Exxon CEO: ‘It is unfortunate that walruses were included’

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and other oil company executives acknowledged Tuesday that their Gulf of Mexico oil spill response plans should not have made references to walruses — a creature that does not inhabit the region.

Senior Democrats have pointed to inclusion of the walruses in claiming the industry has devoted far too little attention to potential accidents, noting that major oil producers have nearly identical, boilerplate plans.

“It is unfortunate that walruses were included. It is an embarrassment that they were included,” Tillerson said at a hearing before a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel on industry safety and energy policy.

Other executives concurred. Added ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva: “I agree it is not appropriate to include for that region.”

Industry safety standards and readiness to confront accidents are under new scrutiny in the wake of the BP oil spill. But the executives also sought to emphasize that they took their cues from federal regulators in crafting the spill response plans.

“The plans are put together in response to guidelines from the Minerals Management Service,” said Chevron CEO John Watson in reference to the Interior Department agency that regulates offshore drilling.

But Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Energy and Environment subcommittee holding the hearing, took aim at the companies.

“Like BP, three other companies include references to protecting walruses, which have not called the Gulf of Mexico home for 3 million years,” he said in his remarks at the hearing’s outset.

“The American people deserve oil safety plans that are ironclad and not boilerplate,” Markey said.