MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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SCHULTZ: The president making a convincing argument at his press conference. But the proof will be in the plugging, I guess you could say. This is now the worst spill in history. As much as 39 million gallons of oil are now in the Gulf, along with toxic dispersants, which, of course, is an X factor in all of this.
For more, let"s bring in Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey. He is the chair of the Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Congressman, great to have you with us tonight. You"ve been the kicker in all of this. You"ve really gotten after BP more than anybody else in the Congress, in my opinion. Congratulations and thanks for doing the people"s work. You don"t believe you can trust BP, do you? REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I don"t. I think BP has been too much interested in their own liability and not enough interested in the livability of those that live down in the Gulf states. I think that has been characteristic of their response right from the very beginning of this entire catastrophic event.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, do you think that BP has been cooking the reports about how much oil is actually in the Gulf?
MARKEY: Well, back on April 27th, there was an internal report done by BP--this is in the first week of the accident--which showed that the rate could go from 1,000 barrels to 14,000 barrels per day. What BP did was they used 1,000 barrels in that first week as the estimate, and then they raised it to 5,000 barrels a week later.
The truth is, when I asked the CEO of BP today in the hearing, if he knew about that document, and whether or not that was something that he now stood by, he said he didn"t know anything about it. From my own perspective, I think if there"s one thing BP should have known in the first week, in the second week, in the third week, was how big is this leak? How many barrels of oil are going into the Gulf of Mexico on a daily basis? They"re saying that they had no knowledge at the top level in the corporation. I think it"s again part of this strategy of creating deniability about what they knew and when they knew it. But I think we are now seeing with other outside scientists, as they analyze the flow, that the rate is somewhere between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day, with an upwards of 25,000 barrel per day spill going on in the Gulf. My feeling is that BP, right from the get-go, knew or should have known it wasn"t 1,000 barrels of oil per day.
SCHULTZ: Are they untouchable? Are they so big, such a big multinational that our government"s not going to be able to hold them accountable? You hear a lot of boots on necks and everything else, holding them accountable. These fishermen down there and these people that are losing their livelihood, accountability is full restitution, not for one year, but for many years to come. Do you think BP and our government can do that?
MARKEY: I think that BP is actually going to stand for Bills Paid. I think whether you"re a liberal or a conservative, whether you live in the Gulf of Mexico or you live in Massachusetts or California, you"re going to want to make sure that BP is made accountable.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Markey, thank you for joining us tonight. I appreciate your time. I hope you"re correct on that. It is going to be awfully tough to reel in BP. I hope it happens.
MARKEY: Thank you.
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