(Washington D.C.) – Today,
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement after
Republicans blocked the Big Oil Bailout Prevention from passing today. This
bill, co-sponsored by Senator Murray, would make sure oil companies are held
accountable for the economic costs resulting from spills.
“I
am extremely disappointed that Senate Republicans once again put Big Oil
profits over Washington state taxpayers,” said Senator Patty Murray. “Today, we
had a chance to make sure Washington state taxpayers would never be left
holding the bag for oil companies’ environmental and economic disasters, but
Senate Republicans said no. This is a simple issue of fairness—if an oil company
causes a spill, they should have to pay to clean it up.”
Currently, the responsible
party in an oil spill must cover all costs related to clean up; however, there
is a $75 million cap on its liability for economic damages, such as lost
business revenues from fishing and tourism, natural resources damages or lost
local tax revenues. The Big Oil Bailout Prevention legislative package would
raise the liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion.
The
legislative package is composed of two bills. One to increase the oil spill
liability cap and the other is to reform the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
S.
3305, The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Liability Act would:
- Raise
the liability cap for offshore oil well spills from $75 million to $10 billion.
S.
3306, The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Trust Fund Act would:
- Eliminate
the $1 billion per incident cap on claims against the Oil Spill Liability Trust
Fund and allow community responders to access the fund for preparation and
mitigation up front, rather than waiting for reimbursement later. - If
damage claims exceed the amount in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund
(currently $1.6 billion), then Treasury can temporarily refill the Fund and be
repaid by the oil industry with interest once it is replenished. - Eliminate
the $500 million cap on natural resources damages.
The Big Oil Bailout Prevention legislative package was introduced on the heels of
the British Petroleum Gulf Coast oil spill disaster, and days after BP
announced that their single-quarter profits doubled to $6 billion.
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