Wednesday, May 19, 2010 1:15 PM
Mica Blames Spill On Administration
By Darren Goode, NationalJournal.com
House Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member John Mica, R-Fla., today pegged the safety failure of the BP-run Deepwater Horizon oil rig squarely on the shoulders of the Obama administration.
While Democrats have largely concentrated their ire on BP and other companies tied to the rig, Mica at a hearing in the transportation panel today said that "all of the actions to ensure that safety measures were put in place have to be attributed to the Obama administration."
Although the Bush administration approved the lease allowing BP to drill off the rig, Mica went through what he dubbed the "Obama oil spill timeline," which included the Obama Interior department in early 2009 approving BP's safety procedures at the rig.
He also noted that the administration requested cutting positions, ships, planes and other first-responder equipment at the U.S. Coast Guard.
"I'm not going to point fingers at BP, the private industry, when it's the government's responsibility to set the standards to do the inspections," Mica said.
Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar shot back, saying it was "inflammatory to call it 'the Obama oil spill.' And wrong."
Oberstar said BP's plans were approved early in the administration by career employees, not policy appointees. He also noted that Mica himself and other panel Republicans approved the Coast Guard budget cuts Mica cited.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar testified in two Senate panels Tuesday on the need to overhaul federal safety procedures, and he will be issuing a set of recommendations to President Obama by the end of the month.
Today's Transportation and Infrastructure hearing -- the fourth of five this week on the oil spill -- features testimony from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Minerals Management Service Director Elisabeth Birnbaum. MMS has been targeted by both parties for not requiring BP to undergo a complete environmental review before they began drilling from the Deepwater Horizon rig. The Interior Department and the White House Council on Environmental Quality are reviewing the environmental review procedures at MMS.
Obama and Salazar also have admitted there was too cozy a relationship for years between MMS and the industry. Salazar last week announced that MMS would be split in order to create an independent environment and safety entity within the agency. Later today, Salazar will be announcing additional reorganization at the agency.
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