Is BP paying enough to clean up the Gulf? Wisconsin Congressman Steve Kagen suggests BP and its drilling contractor pony up, to pay for the unfolding disaster in the Gulf. The Appleton Democrat suggests a figure of $25 billion be set aside for potential catastrophic losses – and that didn’t go over well during a hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday. “They weren’t interested,” said Kagen of the reaction by the heads of BP and Transocean.
“They should set aside $25 billion to make certain we have available funds, to study the full environmental impact of not only the oil leak which is still ongoing, but also the potential toxicity and damage to our environment of the dispersants that they’re using,” said Kagen. “We have no idea of the longterm complications to the habitat,” of those dispersants.” The Appleton Democrat, who is also a physician, said the dispersants contain known carcinogens.
Kagen defended the Obama administration and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for the response to the spill – and says there’s plenty of blame to go around. “If we’re going to begin to point fingers we should all take part of the blame,” said Kagen. “We are a nation that depends on oil and other hydrocarbons.”