Nelson files bill to raise oil spill liability

by Dara Kam | May 3rd, 2010

U.S. Sen Bill Nelson is pushing an effort to up the amount oil companies must pay for economic damages caused by oil spills like the massive Deepwater Horizon blast spreading through the Gulf of Mexico.

Currently, oil companies like BP are responsible for paying the costs of cleanup. But federal law caps liability at $75 million per incident.

Nelson and New Jersey Democratic U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg want to increase oil companies’ liability to cover lost business revenues and cap it at $10 billion.

BP officials have pledged to pay whatever it takes to clean up the oil leak, expected to reach Florida’s Panhandle beaches Thursday.

“BP says it’ll pay for this mess. Baloney. They’re not going to want to pay any more than what the law says they have to, which is why we can’t let them off the hook,” Nelson, D-Fla., said in a statement.

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Tags: Bill Nelson, BP, Deepwater Horizon, offshore drilling, oil spill

This entry was posted on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Bill Nelson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Nelson files bill to raise oil spill liability”

Don't Drink the Cool Aid Says:
May 4th, 2010 at 8:12 am
Dateline Tallahassee, Senator Bill Nelson (D)Florida bites hands that feed him in an attempt to make voters believe he really cares about them.
Cannot Wait to Leave Says:
May 4th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
No different than the bible thumping kool aid drnkers who vote however the preacher man tells them to vote – which is always Republican because thats what jesus was. After all, jesus welcomed the money changers into the temple and kicked out the sick and the poor.