(Host) Senator Patrick Leahy says the federal government should take over the effort to control the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Leahy says BP has failed to deal with the environmental catastrophe.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) It’s been five weeks since an explosion on a deep water well in the Gulf of Mexico caused the release of thousands of barrels of oil a day.
The owner of the well, BP, says that efforts to stop the leak have been difficult because the cause of the pollution is 5,000 feet below the ocean surface.
The company also argues that it’s doing all that it can to contain environmental damage along the coastline.
Senator Patrick Leahy says he’s deeply frustrated by BP’s inability to plug the well and its failure to implement more aggressive containment policies.
(Leahy) "They were told there was a solution. It could be done. It’s going to be done right away. I think that now, as you look at it, you find that there are just too many failed attempts. It’s time for the government to step in and take it over."
(Kinzel) Immediately after the oil spill, the Obama administration instituted a temporary moratorium on permits for new offshore drilling projects. But during this time period, the administration has authorized permits for new drilling on existing projects.
Leahy says this policy makes no sense and he wants a total moratorium on all new drilling until it’s clear what happened in the BP case.
(Leahy) "Find out what went wrong, find out what is required to make sure that doesn’t happen again, and then not allow further drilling unless they take steps to make sure they don’t have a similar accident to BP."
(Kinzel) Senator Bernie Sanders is a member of the Senate Energy Committee. This week the panel plans several hearings into the oil spill. Sanders says it’s time for BP to be more forthright about how much oil is leaking into the ocean.
(Sanders) "BP has refused to tell us, in fact, the simple question: How much oil is spilling out. And the Obama administration, I think, has not been as aggressive in getting that information. We need to know is it 5,000 barrels a day or is it, as some scientists are telling us, 50,000 barrels a day?"
(Kinzel) Sanders is also drafting legislation that would reinstate the congressional moratorium on all new offshore drilling projects.
For VPR News I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.