US politicians began grilling top executives of companies involved with the Gulf of Mexico's massive oil spill today, warning they would not let them blame each other for the unfolding environmental disaster.
US senate energy committee chairman Jeff Bingaman opened the congressional hearing saying the oil rig explosion was likely due to a "cascade of errors, technical, human and regulatory".
The Democrat called the spill a "catastrophic" failure of technological systems, comparable to the Titanic's sinking, the meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant and the midair explosion of the Challenger space shuttle."
Lamar McKay, president of BP America, Steven Newman, president of Transocean Ltd, and Tim Probert, a senior executive of Halliburton, sat in a row as they began their testimony, each one effectively blaming another for the explosion and failure to control the spill.
In a sign that the hearings could get heated later, a Republican on the committee warned the three men they would not get off the hook easily.
"Reading the written testimony for today's hearing," senator John Barrasso said, "I hear one message and the message is: 'don't blame me'."
"Well shifting this blame does not get us very far," he said.
A series of hearings into the spill, which are expected to continue in coming weeks, could lead to new legislation on drilling practices or help lay the groundwork for additional regulation by the Obama administration. But several senators, especially those from oil-producing states, said Washington should make offshore oil drilling safer, not abandon it.
"This accident is a reminder of a cold reality that production of energy will never be without risk or environmental consequences," said senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the senior Republican on the panel.
Arriving for the hearing, the first into the disaster, the executives were met by protesters holding signs saying "Boycott BP" and "BP Kills," while six young women wore T-shirts with the words, "Energy shouldn't cost lives."
Black tears were inked onto their faces.
About 1,600 kilometres away, National Guard troops spread across the Louisiana coastline preparing to battle the oil that was approaching from the Gulf of Mexico.
At least 5,000 barrels of crude per day continue to gush out of an underwater well that ruptured when a BP-leased oil rig exploded and sank.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden blamed the US Minerals Management Service for minimizing the risk of blow outs in offshore drilling, in a study issued just before the spill.
"The lead federal agency is basically telling everybody that they don't have to sweat safety concerns here," he said.
The companies face intense political pressure in the aftermath of the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and sank Transocean's Deepwater Horizon rig as it was finishing a well for BP.
In their initial testimonies, the executives did not offer recommendations on how to protect workers from such explosions in the future or how to better prevent and control oil spills in the Gulf's very deep waters.
US President Barack Obama met yesterday with Cabinet members responding to the spill, including interior secretary Ken Salazar and homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano.
The White House said it was deciding on its next steps and working to ensure all is being done to contain the slick and mitigate the environmental impact.
Halliburton joins BP and Transocean because it provided a variety of services on the rig and was involved in cementing the well to stabilize its walls and plug it.
Ms Transocean's prepared testimony pinned the explosion on the failure of this cementing or casing to plug the well.
"The one thing we know with certainty is that ... there was a sudden, catastrophic failure of the cement, the casing or both," according to Mr Newman's prepared remarks.
Mr Newman said the rig blew three days after drilling was completed and the well had been sealed with cement. "It is also clear that the drill crew had very little (if any) time to react," he said.
With attempts to contain the oil spill unsuccessful so far, some lawmakers have questioned the adequacy of the companies' response to the accident.
David Nagel, executive vice president for BP America, on Monday defended his company's response, saying it was mobilized right away." He said the failure of Transocean's blowout preventer is what "turned this incident into a really tragic situation."
Reuters