MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript
Interview
MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript
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Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts joins us now.
Congressman, thanks very much for your time.
REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thanks for having us on.
MADDOW: So, I have to ask your reaction tonight to this news that
we"re just getting from B.P., Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles making
some hopeful noises about this top kill effort, saying that it appears that
it is drilling mud and not oil, that is--that can you see now coming out
of the ruptured under sea well, that that would be a hopeful sign for this
top kill effort.
Are you able to add anything or do you have any reaction to that
news?
MARKEY: Again, we"re all hopeful. But they"re saying that it will
take another day to know whether or not they are successful. There are a
lot of things that can go wrong. But we all have our fingers crossed.
Everyone in America is praying that this is the final 24 hours of this 37,
38-day ordeal.
So I can"t add anything to it. It"s in the hands of the engineers.
We know that they never had a plan in place to deal with something like
this. We know they"re making it up as they go along. Hopefully, this is
the kind of improvised solution that can finally put an end to this
catastrophic leak.
MADDOW: In terms of the relationship between B.P. and the
government, between B.P., frankly, and the nation, as this disaster
continues to unfold, you are the one who initially asked B.P. last week to
show video of the leak to the public. They conceded, but they said they
would take it down during the top kill procedure.
What reason did the company give you for that decision when they
said that?
MARKEY: I think right from the very beginning, they felt that it
was B.P."s spill, and B.P."s cameras, and B.P."s ocean. I don"t think
until very recently they"ve come to realize that it"s B.P."s spill but it"s
America"s ocean. The American people have a right to know what"s going on,
and we know that millions of people are watching this on an ongoing basis.
And that"s why I firmly insisted that they: one, give us the link to
all 12 different angles, which is now up, if people want to look at it.
And secondly, that they can"t shut it down when they"re going in with this
top kill procedure. The American people have a right to see what is going
on because there are real issues here. Initially B.P. said it was 1,000
barrels per day. Then they altered it to 5,000 barrels per day.
And what I found in a document which I received yesterday is that,
of course, B.P. right from the beginning felt that it could be 1,000 to
14,000 barrels. But they picked 1,000 for that first week because their
liability is tied to how many barrels of oil go into the Gulf. And it"s
the difference between tens of millions of dollars and billions of dollars,
depending upon the size of this leak.
I think everyone--including scientists across the country--
should have an ability to be able to evaluate what"s going on right now.
MADDOW: And, Congressman, B.P."s argument publicly was that any
resources devoted to figuring out the exact size of the leak, the rate of
leaking oil there was essentially a distraction from--a detraction from
engineering resources devoted to shutting the leak off. They said it
didn"t really matter how much was spilling because they had to try to stop
it regardless.
To be clear, you think that they had a real financial motivation to
not know how much was leaking, or to minimize the amount leaking, because
that"s linked to their liability.
MARKEY: Their own analysis, four or five days into the leak was it
was between 1,000 and 14,000, and they picked 5,000 barrels per day. Now,
independent scientists, since last Wednesday when this film went up on my
Web site, have determined it could be 40,000 barrels per day, 50,000
barrels per day--and that"s ultimately going to be central to how much
B.P. is forced to pay in fines, but also for the cleanup.
And I think that, unfortunately, they got their eye on that
liability issue instead of the livability issue for the people in the Gulf.
MADDOW: Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey, chairman of the Select
Committee on Energy Independence--thank you very much for your time
tonight, sir. And thanks for the opportunity to see those camera angles we
wouldn"t have without you. Appreciate it.
MARKEY: Thank you. And thanks for your great coverage of this
whole catastrophe.
MADDOW: That"s very kind. Thanks.
Today, we found something in the NBC News archives that has helped
us a lot with our continued reporting on the B.P. oil disaster in the Gulf
of Mexico. It"s footage that has not been seen in 30 years. We restored
it from the NBC News archives today. We think it may provide a key insight
into what"s already happened in the Gulf and what continues to happen
there. That"s coming up next.
Plus, more "Geek Week" ahead--including me sort of panicking about
being on a helicopter. That"s coming up.
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