Carney Returns from Gulf Coast, Will Investigate Immediate Aftermath of Oil Spill
Press Release
Congressman Chris Carney (PA-10) visited the site of the Gulf Coast oil spill on Monday and laid out plans to investigate the initial aftermath of the spill and how both the government and BP responded to the crisis. Along with several other members of the Hom eland Security Committee, Congressman Carney toured the spill site and areas affected by the oil leak around the Gulf Coast.
"The scene is as frustrating as it is horrific and my thoughts continue to be with the families who feel the immediate impact of this disaster," said Congressman Carney, chairman of the committee's subpanel on Management, Investigations and Oversight. "I will be holding hearings to investigate the actions taken by the federal government and BP in the days following the explosion at the oil rig. Who knew what when and what did they do to ensure the severity of this disaster was understood? Why wasn't faster action taken? All of that is unclear."
He added: "We can't continue to politicize this crisis. We must focus our attention on stopping this leak and understanding what went wrong and why those in charge of dealing with this crisis didn't take this spill more seriously more quickly. We must have a clearer understanding of the chain of command and information flow from the moment of the rig explosion until now. The lessons learned must shape the response going forward. We were initially led to believe only 1,000 barrels of oil were leaking each day -- when the estimates are now upwards of 60,000."
Also on the tour were Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (MS-02); Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18), Congresswoman Laura Richardson (CA-37), Congressman Al Green (TX-09), Congressman Mike Rogers (AL-03), Congressman Steve Austria (OH-07) and Congressman Anh "Joseph" Cao (LA-02).
Congressman Carney and other members met with Rear Admiral James Watson, the federal on-scene coordinator for the BP oil spill response. The congressman was left with few answers about how the crisis could have been better contained in the immediate aftermath to the explosion and subsequent leak at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.
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