Tuesday
May252010
Top DOJ Official Advocates Raising Liability Cap For Oil Industry
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 2:24PM
By: Justine Rellosa
Talk Radio News Service
U.S. Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli made clear on Tuesday that there should not be an arbitrary cap for oil spill accidents, like the one that occurred at the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico site over one month ago.
“With respect to activities that might have the risk in resulting in a similar or major oil spill, such as we are seeing currently, we don’t think there should be an arbitrary cap on corporate responsibility,” said Perrelli during a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Current law caps how liable companies are for economic damages caused by spills at $75 million, although a group of Democratic Senators, led by Robert Menendez (D-N.J), is looking to the cap to $10 billion dollars.
Perrelli added that if Congress voted to raise the cap and apply it retroactively, the government would likely win any legal challenges put forth by members of the oil industry.
U.S. Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes reassured the Committee that his department is doing all it can to make sure the regulatory system is “state of the art.”
“We are committed to doing a thorough investigation and a top to bottom evaluation of whether we have the right regulatory system...and whether there is enough oversight of industry.”
Talk Radio News Service
U.S. Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli made clear on Tuesday that there should not be an arbitrary cap for oil spill accidents, like the one that occurred at the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico site over one month ago.
“With respect to activities that might have the risk in resulting in a similar or major oil spill, such as we are seeing currently, we don’t think there should be an arbitrary cap on corporate responsibility,” said Perrelli during a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Current law caps how liable companies are for economic damages caused by spills at $75 million, although a group of Democratic Senators, led by Robert Menendez (D-N.J), is looking to the cap to $10 billion dollars.
Perrelli added that if Congress voted to raise the cap and apply it retroactively, the government would likely win any legal challenges put forth by members of the oil industry.
U.S. Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes reassured the Committee that his department is doing all it can to make sure the regulatory system is “state of the art.”
“We are committed to doing a thorough investigation and a top to bottom evaluation of whether we have the right regulatory system...and whether there is enough oversight of industry.”
Blowout Prevention Act Must Be Met With Bipartisan Support Says Republican
By Linn Grubbstrom - Talk Radio News Service
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said Tuesday at a House Energy and Commerce Committee meeting that new legislation to prevent future oil well blowouts deserves bipartisan support.
Despite criticism that the bill does not clearly define “high-risk” oil wells, the Republican said it’s an issue that everyone needs to pay close attention to.
“We want to improve safety procedures,” Barton said. “We want to make it possible to continue drilling, both in an environmentally safe and economically positive way…We stand ready to work in a bipartisan basis.”
Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes suggested to the committee that America take example from European countries like Norway who have similar safety regulations already in place.
“I think we can learn from each other, and we need to both have better performance standards but also prescriptive standards where appropriate,” said Hayes. “Personally, the sense I have is that Norway [has] put in place perhaps better systems at this point than we have and that’s not acceptable. We need to be leading the world here, in terms of safety.”