[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 87 (Thursday, June 10, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S4841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BP'S RESPONSIBILITY

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak about the 
START treaty briefly. Before I do, let me mention, as I have 
previously, that I have been sending messages to the Justice Department 
and others. I was pleased with the Attorney General's comments today 
about the oilspill in the gulf, the gusher of oil that continues in the 
gulf, and about BP's responsibility.
  There is no question that BP has said they pledged to cover 
legitimate costs as a result of this oilspill. The question I have is, 
Is that a binding agreement? And the answer from the Justice Department 
at a hearing recently was, no, it is not binding. If that is the case, 
if it is not binding--and I believe it is not--we need to move to take 
steps to make that pledge binding.
  There are people today who are trying to figure out how on Earth do 
they get through this situation. In addition to oil spilling out into 
the gulf--and it has been doing that I think for 52, 53 days--there are 
people on a dock in a small town somewhere who are fisher men and 
women. They have a boat and they fish for a living. But their boat is 
idle at the end of the dock because they cannot fish. Yet they have to 
make a payment on that boat at the end of the month. Up and down the 
gulf, there are significant consequences of this situation. The 
question is, Who is going to reach out to help those folks? They did 
not cause these problems.
  I think it is important for BP to be asked to put a significant 
amount of money into a fund, a recovery fund of sorts, and that fund be 
handled by a special master and perhaps by a counselor from BP.
  In any event, it is important to turn this from a pledge into a 
binding commitment and to do so soon so that money begins flowing to 
those who are substantially disadvantaged by what has happened and this 
disaster that has occurred in the Gulf of Mexico.

                          ____________________