WASHINGTON– Today, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) sent a letter to BP’s CEO Lamar Mckay requesting a variety of scientific data and documents associated with the environmental and public health effects of the Gulf Coast oil spill.  Included in the request are data on the health of cleanup workers, data on air and water quality, composition of the oil leaking from the riser pipe, and the ingredients that comprise the drilling mud used in BP’s failed “top kill” procedure.

Last week during an Energy and Commerce Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing, Capps and Markey heard testimony from top scientists about potential health and environmental effects associated with the spill. 

 “The devastating impacts of this disaster do not end in the water or on the shores of the Gulf Coast, putting human health in the direct line of fire and tugging at the region’s already sensitive economy,” said Markey. “BP has a responsibility to the American people to provide all relevant information related to the cleanup effort. This critical information will allow government agencies and independent scientists to accurately assess the environmental and human impacts of the oil spill and all related cleanup efforts.”

“This data is absolutely essential for the scientists working to understand the full scope of the both the short and long term environmental and public health effects associated with this disaster so we can do everything possible to mitigate the damage to the affected coastal communities. BP needs to stop stalling and provide this information now.  I have asked the President to take control of the public health response away from BP, and BP’s continued failure to release data critical to the public health response would be further evidence that he should do so,” said Capps.