Congressman John Dingell (D-Dearborn) delivered a statement to the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation about BP’s role in the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill and similar incidents in the past.

Dingell said the recent oil spill wasn’t the only danger BP posed to its workers and the environment. There was “a 2007 hearing regarding corrosion in pipeline leading up to the Alaska Pipeline which led to 1 million liters of oil leaked in Alaska’s North Slope…” Dingell said.

He also mentioned the March 23, 2005 Texas City oil refinery explosion, which killed 15 and left more than 150 injured.

According to BP, 11 workers were missing after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion on April 20 of this year and 17 more were injured. The rig sank two days after the explosion.

“There is a deep and steadfast resolve to 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,” Chairman and President of BP America Lamar McKay testified to Congress on Tuesday.

“Figuring out what happened and why it happened is a complex process,” McKay said at the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. “We are cooperating with the joint investigation by the Departments of Homeland Security and Interior and investigations by Congress. In addition, BP has commissioned an internal investigation, whose results we plan to share so we can all learn from these terrible events.”

Dingell is the Chair Emeritus of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

“I sincerely hope that when the investigation is completed we don’t find that BP once again tried to cut costs at the expense of safety,” he said. “ Given their history, I am somewhat skeptical that will be the conclusion, but I am hopeful.”