GOP has other concerns
Liveblog by Khan
Republican members on the
committee have consistently drawn attention to other concerns in their
opening statements. One would think that the investigative hearing,
with BP CEO Tony Hayward as a chief witness, would focus on the events
leading up to the completion of the Macondo well, as well as BP’s
actions going forward in cleaning up the spill.
Yet starting with Rep. Barton, Republicans have diverted attention from these matters:
As
I mentioned in a previous post, Barton focused on the White
House’s success in getting BP to commit $20 billion in an escrow fund,
monitored by an independent reviewer, decrying it as a "shakedown".
Rep.
Sullivan of OK brought attention to energy legislation, calling
attempts by Democratic colleagues to use the spill as a backdrop to
introduce an energy bill politically motivated. Sullivan claimed that all we needed was smarter drilling regulation going forward.
Rep. Blackburn of TN denounced President Obama’s six month moratorium
on drilling, citing a "loss of jobs". She failed to touch on, however,
whether it was conscionable to continue drilling without finding out
what went wrong with Macondo, or for that matter, passing the relevant
legislation strengthening regulations.
Rep. Griffith of AL, in a statement that seemed out of place, talked about the importance of getting people to stop smoking cigarettes. The spill is "not going to be the worst thing that’s ever happened to America." How do Alabamans living near oil-smeared coastal beaches, or idled by the fishing ban, feel about that? Then again, Griffith (a former Democrat who switched parties last year) represents northern Alabama, land of no beaches.