Oil Execs: "No One is Responsible for Oil Spill"

For two days now, Congress has been trying to get to the bottom of the oil well disaster that is leaking thousands of gallons of crude oil hourly into the Gulf of Mexico. Senate hearings have put the spotlight on Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America, Steven Newman, Transocean Ltd.'s president and chief executive, and Tim Probert, president of Halliburton's global business lines. They all agree that responsibility for the mess lies with someone else, if it lies with anyone at all.

Mr. McKay has been active in the media, promising that BP will clean up the whole thing and pay all legitimate claims. His role as a stand-up guy is reasonably well-played. "We obviously did not expect a situation like this," Mr. McKay said. He promised his firm would "do all we humanly can to stop the leak, contain the spill and to minimize the damage suffered by the environment and the people of the Gulf Coast." Of course, he also noted that Transocean Ltd., as owner and operator of the drilling rig, had "responsibility for the safety of drilling operations." That translates as, "Don't look at me. I didn't do it."

He came off looking better than Mr. Newman, though. In Mafia terms, Mr. Newman was less a stand-up guy than a rat. He testified that, "there was a sudden, catastrophic failure of the cement, the casing or both." His company didn't do the cementing, he argued, so his firm was blameless.

No, the cementing job was Halliburton's. Mr. Probert of that firm swore that the cementing was accomplished "in accordance with accepted industry practice." One wonders whether that is a very high standard. He added, "Halliburton is confident that the cementing work . . . was completed in accordance with the requirements of the well construction plan." He later testified, "Had the BOP [blowout preventer] functioned properly, this tragedy wouldn't have taken place."

A New York Stock Exchange-listed company called Cameron made the BOP. That company has made no comment about the situation. No representative from Cameron has testified yet.

No one was surprised when the Democrats took a harsh stand against the oil executives. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said, "I get the sense you're making things up as you go along." Senator Shelton Whitehouse (D-RI) added, "We were told that 'drill, baby, drill' was the solution to our energy problems. I think anybody who really believes that, go tell that to the tourist economy of Florida . . . . Go tell that to the fishing community of Louisiana."

Grandstanding from that quarter comes was inevitable. Far more worrisome for the three oil stooges was the attitude of Senator John Barrasso, a conservative Republican from Wyoming (an oil state). "I hear one message, and the message is 'Don't blame me.' Well, shifting this blame does not get us very far."

No, it doesn't. And when the investigation is over, someone will be proved a liar.

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