The recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill has produced a lot of anger from Republicans directed toward the president. Just last week, Joe Barton of Texas apologized to British Petroleum for what he perceived as unfair criticism. This week, the Republican governor of the state of Louisiana — Bobby Jindal, an openly vocal critic of President Obama’s handling of the oil spill — vetoed a bill that would have mandated that all records of the spill be maintained and open to the public.
House Bill 37 would grant public access to all state records related to the BP Gulf oil disaster. This would have provided transparency and vital information on all activities related to the spill. The House of Representatives voted 77-12 today to ratify Senate changes on the bill, but Gov. Jindal rejected the requirement to reduce the length of time required to retain oil spill records and provide certain documents related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
In his veto letter, Jindal suggested that the legislation would hurt the state’s position in future litigation against BP. He wrote “This bill would allow BP and other parties with potential liability to the state, to obtain information retained by any state agency responding to this tragic event.”
Although he proclaims that he is all for transparency, accountability and ethics in government, Jindal’s veto places him in a very risky political position, yet he still maintains his aggressive attack against the Obama administration.
Critics may see the veto as the governor having more support for and an affinity to BP than the citizens of the state — who as taxpayers should have the same access to state records as the oil giant. In addition, it gives the appearance that Gov. Jindal is being hypocritical, since he has asked that BP open its records to the state while refusing to do so himself.
The leased oil platform that was operated by BP exploded April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
For more with Dr. Stephens, visit twitter.com/rawdawgbuffalo and rawdawgb.blogspot.com.
