change their position and allow the bill to come to the Senate floor for a vote:
(Leahy) "I’m hoping as they look at this more there will be enough pressure on them that they will go along with lifting the cap on that and I would hope that the Supreme Court would not do after there is a resolution will not do what they did with the Exxon Valdez spill where they decided that they had to give money back to Exxon and not to the people who were making their living fishing in Alaska."
(Kinzel) Despite the oil spill, President Obama has repeated his belief that off shore drilling needs to be part of this country’s long term energy future.
Leahy does not:
(Leahy) "I told him I disagree with him…because I have yet to see adequate safety in it and I think what we just saw in the past few weeks shows that."
(Kinzel) Leahy says he doesn’t blame the Obama Administration for not taking a more active role in trying to cap the oil well. He argues that BP has far more expertise than the federal government in dealing with deep water drilling problems.
Leahy says it is the federal government’s role to supervise the cleaning up of all polluted areas and to make certain that individuals and businesses adversely affected by the oil spill receive proper compensation.
For VPR News I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.