WASHINGTON — With Congress stepping up pressure on BP this week, Arkansas lawmakers played key roles in committee hearings focused on the economic and environmental ramifications of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
From the beginning, BP officials downplayed the severity of the spill, Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said Thursday morning as he convened a hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.
“We may never know the extent of the loss of animal life or the degree of damage to the wetlands, or the level of the damage done to the fishing stock,” Pryor said.
“What we do know is that 51 days out from the beginning of this ordeal, the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is anything but modest.”
Pryor’s hearing was one of at least eight this week thatfocused on the oil spill crisis. In the House, Arkansas’ Reps. John Boozman, a Republican, and Mike Ross, a Democrat, also attended hearings related to the Gulf spill . And more hearings are scheduled for next week, including a Thursday appearance by BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward before a House subcommittee on which Ross serves.
Pryor’s hearing focused on how the oil spill has affected the Gulf Coast and how well the federal government and BP are working with state and local governments to clean it up.
The response from frustrated local officials was a resounding: Not too well.
“I still don’t know who’s in charge,” said Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, La. “Is it BP? Is it the Coast Guard? ... I have spent more time fighting the officials of BP and the Coast Guard than fighting the oil. We’ve got to find somebody to put in charge that has the guts and the will to make decisions.”
The combined approach to a command structure for the oil-spill response has resulted in delays and missed opportunities, Nungesser and other Louisiana officials said during the sometimes emotional testimony. They called for the federal government to decisively take the lead.
“We need some help. We need some money,” said David Camardelle, mayor of Grand Isle, La., who met later in the day with President Barack Obama at the White House, where Obama consoled families of the 11 workers killed when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20.
Noting that it’s now hurricane season and that a storm would make a bad situation worse, Camardelle said his residents aren’t looking for a government handout, but for help to maintain livelihoods that depend on the fishing and oil industries. He and Nungesser expressed opposition to Obama’s six-month moratorium on offshore drilling.
“I just need your help,” Camardelle pleaded. “It’s like a war, and we’re on the front lines.”
Similar concerns were raised by a pair of senators on the committee - Democrats Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Bill Nelson of Florida - who represent Gulf states and said they are exasperated with the federal response.
Nelson said Florida officials, who were not notified earlier this week when oil was detected in the state’s waters, are “not only bewildered, they are livid.”
“We’ve got folks in Florida who are mad as wet hens” over the ineffective command and control structure of the spill response.
In the House on Thursday afternoon, Ross attended a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing that examined the “human exposure and environmental fate” of the oil spill. In his opening statement, he echoed the frustration over BP’s response and called for more federal involvement.
“This preventable accident is a wake-up call for the oil and gas companies and the government agencies that regulate them,” Ross said, adding that it’s imperative to protect the unique features of the affected areas.
“Our natural resources, including our beaches, wetlands and wildlife, are what set the states affected by this spill apart from the rest of the country,” he said.
A day earlier Boozman listened to testimony before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee about whether to increase or eliminate the $75 million cap on the liability that oil drilling and transportation companies face in the event of a spill. Congress created the cap in 1990.
Boozman said in an interview that he supports raising that limit. “We don’t want the taxpayer to be stuck with the liability.”
But he also warned that current legislative efforts on Capitol Hill could squelch oil exploration and tighten the U.S. energy supply.
“We need to use the natural resources we’ve been blessed with,” he said.
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, testified that the oil industry recognizes that “changes are needed” in determining oil spill liability, but he warned that if the cap is raised too high, small and medium-sized oil producers would be forced out of business.
Faced with the possibility of large claims, insurance companies “would be unable to offer adequate insurance protection” at prices those companies could afford, Gerard said.
But that industry viewpoint didn’t sway Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, who said “that would be the market telling us we shouldn’t be doing this drilling.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/11/2010