Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today urged President Obama to press BP to create a compensation fund when he meets with the company's top officials on Wednesday.

In a letter to the president Bingaman said if BP does not agree to create a fund to fully compensate individuals and businesses hurt by the disastrous oil spill, the Justice Department should step in.

Bingaman, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, also urged the president to impress upon BP the importance of releasing all relevant data about the disaster necessary to develop legislation to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.

The letter follows:

June 14, 2010 

The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I write regarding the ongoing crisis caused by the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico.  I understand that you will be meeting with Mr. Svanberg, the Chair of the Board and other executives from BP plc, in the coming days.  Obviously, the critical near term issues are plugging this well and ensuring that all clean up costs and damages are fully paid by BP.

I wanted to make you aware of two important matters in this regard that I have been working on as Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and ask that you join me in insisting that BP do the right thing.

The first is ensuring that BP's data and information is made publicly available to the fullest possible extent.  Only by the sharing of this information can we be sure that accidents like this are prevented in the future and that best safety practices can be developed across the industry.

More than a month ago, I issued a request to BP for a range of critically important information for the Committee to review.  Despite BP's original and unacceptable request for confidentiality, I have recently received agreement from BP that it will not insist on this condition.  I urge you to impress upon the BP executives to make the fullest possible public disclosure of relevant information in their possession related to this unprecedented circumstance.

Second, I share your concern in making certain that all damages as a result of this accident be fully paid by BP. In this regard, I ask that you insist upon establishment by BP of an independent escrow fund in an amount sufficient to cover the worst-case scenario with respect to all damage claims, whether under federal or state law and including personal injury as well as economic damage claims.  If there is no agreement to this, I ask that you request the Department of Justice to explore all other avenues of converting BP's promise to pay into a legally binding agreement.

I appreciate your continuing personal attention to this crisis.  I can assure you that Congress stands ready to work with you to guarantee that BP takes responsibility for correcting the wrongs it has caused.

Sincerely,
Jeff Bingaman