Republicans again oppose raising oil company liability for spill

For the past week Democrats have tried to raise the liability caps for oil spills only to be blocked by Republicans. The current limit on oil spill damages is $75 million. Democrats have proposed a bill which would raise that limit to $10 billion (many experts say the damages from this spill will actually be much more). However, in order for the bill to advance procedurally in the Senate it must have unanimous consent. Under arcane Senate rules just one Senator can delay the bill for days by simply raising an objection.

So far two Republicans have raised objections effectively preventing a raising of the liability cap. First was Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) a few days ago followed by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) today. Both argued that raising the liability cap would somehow help companies like British Petroleum by pushing out small businesses who may want to drill.

Liberals argue that the Republican argument is absurd. First, BP and other companies have every interest in keeping the current low cap. If the cap remains they can effectively drill for oil and make huge profits while completely being able to push off the costs of a disaster to the government. In addition there are really no "mom and pop" companies trying to drill for oil, nor should there be. If we allow a company with only $10 million in capital to drill then the taxpayers will effectively be taking on the risks for any environmental damages which exceed $10 million. At the very least, any company should be forced to purchase insurance which would cover the potential costs from an environmental disaster. The only other alternative involves the taxpayer insuring those costs. It seems Republicans are opposed to bailouts except when they are for oil companies.

Manchester Examiner.com