Oil executives shift blame for spill

As protesters accused President Obama of having been given a “crude awakening” Tuesday, top officials at British Petroleum tried to shift the blame for the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, even as the Senate prepared to take aim at the administration’s plan for more offshore oil drilling.

Sens. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, and Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, are expected on Wednesday to introduce legislation that would allow states directly affected by offshore drilling to veto drilling plans of nearby states if they can show significant negative impact from an accident.

While the senators haven’t released details of the plan, legislative aides briefed on the plan told the Associated Press that it would allow coastal states to opt out of drilling up to 75 miles from their shores. States also could veto plans of neighboring states if they can show significant negative impact.

In a break from current policy, states that allow offshore drilling will receive a share of federal tax revenue, the aides said.

The Obama administration last week said that it was “premature” to rule out including additional offshore drilling as part of comprehensive energy legislation, even as Senate Democrats warn that such a provision would make the bill “dead on arrival.”

Meanwhile Tuesday, some 50 demonstrators marched from the Interior Department to the White House Tuesday to protest drilling offshore. The protesters carried a 50-foot banner that read “Obama: this is your crude awakening.”

On Capitol Hill, a Senate panel grilled executives with BP and two other companies about the Gulf oil spill and demanded they pay for the full cleanup.

Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman said that the failures that led to explosion and spill must be closely examined so new safety measures can be imposed.

“I don’t believe it is enough to label this catastrophic failure an unpredictable and unforeseeable occurrence,” the New Mexico Democrat said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the panel’s top Republican, said the future of domestic oil development rests with finding out what went wrong, correcting the failures and shortcomings and assuring the public that offshore drilling can be conducted safely.

But BP told the committee that the oil spill was caused by the failure of a key safety device made by another company and by the failure of another contractor to plug an exploratory well.

The hearing marked the first public questioning by members of Congress of executives of BP, which owned the exploratory well and was its overall operator; Swiss-based Transocean Ltd., which owned the drilling rig and key well safety equipment, and Halliburton Inc., which worked on sealing the well for future oil production.

BP focused on a critical safety device, the 450-ton blowout protector, that was supposed to shut off oil flow on the ocean floor in the event of a well blowout but “failed to operate.”

“That was to be the fail-safe in case of an accident,” said Lamar McKay, chairman of BP America, pointedly noting that it did not own the rig and that “responsibility for the safety of drilling operations” rested with Transocean.

Of the 126 people on the Deepwater Horizon rig when it was engulfed in flames, only seven were BP employees, he said. But Transocean CEO Steven Newman emphasized BP’s role.

“Offshore oil and gas production projects begin and end with the operator, in this case BP,” Mr. Newman said. He said it was BP that prepared the drilling plan and gave the go-ahead to fill the well pipe with sea water before a final cement cap was installed, reducing the downward pressure.

Senators warned the executives against finger-pointing.

“I hear one message - ’Don’t blame me,’ ” said Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican. “Shifting the blame game doesn’t get us very far.”

Not all senators were quick to demonize the oil industry.

Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, Louisiana Democrat, said that while protecting the environment and Louisiana’s coastline are major concerns, offshore oil drilling is needed to keep the nation’s economy moving.

“Since 1971, not a single spill in the Gulf, or the entire federal [Outer Continental Shelf], caused by a well blowout exceeded 1,000 barrels of oil,” said she told the panel.

“Any constriction of domestic oil and gas production, either onshore or offshore, will only further put us in a perilous situation in an over-reliance on foreign oil.”

c Kara Rowland contributed to this article, which was based in part on wire service reports.