WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif) was joined by her colleagues Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) in sending a letter to President Obama outlining recommendations for the responsibilities and membership of the independent commission he is expected to establish to investigate the BP Gulf oil spill. Their recommendations were modeled on the provisions included in the BP Deepwater Horizon Inquiry Commission Act of 2010 (H.R. 5421/S.3344), legislation they introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate earlier this month.
“As a result of this disaster, lives have been lost, livelihoods have been threatened, and ocean and coastal ecosystems have been endangered,” said Markey. “This commission will provide the answers that the American people deserve and will help ensure that a disaster of this magnitude never happens again. I applaud President Obama for creating this important, independent panel."
“Thanks to the President’s leadership, this commission will ensure that our scrutiny matches the depth and breadth of this human, economic and environmental disaster,” said Capps. “We need an independent commission that can determine exactly what went wrong and make recommendations to prevent future tragedies. This commission will guarantee the American people can look to a transparent and accountable investigation of the spill, and have complete trust in the integrity of its findings,” said Capps.
“The examination of this catastrophe by an independent commission needs to happen and quickly, and I applaud the president’s move to create such a commission by executive order. We have no time to waste in determining the cause and the impacts of this disaster in the hopes that we can prevent another from happening in the future,” said Whitehouse.
A copy of the letter is below:
May 19, 2010
President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Mr. President:
We write to commend your administration’s ongoing efforts to respond to the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill. From day one, you mobilized the government’s resources to minimize the harm to the health, economy, and environment of the Gulf Coast. Last week, you sent to Congress legislation that would provide additional resources to mitigate the damage caused by this spill, provide assistance to the people and businesses most affected by the crisis, and ensure that companies like BP that are responsible for oil spills are the ones that pay for the harm caused by them – not the taxpayers. We look forward to working with you to enact these measures.
Additionally, we support your efforts to conduct a “top-to-bottom” reform of the Minerals Management Service (MMS). Secretary Salazar’s proposal to split the MMS into three distinct agencies – one responsible for leasing, one for collecting royalties, and one responsible for inspections and safety – is long overdue. The Secretary has also ordered immediate inspections of all deepwater operations in the Gulf and has announced that no permits for drilling new wells will go forward until the 30-day safety and environmental review that you requested is completed. Finally, your administration is closing loopholes that allowed some oil companies to bypass critical environmental reviews and it is examining all of the environmental procedures for oil and gas activities.
While these are important and necessary steps, we believe more must be done. We were pleased to learn that you will be establishing, through Executive Order, an independent commission to investigate the causes, response and impacts of the BP oil spill. This commission will be critical in providing a thorough and unbiased assessment of what happened and how such disasters can be averted in the future.
As you know, we have introduced legislation – the BP Deepwater Horizon Inquiry Commission Act of 2010 (H.R. 5241/S. 3344) – to establish such a panel. Our legislation may be useful to you as you craft the exact responsibilities and membership of the commission.
We believe the commission should have three primary charges. First, it should investigate and examine the causes of the current spill and the adequacy of oil spill containment and clean-up measures, including recommendations on how to strengthen applicable laws and regulations and to reform agency oversight to keep this from happening again. Second, it should assess the consequences of the spill to sensitive and ecologically important areas, as well as the economic impacts to coastal communities. Finally, it should determine whether and how such spills can be avoided in the future. We believe it is also very important the commission not only investigate BP and other private companies involved with the spill, but evaluate the performance of federal and state agencies responsible for oversight of offshore drilling.
An independent commission will serve as an important long-term addition to your immediate efforts to investigate and respond to the oil spill. Similar commissions have been convened in the past to investigate disasters, including the nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island and the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion. Those panels provided valuable insight and important recommendations regarding nuclear issues and space policy. The same result should be expected from a commission to investigate the BP oil spill.
As you know, this horrific tragedy has claimed 11 lives and contaminated Gulf waters with millions of gallons of oil. It is still spilling thousands of barrels of oil into the water every day, and attempts to completely stop the leaks thus far have been unsuccessful. The oil has now reached the shores of Louisiana. It’s affecting the livelihoods of millions in the Gulf Coast states and threatens more.
We thank you for taking the critically important step of establishing an independent commission to investigate the BP oil spill. It further exemplifies your commitment to complete transparency and accountability, and it will compliment the efforts already underway. To ensure that our scrutiny matches the depth and breadth of this human, economic, and environmental disaster an independent commission is necessary to provide a roadmap for future actions in our offshore areas to avoid a repeat of this tragedy.
We look forward to continuing to work with you on this very important issue.
Sincerely,
LOIS CAPPS SHELDON WHITEHOUSE EDWARD J. MARKEY
Member of Congress U.S. Senator Member of Congress
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