Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI), ranking Republican of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, made the following statement at this afternoon’s subcommittee hearing on “Combating the BP Oil Spill.”
Upton’s full opening statement is provided:
Chairman Markey, I appreciate you calling this important hearing today. We are all outraged and saddened by the disastrous oil spill in the gulf that left 11 dead and has spread untold barrels of oil into the sea. It is a very, very tragic event for our nation. I hope to see more hearings from this committee so we can get answers from the administration and the companies involved about what happened, how we can fix it, and how we can ensure that a disaster like this cannot and does not happen again. This is not the time for knee-jerk policy reactions, but for answers.
We first must determine what caused this accident and how we can prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. Second, it needs to be made crystal clear to all involved – the polluter will pay. The American taxpayers should not be on the hook for a dime for the cost of this accident.
I was a member of the conference committee for the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. There is no doubt in my mind that the President and his administration have both the authority and the obligation to take control of the crisis. Clearly from where we stand today, this has not happened. The spill from the Deepwater Horizon rig a month ago is the first major spill since enactment of the 1990 law. The Oil Pollution Act gives the President the authority to oversee the cleanup managed by the responsible party or federalize the efforts. It is the obligation of this committee and the Congress to scrutinize what procedures were taken by BP and the Obama administration and how these actions or inactions led to the mess that we see today. Hindsight is 20/20, but lessons can be learned and applied in the future.
The Coast Guard has been charged with a herculean task. However, I am concerned that delays of this administration have set them up for failure. For example, it was nine days after the accident before the administration tapped the Department of Defense to assist by deploying needed equipment to combat a spill site a mile under the water’s surface. I am also particularly interested in the Coast Guard’s delay of initiating the controlled burn of the surface oil immediately after the spill occurred. It appears there could have been a delay in using this tactic because of air pollution concerns. Was the EPA involved in the decision or the delay? Did Co2 or climate change concerns play a role? I would like these questions answered. Additionally, why were chemical dispersants that make the oil less harmful to the environment not fully used from the onset? Again, was this due to environmental concerns that may not have been warranted in that instance?
Unfortunately, this is not the first safety or environmental problem we have seen from BP. Clearly they were not prepared to deal with a leak 5,000 feet below the sea. There is plenty of blame to go around, but as the Washington Post indicated this week, you can not plug a well with regulations, speeches or paper. There has not ever been a disaster like this in the 30 years they have been drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf. After such a stellar safety record, you start to think that things like this cannot happen. While we cannot turn our back on offshore drilling, we need to do a much better job and be prepared for the future. We need to what we can to prevent this from ever happening again and at the same time, be prepared for the worst. I look forward to the testimony and interaction today. I yield back.
