Congressman Revealed BP Underestimated Spill Size in Early Days of Disaster
 
WASHINGTON (April 24, 2012) – Just a little over two years after the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill began, the first criminal charges were filed today against a former BP engineer for deleting texts regarding the rate of oil spilling from the blown-out Macondo well.
 
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) revealed that the company was underestimating the size of the spill in the early days of the disaster, and pushed to create the Spillcam, which helped scientists assess the rate of the spill. A full timeline of those actions, including the release of documents related to the flow rate of the spill, is available HERE.
 
In response to today’s action by the Department of Justice, Rep. Markey, the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee, released the following statement:
 
“The courts will determine whether these actions were an obstruction of justice, but we already know that BP had a policy of obfuscation during the spill when it came to the amount of oil flowing out of the Macondo well.
 
“Two years after the BP spill, the company is still challenging the size of the spill to reduce their own liability and fines. It is not surprising that there may be instances where BP employees tried to cover up their tracks, when billions of dollars in fines are at stake that should be paid to the American people.
 
“In the early days of the spill, BP said the spill was only 1,000 barrels a day. Only after I began releasing documents, pushing federal regulators for an independent assessment of the size of the spill, and releasing video of the well, did the full rate of the spill come to light.
 
“The complaint filed by the Department of Justice today raises additional questions about what the company knew about the size of the spill at the time, and whether the company may have had reason to know that the ‘Top Kill’ effort to plug the well could not succeed. I continue to believe that we need to have BP’s top executives in to testify before the Natural Resources Committee about their response to the spill.”
 
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