The response to the Gulf oil spill gained momentum yesterday both in coastal states and in Washington.

In a Senate hearing, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar warned that raising the trust fund's liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion would prevent smaller and mid-sized energy companies from operating offshore, while Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) argued for a bill that would lift the cap entirely.

In the White House, President Obama pushed for quick action on a trust fund bill, saying:

"I am disappointed that an effort to ensure that oil companies pay fully for disasters they cause has stalled in the United States Senate on a partisan basis."

BP has stated repeatedly that it will pay all legitimate claims.

In the Gulf, the Joint Unified Command reported that a "tendril of l... more »

A few days after the Deepwater Horizon explosions and fire, Interior Sec. Ken Salazar ordered Minerals Management Service (MMS) personnel to inspect 30 deepwater drilling rigs and their blowout preventers (BOPs).

Specifically, they were instructed to:

• Perform a thorough inspection of each rig

• Pay particular attention to the BOP tests, leaks and resolution, discrepancies and repairs

• Ensure that well-control drills were being performed in accord with regulations

The findings demonstrated the fitness-for-duty of the deepwater drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the inspectors' report, only one Incident of Non-Compliance (INC) citation and three warnings were issued:

• The Development Driller II received an INC because it had not tested its BOP from both the rig floor and a... more »

The response to the Deepwater Horizon accident reached a new level yesterday as activities in Washington and along the Gulf Coast continued to expand.

On Capitol Hill, hearings resumed as lawmakers sought information about the administration's spill response as well as its handling of offshore energy development. And yesterday, a top-ranking official of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) resigned. According to reports, he already was planning to retire at the end of June.

At the White House, a spokesman announced the president will convene a special commission to investigate the oil spill. The commission will be patterned after similar groups that investigated the 1986 explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the Three-Mile Island accident.

API President and CEO Jack Gerard indicat... more »

BP succeeded yesterday in connecting a 4" pipe to the broken riser to siphon oil and gas from the leaking Macondo well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico's surface.

The oil and gas are moving up the pipe to the Discoverer Enterprise drillship and to barges. This morning in an interview on NBC's Today Show, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles reported that the pipe was recovering about 1,000 barrels of oil/gas mixture per day, but could collect substantially more.

"We're looking to optimize this over the next couple of days to try to produce as much oil and gas as we can," Ken Wells, BP's senior vice president for exploration and production said at a news conference Sunday. (The Miami Herald)

The pipe, called an insertion tube, works like a straw. To keep it from plugging with methane g... more »

In today's episode, I interview David Holt, president of the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), about the need to learn from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, while continuing to develop oil and natural gas offshore.

Use the audio player below to listen to information about the article and follow along with the show notes. I hope you find the podcast informative.

00:17 The tragic Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill has been making headlines all over the country in recent weeks, causing editorial writers and bloggers to weigh the risk and benefits of offshore drilling. Few people are focusing on the importance of offshore oil and natural gas to American consumers. David Holt, president of the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), is with us today to talk about the need... more »