by Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will establish an
independent presidential commission to probe the huge oil spill from a wrecked
BP-leased rig in the Gulf of Mexico, an official said Monday.
The commission,
similar to other presidential-ordered probes into civilian disasters, will be
established by executive order, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Reports said
that the commission will be officially unveiled in the next few days, and will
supplement existing government inquiries into the disaster sparked by an
explosion aboard a drilling rig last month.
Obama has
gradually ratcheted up criticism of BP over the spill of millions of gallons of
oil into the Gulf in an unfolding ecological disaster, betraying more and more
frustration over the company’s failure to stop the leak. A visibly angered
president on Friday hit out at oil companies for trying to avoid blame over a massive slick, and vowed an all-out effort to stop the leak
pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.
“I will not
tolerate more finger-pointing or irresponsibility. The people of the Gulf Coast
need our help,” Obama said, as he also unveiled a review of the
environmental safeguards to be put in place for oil and gas exploration.
He slammed the
three oil companies linked to the Deepwater Horizon rig—BP, Transocean, and
Halliburton—for seeking to pass the blame, denouncing what he called a
“ridiculous spectacle” by their top officials during congressional
hearings.
Senators join in
Eight senators urged Attorney General Eric Holder on
Monday to investigate possible civil and criminal misdeeds by British energy
giant BP in connection to a disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
“We are
writing to ask that you open an inquiry into whether British Petroleum made
false and misleading statements to the federal government regarding its ability
to respond to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico,” the lawmakers, all
Democrats, wrote to Holder [PDF].
The group, led
by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer, urged
Holder to investigate whether BP misled U.S. regulators on its ability to
respond to catastrophic oil spills.
They cited a
Feb. 23, 2009 document BP submitted to the federal Minerals Management
Service expressing confidence in its ability to contain an oil spill and
mitigate any impact on the environment. “In the event of an unanticipated
blowout resulting in an oil spill, it is unlikely to have an impact based on
the industry wide standards for using proven equipment and technology for such
responses,” that document said.
“In the
wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it does not in any way appear that
there was ‘proven equipment and technology’ to respond to the spill, which
could have tragic consequences for local economies and the natural resources of
the Gulf of Mexico,” the lawmakers wrote.
They also cited
a May 10 document in which BP said all of its potential strategies for
containing the disaster “involve significant uncertainties because they
have not been tested in these conditions before.”
The senators
pressed Holder to evaluate BP’s actions “with respect to civil and
criminal laws related to false statements to the federal government” as
well as “any federal law or regulation that may have been violated in
connection with issues surrounding the spill.”
Head of MMS to retire
Chris Oynes, a top official overseeing offshore energy
for the Minerals Management Service—an agency blamed for lax inspection in the
Gulf of Mexico oil spill—announced his retirement Monday, his agency said.
“After 35
years of service he will be retiring from the agency,” an official at the
Department of the Interior, which includes MMS, told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
Oynes was named
in 2007 as the associate director of the Offshore Energy and Minerals
Management Program in the MMS, with responsibilities including administering
the Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas program.
His retirement
comes amid scathing criticism of the agency for being too lax on enforcement of
safety standards in offshore drilling. Last week, President Barack Obama himself
slammed it as being too “cozy” with the companies it regulates.
After the Gulf
of Mexico disaster at a BP-leased offshore oil rig that ruptured an undersea
well which continues to spew crude into the water, the Obama administration
announced a breakup of the agency’s leasing and regulatory functions into two
separate entities.
Obama ordered
“top to bottom” reform of MMS after allegations it had allowed BP and
other oil companies to drill in the Gulf without first obtaining required
permits. “For too long, for a decade or more, there’s been a cozy
relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them
to drill,” he said.
The Washington
Post said the retirement would come May 31 and that Oynes, who oversaw oil and
gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico for 12 years before being promoted to MMS
associate director, had come under fire for being too close to the industry
officials he regulated.
MMS separately
drew criticism from senators Monday by failing to send an official to a hearing
on the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
“There’s
one set of witnesses that are not here, and I must say that’s from MMS,”
said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who heads the committee on homeland
security. “I regret that the MMS leadership has chosen not to appear
before our committee today because, really, they need to be asked the same
questions I’m going to ask Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and BP, because MMS,
as I’ve mentioned, must approve or reject the oil-spill response plans for
wells, which is where this accident occurred before those wells can be
drilled.”
Last week, one
MMS official told a hearing in New Orleans that the oil and gas industry
largely policed its own drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico with little
government supervision.
An MMS official
said the regulatory agency did not enforce compliance with its “safety
alerts” on underwater blowout preventers and allowed oil companies to
inspect their own drilling equipment.
“I am not
aware of who does the self-certification,” Michael Saucier, the Minerals
Management Service regional supervisor, said when asked about the inspections.
Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans to break up the functions of the MMS to
eliminate a conflict of interest in its role as oil industry regulator and a
lessor of lucrative federal oil rights.
Related Links:
Obama to establish presidential commission to investigate Gulf oil spill
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