Markey vows to end cap on spill damages

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Boston Globe

Markey vows to end cap on spill damages
Congressman, Pelosi blast BP in local visit
By Jack Nicas
Globe Correspondent / June 3, 2010

WATERTOWN — US Representative Edward Markey vowed yesterday that Congress will pass two bills that would open the internal operations of BP to a federal investigation of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and remove a cap on damages the oil company could pay.

Standing alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a visit to a local battery manufacturer, the Malden Democrat said Congress would give a new presidential commission investigating the spill subpoena powers, which he said “they will need to get right to the very bottom of what happened.’’

Markey, chairman of the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, also pledged legislation to increase the $75 million limit on liability for an oil spill, and remove the limit entirely for companies as large as BP.

“Our goal is to pass that legislation this year,’’ he said, noting that BP earned almost $6 billion in the first quarter of 2010. BP says it has spent about $1 billion already addressing the disaster.



Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2010/06/03/markey_vows_to_end_cap_on_spill_damages/

[unhappycamper]

1. I wish Markey were equally committed to a 'No' vote on supplemental spending in the sandbox. n/t