On Tuesday officials from some of the major companies involved in the Gulf oil spill will face senators for the first in a long series of congressional hearings.
First up, at 10 a.m. ET, the presidents of BP and Transocean, the rig owner, as well as a top official with cementing services provider Halliburton, will appear before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Look for the executives to try to dodge blame for the accident — BP’s CEO has already said the spill “wasn’t our accident.” And in talking points for the hearing leaked to the press, Halliburton “says it safely finished a cementing operation 20 hours before” the April 20 explosion, the AP reports. (More on Halliburton’s role here.)
Also testifying before the committee, which is chaired by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), is the former chief of the Offshore Regulatory Program of the Minerals Management Service.
Then, at 2:30 p.m., Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing on the economic and environmental impacts of the spill with the same three corporate witnesses: BP America President Lamar McKay, Transocean President Steven Newman and Halliburton chief health, safety and environment officer Tim Probert.
On Wednesday at 10 a.m., the same three executives will again be on the Hill, this time joined by Jack Moore, chief of blowout preventer manufacturer Cameron International, for a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on investigations. Chaired by formidable investigator Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the Energy and Commerce Committee has already demanded documents related to the spill from several of the companies.
The committee has put together a useful timeline (.pdf) of the spill and response efforts.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the House Natural Resources Committee, and the Senate Homeland Security Committee have also announced hearings in the coming weeks.
