CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript

Interview

COOPER: Congressman, some of the stuff that you revealed today on Capitol Hill was just stunning. I mean, we've seen that BP's response plan listed a dead scientist as a contact and talked about walruses in the Gulf when there was a spill, when obviously, there haven't been walruses there for some three million years.

But to learn that other companies out there have pretty much the exact same plan, with the exact same language, and quoting -- you know, referencing the exact same scientist, and even talking about saving walruses, was incredible to me.

REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, it's pretty obvious that none of the companies have actually invested in 21st century technologies that make it possible to either shut down the leak or to respond to the damage which is being done out in the ocean and to the livelihoods of people.

The one new technology that they invested in was apparently a Xerox machine, because they each had, for all intents and purposes, the same plan with the same mistakes in it, walruses that they could respond to in the Gulf of Mexico, dead people with their phone numbers who haven't been around since 2005.

So, I think it's just an indication of how completely disinterested that each of the companies were in making the investment in a capacity to respond if an accident occurred. And we see the results every single day.

COOPER: Well, also a sign of just how lax the government oversight was, I mean, basically rubber-stamping these so-called safety plans or spill response plans.

I mean, do you literally think that they just -- somebody made up this plan and then they just Xeroxed it? Because you're saying it's like 90 percent the same wording.

MARKEY: Either they Xeroxed it or the same company sold the same plan to all of the oil companies, and that was their spill response.

COOPER: And, in BP's response plan, they said they could handle 250,000 barrels of oil a day. These other plans are a little bit more cautious. They say 200,000 barrels.

But my point is, if they have the technology to handle 200,000 barrels, they should speak up, because folks at BP and a lot of folks here would love to hear this technology. Chances are their numbers are as made up as BP's 250,000-barrel-a-day figure.

MARKEY: What we learned today -- and they all admitted it -- that none of them have the capacity to respond to a worst-case scenario. And that can be 250,000; 200,000; 100,000; 50,000; 30,000. They admitted that none of them have the capacity. So, this whole basic plan that was put together by the oil industry was, go to the MMS. Get them to approve ultra-deep technology, and just coast by, not actually putting in place the ultra-safe drilling technologies or the ultra-fast response capacity that they would need if something went wrong.

And they just cut corners. They shortchanged safety. And -- and the people in the Gulf are the victims.

COOPER: When you hear today that now the government flow rate team says it's upwards -- it could be 60,000 barrels -- that's their new high estimate -- I mean, do you believe these numbers at this point? I mean, it seems like every week there's a new number, and BP, for the longest time, has been clinging to the lowest possible numbers they can get.

And, in fact, when an independent scientist weeks ago said, well, it could be 70,000, they attacked that guy. They said it's inaccurate. They said it's alarmist.

MARKEY: You know, right from the beginning, I have not believed BP. I have not believed their numbers. It's why I forced them to put up the spill cam, so that experts could analyze this flow rate.

I think that the number could even go higher. I think that we are in a worst-case scenario. I think that BP was trying to limit their liability, because they pay a fine per barrel of oil that's out there. They were lying or grossly incompetent. And -- and I think that the livability of the Gulf has, as a result, been -- been victimized by BP.

But these numbers, these are the numbers that we should have known in the very beginning. If we had known it was 60,000 barrels per day, it would have changed the number of skimmers, the amount of boom, the amount of protection for the health of the workers, the amount of chemicals that went into the ocean, the amount of compensation that would be needed for the people onshore.

All of it would have been different, and BP kept it from the government and from the people.

COOPER: Congressman Markey, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

MARKEY: Thank you. Thanks for having me on.

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