Congressional review begins

UPDATE: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is also getting in on the act this afternoon with a hearing on economic and environmental impacts of the oil spill starting at 2:30 EDT. Witnesses include representatives of the three companies, and representatives of fishing, tourism, and state interests. An environmental law perspective will be provided by Meg Caldwell of Stanford’s Law School and Center for Ocean Solutions.

Tomorrow is the first of what will surely be several Congressional hearings on the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The opening volley takes place in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, starting at 10 a.m. eastern time. Witnesses will include Elmer Danenberger, described on the Committee’s web site as “Former Chief, Offshore Regulatory Program, Minerals Management Service.” Based on MMS’s web site, Mr. Danenberger was in charge of the agency’s offshore regulatory efforts as late as November 2009. Also appearing will be the chairman of BP America; the CEO of  Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon; and the President of Halliburton, which was cementing the well when the rig exploded. The hearing will be webcast live and then archived at the Committee’s web site.

The House Committee on Natural Resources will hold its hearings on May 26 and 27, witnesses TBA. That one will also be webcast on that Committee’s web site.

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Reader Comments

3 Replies to “Congressional review begins”

  1. BP says Transocean was responsible for the blowout preventer on the sea floor. Transocean says that Haliburton was responsible for the sealing the well. Haliburton claims they were just doing what BP told them to do.

    Sky Truth says the real leak rate is very likely closer 26,000 barrels a day; making the spill already more than twice the size of Exxon Valdez. The Dauphin Island Sea Lab says the use of dispersants at the sea floor–instead of at the surface where the benzene and hexane and carcinogens evaporate off–probably just mixes the toxics into the water column. If BP chooses to keep the oil off the surface, out of sight out of mind, they ask, then where has the toxicity gone?

    As with many other questions about this spill, they didn’t say whether BP had an answer:

    http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp100511the_gulf_oil_spill_a

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About Holly

Holly Doremus is the James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation at UC Berkeley. Doremus brings a strong background in life sciences and a comm…

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About Holly

Holly Doremus is the James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation at UC Berkeley. Doremus brings a strong background in life sciences and a comm…

READ more

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