As Senate lawmakers today hear testimony about the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, they should focus on these needed reforms:
1. Pass “Your Spill, Your Bill.” Congress should pass H.R. 5214, the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act, would increase the liability of deepwater leaseholders responsible for an oil spill from a paltry $75 million to $10 billion. Importantly, this legislation would retroactively apply to the current disaster. Companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate. It is important to note the difference between these bills and one introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, S. 3309. Murkowski, who hails from the oil-producing state of Alaska, proposes increasing liability for spills to $10 billion, but rather than expose oil company executives and shareholders to that liability, her measure instead asks consumers to pony up the $10 billion by increasing the 8-cent-per-barrel tax on both domestic and imported oil to 9 cents.
2. Restructure the Regulator. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) in the Department of the Interior has structural schizophrenia: On one hand,
