Congresswoman Kathy Castor questioned BP, Transocean and Halliburton executives and engineers today at a closed-door briefing regarding the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf.  Castor asked questions about plugging the leaks, safety equipment, the number of rigs BP has in the Gulf and Halliburton’s cementing work. She also worked to impress upon them the importance of understanding and planning for the potential devastating impact of the loop current, which could bring the oil close to the Florida Keys and up the Eastern Seaboard.

 The briefing was the first on Capitol Hill since the disaster.

“I went to the briefing expecting to hear that BP is committed to paying for the cleanup, that they accept full responsibility and to hear that the situation is under control. Unfortunately, that is not at all what I heard. Their answers were vague and lacked specificity, and sometimes they didn’t have the answers at all. Their remarks were especially unsettling about progress staunching the flow and the volume of oil spilled. We must hold these companies accountable.

“I remain firm in my belief that this disaster demonstrates that oil drilling threatens our beaches, our environment and jobs in our region. We cannot and we must not allow drilling even one mile closer to our fragile shorelines.”