Wicker, other Gulf Republicans, seek to raise oil liabilty cap
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Gulf-state Republican senators introduced legislation Friday that would raise the liability cap oil companies face from major spills, coming just a day after a similar attempt by Democrats failed.
The current $75 million cap would be raised to equal the last four quarters of the company’s profits or double the current cap, whichever is higher.
IN BP PLC’s (BP, BP.LN) case that would increase the cap to $17 billion.
The U.K. oil major was leasing the oil rig that exploded and sank last month sparking the massive ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The bill was introduced by Republican Senators George LeMieux of Florida, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, David Vitter of Louisiana and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.
Thursday, Democratic senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, sought to increase the cap to $10 billion per episode. They tried to seek the unanimous agreement of the Senate to do so, but Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) blocked the effort.
Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201005141513dowjonesdjonline000521&title=republicans-seek-to-raise-oil-liability-cap#ixzz0oCON2hoP
5/15/10
Magnolia Tribune
