Schumer Announces Bill To Hold BP Fully Responsible
By JEREMY TANNER wpix.com

8:47 p.m. CDT, May 31, 2010
NEW YORK (WPIX)—
Outraged with the BP oil spill that is leaking roughly 100,000 gallons of crude per day, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced he will introduce a bill that would keep the oil giant and Transocean Ltd., the owner of the rig, fully responsible for the millions of gallons of oil that have flowed and continue to flow into the Gulf of Mexico.

The bill would effectively block a law that limits liability when it comes to the $27 million (and growing) cost of cleaning up the disaster.

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"It's completely outrageous for a company that shares responsibility for the single largest and most expensive oil spill in American history to think it is going to get away with paying mere pennies of the total cost of the clean-up," said Schumer, "I am calling for an immediate repeal of this antiquated law that would provide legal cover to a foreign company that has a tremendous amount of liability for this accident."

The law he is referring to is the "limitation of Liability Act," passed in 1851, that shielded ships and sea vessels during a then growing industry that was largely without insurance. Deepwater Horizon, the rig owned by Transocean Ltd., qualifies as a sea vessel under the Act and would end up paying only a fraction of the cost of cleanup under the antiquated law.

Without a change in the current legislation, the cost of cleanup would fall on the shoulders of American taxpayers, and with the failure of Bp's "top kill" solution, the disaster will continue to worsen. Also worrisome is the impending hurricane season, which, when a hurricane moves into the gulf, would force any cleanup ships to vacate the area allowing the oil to once again leak into the water.

Schumer plans to introduce the bill on Tuesday that would "ensure that all parties responsible for the disaster are held fully liable to the extent of their determined negligence."