BP will pay for oil spill and its consequences, Durbin says

Monday, May 31, 2010 By: Matt Hopf

British Petroleum will pay for the consequences of the still-spreading Gulf of Mexico oil spill, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Sunday.

“They’re going to pay for it, not the taxpayers of this country,” said Durbin, a Springfield Democrat and the Senate’s assistant majority leader. “This was their mistake, their accident, it’s going to be their responsibility.”

Durbin spoke about the BP oil disaster Sunday afternoon at Springfield’s Washington Park, following a news conference called to promote legislation that would tighten regulations on dog breeders.

BP announced Saturday that its “top kill” plan to stop the flow of oil on the sea floor had failed. That approach involved trying to seal the oil-well leak using high-density drilling mud to suppress the oil flow.

“You know what troubles me is, when I went down there a week ago, I was with (Secretary of the Interior) Ken Salazar,” Durbin said. “He had been in all the high-level meetings where they described the top kill. They told him there was an 80 percent chance that it would work.

“The first failure led to 11 deaths, then the failure of the ‘dome,’ then the failure of the ‘junk kill,’ now the failure of ‘top kill,’” Durbin said, referring to the explosion on a drilling rig that began the crisis and then to a series of attempts to contain the oil flow.

BP stands for “beyond patience,” Durbin said.

Durbin was surrounded by dog owners when he discussed his plan to close a loophole in current law that allows commercial dog breeders to sell dogs over the Internet without being licensed.

Durbin introduced legislation that would require breeders who sell more than 50 dogs a year to undergo inspections to ensure that dogs receive proper care.

Kathy Le Comte brought her 17-year old dachshund, Bahnie, to the news conference.

Bahnie was a breeder dog at a puppy mill before being rescued, LeComte said. Bahnie had had at least one litter of puppies and possibly more.

It took several months for Bahnie to become accustomed to her new life, her owner said.

“She didn’t bark for more than a week, and that’s unusual for a dachshund,” Le Comte said.

“We hope to have fewer of these stories in the future,” Durbin said.