Industry group questions need to raise spill liability cap

摘要

An energy industry group late last week criticized a proposal by the Obama administration to nearly double the oil spill liability cap for offshore drillers, while some members of Congress argued the proposal doesn't raise the cap enough. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Friday proposed raising the spill cap from $75 million to $134 million, the largest increase allowed without legislation and the first ever since passage of the 1990 Oil Pollution Act (Greenwire, Feb. 21). The move aims to implement a key recommendation of a presidential panel following the BP PLC spill in April 2010 and would preserve the "deterrent effect and the 'polluter pays' principle" of the 1990 law, said BOEM Director Tommy Beaudreau.