CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. EDWARD MARKEY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Content is 90 percent identical. Like BP, three other companies include references to protecting walruses which have not called the Gulf of Mexico home for 3 million years. Two other plants are such dead ringers for BPs that they list a phone number for the same long dead expert. The American people deserve oil safety plans that are ironclad and not boiler plate. We now know the oil industry and the government agency passed with regulating them determined that there was a zero chance that this kind of undersea disaster could ever happen.

When you believe that there is zero chance of a disaster happening, you do zero disaster planning. And the oil industry has invested nearly zero time and money into developing safety and response efforts. The oil companies before us today amass nearly $289 billion in profits over the last three years. They spent $39 billion to explore for new oil and gas, yet, the average investment in research and development for safety accident prevention and spill response was a paltry $20 million per year, less than 1/10 of 1 percent of their products. The oil companies may think it's fine to produce carbon copies of their safety plans, but the American people expect and deserve more.

It is time to expect more from the oil industry and that needs to start today. First, Congress must ensure that there is unlimited liability for oil spills by oil companies. While we try to cap this well, we must lift the cap on oil industry liability. Second, Congress must also enact wide ranging safety reforms for offshore drilling. If oil companies are going to pursue ultra deep drilling, we must ensure that it is ultra safe and that companies can respond ultra fast.

Third, the free ride is over. Oil companies need to pay their fair share to drill on public land. Right now, every single one of the companies here today and dozens of others are drilling for free in the Gulf of Mexico on leases that will cost American taxpayers more than $50 billion in lost royalties. And fourth, we must ensure that new technologies are developed for capping wells, boosting safety, and cleaning up spills. I will soon introduce the oil SOS act to ensure that we have 21st century technologies in place for 21st century drilling risks.

And finally, America must move to a safer clean energy future so that we don't have to rely as much on oil to power our cars and our economy. The American people deserve answers from the oil industry, and I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses. I'd like now to recognize my distinguished colleague from Michigan, the ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentleman, again, from Michigan. Mr. Upton.

REP. FRED UPTON, (R) MICHIGAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source