(also, a link to the text of the bill is provided by me, because I believe we should all read legislation, not have others predigest it for us):
Thank you for contacting me about the Environmental Crimes Enforcement Act. I appreciate learning of your support for this legislation.I appreciate the responsiveness of Senator Franken's office (I don't really believe he spent his valuable time personally on my query). While many people (almost exclusively conservatives) believe that there is no problem which will not be solved by less regulation and allowing the free market place to act, the problem of loss of lives due to shortcutting safety seems to be a recurring issue in not only oil drilling but also coal mining. I don't see this ever being adequately or properly addressed by 'free market' solutions. Quite the opposite, without regulation and strong enforcement, I believe these industries will continue to blithely sacrifice the occasional random individual from their labor force without compunction, based on a close reading of the history of these industries. Safety measures consistently follow only after the loss of life; and the implementation of greater safety measures has not stopped these industries from operating profitably, despite their dire claims to the contrary.
Under current law, the criminal penalties for Clean Water Act violations are not as severe as the penalties for other white-collar crimes. Restitution for environmental crimes -- even those that take human life -- is discretionary, and only available under limited circumstances. As a result, corporations sometimes treat fines and monetary penalties as merely a cost of doing business to be weighed against profits.
The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill has made it clear that environmental crimes can cause serious and widespread harm to people's lives and livelihoods, as well as to the environment. By all accounts, BP had no viable plan in place to deal with an accident of this magnitude, and I've been deeply disappointed by BP's neglect of safety and slow response to stopping the leak in the Gulf. BP must be held responsible for all costs incurred as a result of the oil spill.
That's why I cosponsored S. 3466, the Environmental Crimes Enforcement Act. This bill would direct the U.S. Sentencing Commission to increase sentences for criminal Clean Water Act violations and would make restitution mandatory for criminal violations of the Act. Should BP or others be found criminally liable in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, this legislation would allow the families of those killed to be compensated for wrongdoing and would help the people of the Gulf Coast rebuild their coastline, wetlands, fisheries, and livelihoods.
S. 3466 was introduced in the Senate on June 9, 2010, and was referred to the Judiciary Committee, which reported the bill favorably on June 24, 2010. I will continue to push for the passage of the Environmental Crimes Enforcement Act to ensure that polluters are held responsible and victims receive the compensation they deserve.
Thank you again for contacting me, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future on this or any other matter of concern to you.
While BP has repeatedly insisted they will make good on losses, they haven't, and won't. The applicable maritime law gives them relatively low caps, and does little if anything seriously to require them to take adequate safety measures for their crews.
Sadly, with the new influx of the candidates-elect, these industries will be putting the foxes back in positions of responsibility for the hen houses - as in Joe Barton of Texas, the member of Congress who has taken more in oil company donations than nearly anyone else in history, for one example.
Thank goodness we have people like Senator Franken who were not victims of the 2010 election cycle and its disinformation campaign. Let us hope that BP doesn't find a way to join the disinformation (not from a lack of trying, if you've seen any of their commercials).
Well it must be Christmas because I halfway agree with DG on something. BP should be held accountable for the spill, as should Halliburton and TransOcean. I read a 12 page article the other day about how the TransOcean safety manual had lots of stuff about what to do when there was danger of a blowout but nothing about when exactly to do it, this caused hesitation and 9 minutes were lost. By all accounts the blowout would have happened anyway but a much smaller fire, possibly fewer dead, and possibly less damage to the well which would mean it could be turned off or plugged much faster than the 63 days it took. They also missed a five yr maintenance on the blowout preventer that failed. They should all pay for their negligence however I think it is a very bad precedent to set by retroactively changing penalties set by law. Maybe now that we know the limits set by law are too low we should raise them but that would be for the next time not this one. One thing I haven't seen anyone mention is are the penalties per disaster or per company? There are 3 companies involved so that at least triples the limit.
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