Jewish Dems Confront BP

Andrew Siegel — June 28, 2010 – 2:42 pm | Democrats | Environment Comments (0) Add a comment

Over the last few weeks, several Jewish Democrats have taken a tough stance against BP. Below is a brief roundup:

In a recent meeting with BP executives on Capitol Hill, Representative Ron Klein (D-FL) harshly questioned BP Vice Presidents Ray Dempsey and Darryl Willis about the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Klein was particularly concerned about the impact of the spill on Florida’s economy. He expressed outrage at the fact that BP has spent $50 million on ads protecting their own image, while they have only spent $25 million assisting Florida in repairing their decreasing tourism rate. Klein stated his belief that BP should spend every dollar it has to make up for the economic losses caused by the spill.

In a letter addressing the BP oil spill, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) highlighted the dangers of offshore drilling. She stated that Florida has a $65 billion a year tourism economy because of its unique environment. However, there have been proposals to drill just five miles off of Florida’s coastline. She cautioned that if an accident of a similar magnitude had occurred just five miles off the coast-line, it could have been disastrous to Florida’s natural resources and economy.

Representative Steve Rothman (D-NJ) called upon BP to “stop [the] leak, clean up the gulf, and compensate for all losses.” Rothman urged BP’s CEO, Tony Hayward, to immediately cap the severed oilrig pipeline that is polluting the Gulf. He further voiced his concern and stated that, “BP has made tens of billions of dollars in profits from their risk-taking that has now catastrophically harmed our nation’s waters, seafood industry and local economies. This situation is immoral at best and criminal at worst.”

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