FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Amy Wojcicki, Communications Director
[email protected]
503-239-8636
Last night, President Obama outlined the Administration’s ongoing response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, including efforts to ensure that Gulf Coast businesses and residents are compensated for damages, and the steps the Administration will take to prevent future spills.
In his address, the President reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the BP oil spill is contained, cleaned up, and that BP assumes the responsibility to compensate individuals and businesses impacted by the spill.
President Obama outlined new measures that will help to ensure America’s environmental security and energy future, including tougher enforcement of existing safety standards, a review of those standards, and for Congress to pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. That bill, in particular, would help develop clean energy industries by establishing incentives that would make clean energy development more profitable. This legislation has already passed the House of Representatives.
“The damages to the Gulf Coast – to its people, its wildlife, and its economy – are simply too great to allow the risk of another spill,” said Meredith Wood Smith, Chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon. “The current catastrophe in the Gulf highlights the need to embrace a clean energy future. We need to end our country’s addiction to fossil fuels and act now to build a clean energy future. Through its negligence BP created this catastrophe; it is up to them to clean it up. And it is the responsibility of the Minerals Management Services to provide effective oversight and enforcement of the oil industry.”
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