President Obama announced this morning that he has appointed former Senator Bob Graham of Florida and William K. Reilly, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to lead a new bipartisan commission charged with investigating the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The seven-member commission, modeled after federal panels established after other disasters like the space shuttle Challenger accident, will have six months to come up with recommendations on how to avoid another spill.
Amid criticism of how the administration has responded to the disaster and the practices of federal agencies that oversee drilling, Mr. Obama called for “a comprehensive look at how the oil and gas industry operates and how we regulate them.”
“I want to know what worked and what didn’t work in our response to the disaster, and where oversight of the oil and gas industry broke down,” Mr. Obama said in his weekly national address, adding that continued domestic drilling is an important step toward oil independence.
“But we can only pursue offshore oil drilling if we have assurances that a disaster like the BP oil spill will not happen again,” Mr. Obama said. “This commission will, I hope, help provide those assurances so we can continue to seek a secure energy future for the United States of America.”
As oil from the rig fire continues to gush into the surrounding water and the vast environmental and economic damage becomes more apparent, Mr. Obama blamed a failure in responsibility of BP, Transocean and Halliburton.
“We will continue to hold the relevant companies accountable not only for being forthcoming and transparent about the facts surrounding the leak, but for shutting it down, repairing the damage it does, and repaying Americans who’ve suffered a financial loss,” he said.
The one-month mark seems to be a turning point in the administration’s spill strategy, explains The Times’s John Broder. Mr. Obama made clear Friday that he would not miss the opportunity to promote his energy agenda, announcing his plans to impose stricter fuel-efficiency and emissions standards on cars and, for the first time, on medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
GOP Address: In the weekly Republican address, Senator David Vitter of Louisiana said the hearings that the Democrats have called to investigate the oil spill are merely a distraction — political and substantive — from the efforts to stem the flow of crude oil.
“Washington Democratic Committee Chairmen have rushed to create media events for television cameras instead of devoting full attention to stopping the immediate problem,” he said. “I guess it’s typical of the culture in Washington for politicians to believe that they can solve an ongoing crisis with statements and testimonies in Congressional committee rooms. The time for committee hearings is for after the well has been capped – not before.”
He called on the Army Corps of Engineers to help the state build up and extend its barrier islands made from local materials at the expense of BP, the company managing the maimed oil rig.
Mr. Vitter also said he introduced a bill intended to “make offshore drilling safer, smarter and more reliable, but not extinct.” His bill would establish a new liability cap equal to the last four quarters of the responsible party’s profits or double the current limit, whichever is greater and develop technology to address similar incidents down the road.
West Point Commencement: Mr. Obama will deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point today at 10 a.m. He will discuss the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his national security plans going forward, the Associated Press reports.