Lawmakers propose giving spill commission subpoena authority

Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, June 9 -- US House and Senate Democrats introduced bills to give US President Barack Obama’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill investigation commission the power to issue subpoenas. They said that the US Constitution does not implicitly or explicitly grant the president any general subpoena authority, making congressional action necessary.

“We want the president’s commission to have subpoena power,” US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during a June 8 press conference with committee chairmen who are examining aspects of the Apr. 20 well blowout, rig explosion, and subsequent spill in the gulf. “We are definitely going to hold the oil companies accountable. We are concerned about, certainly, the loss of life and the danger to the people in the region, but we are also concerned about the impact on the US taxpayer.”

Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.), who introduced a bill in the Senate with eight other Democrats, said that Congress has previously granted subpoena power to commissions investigating national crises, including the Warren Commission following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Three Mile Island Commission following the 1979 incident at the Pennsylvania nuclear power plant.

“The commission investigating this terrible accident must have every available tool to examine what went wrong and recommend appropriate steps to ensure it never happens again,” Landrieu said. “Subpoena power will give it the teeth needed to get this job done right so that offshore energy production can resume quickly and safely.”

Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), who introduced a similar bill with Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) in the House, said, “Subpoena power will ensure the commission cannot be stonewalled by BP or any other entity in its search for answers and guarantee the public that this will be a completely thorough and transparent investigation.”

Obama announced on May 22 that he was forming an independent commission to investigate the accident and spill and named former Florida governor Bob Graham and former US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William J. Reilly as its co-chairmen. Capps and Markey said that it is modeled on legislation they introduced on May 16.

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