Republicans Putting Oil Companies in “Witness Protection Program”, Says Markey
 
WASHINGTON (September 20, 2011) – A hearing in the Natural Resources Committee this Friday will examine the final report on the BP spill from the Obama administration. That report established a robust case against the companies involved in the 2010 environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and announced that the Department of Interior would cite the companies for seven violations of federal regulations.
 
Yet none of the companies will be in attendance to answer questions about the report.
 
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, and the leading force for continued oversight and investigation of the BP spill and oil drilling safety, today challenged his Republican counterparts on the committee to bring these companies before the panel at the Friday hearing.
 
“Given that the Joint Investigation Team report finds that BP, Transocean, Cameron and Halliburton each bear responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, including seven documented violations of BOEMRE regulations, testimony from these companies at the hearing on September 23 will be critical to gaining a full understanding of what led to the disaster and what steps must be taken to avoid similar catastrophic failures in the future,” writes Rep. Markey to Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.).
 
The full letter is available HERE .
 
Rep. Markey has made several requests to the Republican majority on the committee to bring in the companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and has made additional requests for the heads of the top five oil companies to appear before the committee for an update on their efforts to reform drilling safety. Thus far, Republicans have not scheduled these hearings, nor made any indication they intend to do so.
 
“It appears that Republicans have put these oil company executives into a witness protection program, to ensure they don’t have to answer tough questions about drilling safety or the BP spill,” said Rep. Markey. “If we conduct these hearings on offshore drilling safety and the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, and the committee does not invite these companies to testify, then this committee is not doing its job.”
 
# # #