White House wants liability cap lifted

[Pirate Smile]

Source: Politico

President Barack Obama wants Congress to lift the caps on the decades-old Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund so as to give the Coast Guard more flexibility in coping with the Gulf of Mexico disaster and recovering damage costs from BP.
A formal White House request is slated for Tuesday, and the administration is hoping that the Senate Appropriations Committee will include the language as part of a wartime spending bill that could be taken up as early as Thursday.

No formal announcement has yet been made by Chairman Daniel Inouye, but with Memorial Day fast approaching, the Hawaii Democrat appears weary of waiting for the House and determined to show some movement. The oil-spill provisions complicate his task but also give added impetus to a package that could top $58 billion, affecting the Pentagon, State Department and health benefits for Vietnam-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange.

The White House language is not expected to set specific targets for what the new liability caps will be, leaving time for further consultations with Congress. But speed is also a priority for the administration, given the pace of emergency spending and the extraordinary scope of the disaster.
“We can wring our hands about this or move quickly,” one official told POLITICO. “We would hope to get some of the same leeway Congress allowed to deal with Katrina.”

Additional funding for the Minerals Management Service is possible as part of the same request, which will also include provisions making federal unemployment and food stamp benefits available to families affected in the Gulf region. But the primary focus is the trust fund, where lawmakers in both parties have also been pressing for changes in light of the crisis.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37017.html

[pansypoo53219]

1. profits are not capped.

so neither should this.

[inna]

4. +1000

[PinkFloyd]

7. Agreed!

Maybe if they thought they could lose everything they might be more careful, use every possible safety measure and maybe even have second thoughts about drilling in certain places.

[whereaminow]

2. Pass a gas tax! A nice big one

That's the fairest way to pay for this. Make everybody a bit more circumspect of what it takes to fill their tanks.

Punish BP, and they'll just pass it on. Time to hit ALL responsible parties.

[w4rma]

8. No. BP lobbied to remove safety protections. BP needs to pay for the cleanup that resulted.

Also, BP can't raise their prices any higher than their competitors.

[whereaminow]

12. There are no competitors

The oil gets bought and sold 50-60 times while it's in transit.

You* cannot remove yourself from this. You* buy their product. You* reelect the crooked politicians that are in cahoots. You* are just as responsible as BP. Until you* can accept this, no further progress can be made. The steps required are identical to those needed to treat the alcoholic. And that means you* must recognize that you* are one. It is devastatingly simple after that first step is made. You* must see your own importance and power. Playing helpless is just a tactic to avoid responsibility. You* are NOT helpless.



*Beware the editorial you! I use it often.. and it usually includes me. Take it personally at your own risk. I will take that as a distraction away from the argument. I've already run into people who have trouble with this concept. So please, save your breath...

[Kablooie]

3. Filibuster! Don't let them do it! American people and businesses should pay. Not oil companies!

[pnwmom]

6. Wouldn't lifting the caps be a good thing? Since the caps are limiting the liability

of the oil companies?

SNIP

For example, payments from the fund — which covers not only damage claims but also restoring natural habitat, for example — are capped at $1 billion per incident. And while BP, as the responsible party, is charged with paying the full cost of the cleanup and oil removal, its liability for economic damages under the fund is capped at $75 million.

The administration has discussed an approach that would cite multiple failures or incidents in the BP crisis, thereby getting around the $1 billion limit, for example. But there’s broad pressure to raise or waive both caps given the scope of the crisis.

More immediately, the Coast Guard — as the chief administrator for federal agencies — is bumping up against an effective $100 million cap on how much it can draw down on the fund for emergency proposes. And this also is expected to be adjusted to cope with the cash crisis.

Significant money is now in the fund — about $1.6 billion. This comes chiefly from what’s now an 8-cents-per-barrel fee on the entire industry. But fearful that the BP spill will drain this dry, the Alaska Senate delegation has proposed on a bipartisan basis that the fee be increased to 9 cents with the goal of building the fund up to $10 billion.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37017_Page2.html#ixzz0nbkxSTY8

[truthisfreedom]

5. Delicious. The thugs will be trapped again, party of no voting for big oil spills.

How I love my schadenfreude.

[Jefferson23]

9. OMG, this would be tremendous Obama! YES! The cap was discussed

on Democracy Now last week. Take a look:



Guest:

Riki Ott, marine toxicologist and former salmon fisherma’am in Alaska. She is author of “Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Spill.”


snip* AMY GOODMAN: Riki Ott, interestingly BP may not be liable for more than $75 million. Under the law called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies, or the government. Although they are responsible for the cost of containing and cleaning-up the spill.


RIKI OTT: This will be the first time that the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 is really put to test. So, we’re kind of a little bit in cold water here, but what we know is that the industry does everything it can to limit its liability. I am sure that this happened also to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. So, we’ll see how this plays out. But, the people should not count, even though the President is saying, “We will make sure BP pays,” BP is going to pay to the extent that it is made to pay by law. And these big corporations, they help write our laws and they help elect our Congress people that pass the laws. So, we’re kind of playing on a very stacked deck.


AMY GOODMAN: Riki Ott, we want to thank you for being with us. We’re going to check back with you as you travel through the Gulf. Riki Ott is headed there today or tomorrow. Riki Ott, marine toxicologist and former salmon fisherma’am is author of Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Spill. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. When we come back, we’ll be joined by the author Isabel Allende. Her first novel in four years is just out. Stay with us.

in full: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/3/bp_oil_spill_worsens_with_no

[safeinOhio]

10. I have to have liability insurance to drive a car

oil companies need to have liability insurance to drive a well.
Am I the only one that sees caps on liability as a violation of the Seventh Amendment.

[Jefferson23]

11. The power of lobby money, sickening, isn't it? n/t

[Name removed]

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