Congress Can't Trust BP To Protect Clean Up Crews, Says Democrat

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) said Monday that BP, the oil giant responsible for the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast, cannot be counted on to protect the health of workers assigned to clean up the spill.

“We know we can’t trust BP,” Capps said during a discussion at the Center For American Progress (CAP) in Washington, D.C.. Capps added that BP lacked the incentive to provide adequate healthcare to cleanup workers.

Ellen-Marie Whelan, the associate director of health policy at CAP, explained the importance of extensive data compilation so that government agencies can monitor the long term health effects of the spill, especially regarding the unknown effects of the chemical dispersant.  

“Some of the [health] effects can take years to emerge,” said Whelan.

Dr. Lesley Russell, a visiting fellow at CAP who focuses on health issues, outlined the many risks that can arise from the spill, including contaminated seafood, PTSD, and fertility issues.  Russell cautioned that cleanup workers near the crude oil, burning oil, and dispersants, are already complaining of feeling ill.

All three emphasized that it is important to learn from past disasters, such as 9/11, the Exxon Valdez spill, and a 2002 oil spill of the coast of Spain, when looking at the adverse health effects and how to protect emergency cleanup workers as well as residents.

BP Should Suspend Dividend Payments, Marketing Campaigns, Say House Democrats

By Robert Hune-Kalter
Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and other House Democrats today called on oil company BP to suspend making dividend payments and creating marketing campaigns.
A letter sent by Welch to BP CEO Tony Hayward earlier this week contained the following statement:

“As BP presides over one of the greatest environmental and economic catastrophes of our time, we find it troubling that your company plans to divert financial resources to shareholder dividends and slick marketing campaigns."

Despite the fact that Hayward told the House Transportation Committee that his company had a plan in place to deal with large spills, Cohen charged on Wednesday that this was not the case. The Tennessee Democrat said BP's legacy will forever be tied to the ongoing spill.

“We’re two days after World Ocean Day and we’re polluting one of our most precious bodies of water and possibly destroying the economic vitality and future of the Gulf Coast. BP is going to be known in the future as Biggest Polluter,” he said.

Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) suggested that the best public relations campaign for BP would be transparency and responsibility, putting its profits in reserve to meet its obligation to the Gulf Coast.

“The public does not like these ads, and when they hear of these dividends they’re going to see right away how terrible this is, that a company would be thinking so much of its shareholders when so many people are suffering on the Gulf Coast,” she said.

Cohen said Democrats are hoping to put BP into receivership so that the company cannot escape its financial responsibility through bankruptcy.

“I believe that they will eventually go bankrupt. I see BP pulling out, just like they pulled out of New Orleans after Andrew Jackson went to New Orleans in the Battle of Britain. The losers will be the people who obligations are due to,” he said.

U.S. health care "unacceptable" and "un-American"

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing on “H.R. 3014, Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007,” in order to discuss how to improve the health of minority individuals in the U.S. Vice Chairman Lois Capps (D-Calif.) said that the U.S. needs this bill “now more than ever,” and that it is embarrassing that the U.S. cannot extend health care to every citizen. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) said that it is time for Congress to put the best ideas and practices together and bridge the gap of health disparities.

Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) said that Houston has the third largest Hispanic population in the U.S. and the lack of access to health care for them continues to be a huge barrier. Green explained that half of the total uninsured population in his district consisted of minorities. Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) said that the existence of racial and ethnic health disparities in every aspect of health care is well documented. Dingell also said that “in a country as great as ours,” the idea that one’s ethnic or racial background factors into their chance of living a healthy and productive life is “simply unacceptable.” Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) said that the U.S. health care system is “unacceptable and un-American.”

Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said that prevention and control of diseases, along with protection and promotion of the health of the American people are the primary mandate of public health. Clyburn also explained that in 2005 a United Nations Development Program report entitled: Inequality in the United States Healthcare System, said that U.S. private-public health care system should not be used as a model for other countries. Clyburn said that he has seen too many friends and family who have died from diseases that the bill aims to address, and he came to testify on behalf of those who don’t have health care.

Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said that health care access and affordability is the number one issue the U.S. faces today. The health care bill, Moran said, is about “saving lives today.” Moran explained that Americans living in rural cities can also be considered minorities. He said that elderly, rural Americans are more likely to have a chronic disease and less likely to receive the recommended pre-screenings, preventive screenings, and checkups.