"Democrats want criminal inquiry into BP"

Jake Sherman (Politico):

Eight Democratic senators asked the Obama administration Tuesday to open a criminal investigation into BP for allegedly making false statements to authorities about the ability to stop a massive oil spill.

Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee are taking aim at a BP statement in a Feb. 23, 2009, document submitted to the Minerals Management Service, in which the oil company claimed that “in the event of an unanticipated blowout resulting in an oil spill, it is unlikely to have an impact based on the industrywide standards for using proven equipment and technology for such responses.”

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, the Democratic senators contrast the 2009 statement with BP’s May 10, 2010, press release, in which the company claims “uncertainties” with the methods used to stop the oil leak because “they have not been tested in these conditions before.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the EPW committee, is hosting Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Nancy Helen Sutley, chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality, at a hearing Tuesday afternoon.

Boxer is joined in sending the letter to Holder by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Ben Cardin (Md.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Tom Carper (Del.). Vermont’s independent Sen. Bernie Sanders also signed the letter.

Howie P.S.: Feel better yet?