MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts.
He chaired that subcommittee briefing today on the BP oil disaster.
Chairman Markey, thank you very much for coming back on the show.
MARKEY: Thank you very much for having me.
MADDOW: I sort of feel like the rest of the country hasn"t quite caught up to this part of the story yet, that the industry has never cared about being able to respond to a spill. Is that--is that what you found today in this briefing? Is that a fair assessment of your view?
MARKEY: I think it"s--I think it"s the only conclusion which you can reach. In the hearing today, we learned from the witnesses that a probabilistic risk assessment had to be made of what the risks were of a catastrophic accident occurring in deep-water drilling. A probabilistic risk assessment is another way of saying, what are the chances that there could be an accident? And it turns out that they determined that there was a zero percent chance that a catastrophic accident could occur.
So, if you believe no accident can occur, then why invest in safety technologies? Why invest in modern response capabilities, since not only the oil company, but the government agency accepted the probabilistic risk assessment that the chances of an accident was zero. And so, what we"re seeing now, the logical consequences of that kind of assumption being allowed to be accepted, and the investment in the technologies that would be needed to shut down the leak, to respond to the spill, never having been made.
MADDOW: Since the government approves permits to drill in these waters--I mean, this is--this is drilling in the United States of America. Is it possible that the American government could compel these companies to invest in sustained research and development projects? Not just immediately after a spill like this happens, when they have to admit that none of the stuff has ever been tested, they don"t know how any of these response technologies will work, but is there a way to make them invest long-term as a condition for getting permits?
MARKEY: I think that we have to pass legislation, and I"m going to introduce this legislation that will create a fund--a fund for research into modern safety technologies. Not technologies that are 30 years old, but 21st century technologies that match up with 21st century risks that are assumed when you go out 50 miles deep in the ocean and drill down five miles.
So, you need new safety technologies. You need new response technologies. That will make it possible for us to be successful.
In that first couple of weeks, BP was actually talking about nylons and hair that we could put out into the ocean. People thought that we would, at this point, be talking about the Apollo Project and not "Project Runway" as a way of responding.
And so, we need to fund it with oil company money, and then have independent researchers be able to develop the technology, the 21st century technologies, that we will need to make sure that this does not happen again.
MADDOW: One of the response technologies that has been so controversial for this disaster, Congressman, is the issue of dispersants. And one of the complications in--around dispersants is the fact that dispersants are seen as proprietary technology, that the companies who them don"t disclose what"s in them, they don"t see a public responsibility in letting people know what the risks are of those technologies because they"re marketing them as a for-profit product.
Is that the sort of thing--because dispersants are a big part of the way the industry imagines responding to spills--is that something in which those patents should be busted or is that something where those industries should in part be nationalized so that we can benefit from those industries having to worry about the profit mode of getting in the way?
MARKEY: There is a--an historic science project going on under the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico. We have tens of millions of gallons of oil. We have natural gas. We are shooting it with hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals. It is creating underwater plumes. It is going to ultimately affect the fish, the fauna, everything that is inside that Gulf of Mexico which is so important to the livelihoods of people in that region and to our country.
We cannot allow for these companies to be using dispersants, chemicals in ways that could ultimately have profound impacts on not only the food that is provided from that region, from the fishing, but also the impact that it could ultimately have upon human beings. Because we are ultimately part of that food chain as we consume what is produced from that region.
And so, no longer can we allow for the oil industry to be using proprietary technology chemicals without a full disclosure of what it is and what the potential impact could be on the Gulf and on human beings, because, ultimately, that is the chain that finally reaches us.
MADDOW: Democratic Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee, I think making some news tonight here with us both in that brief hearing today and in your comments right now on those proprietary dispersant formulas. Thank you very much for your time tonight, sir. We always appreciate it.
MARKEY: Thank you so much for having me on.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source