E2-Wire

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service and the U.S. Coast Guard will next week formally launch their joint investigation into the April 20 Gulf of Mexico drilling rig explosion and oil spill.

The joint investigation – which gets underway with public hearings in Kenner, Louisiana on May 11-12 – will “identify the factors leading to the explosion, loss of life, sinking, and subsequent oil spill.”

The accident at the Deepwater Horizon rig – which was own and operated by Transocean Ltd. and leased to oil giant BP – killed 11 workers and unleashed a massive spill that BP and government agencies are struggling to contain.

Some oil industry executives are planning an unusual defense against bills that would raise the liability cap on companies responsible for offshore disasters: raise our taxes instead.

Lee Fuller, the vice president of government relations for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said oil companies may back an 18 to 25-cent per barrel tax that would support a government fund to reimburse business, local communities and other interests damaged by oil spills.

An 8-cent per barrel tax is now collected. That has left $1 billion to cover economic damages, but some experts believe even that amount is unlikely to cover the effects of the massive Gulf spill.  

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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Friday disputed Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) claim that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill should prompt a pause in efforts to advance energy and climate legislation.

Gibbs noted that gasoline prices -- which typically rise with the onset of summer -- will create a “very public impetus” for legislation. Gibbs also told reporters that the spill shows that “with what you see is going on in the Gulf, you understand that drilling and drilling alone isn’t going to solve our energy problems.”

“So I think, quite honestly, the time is . . . more ripe than it ever, in all honesty, has been,” Gibbs said.

Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman will unveil their long-awaited climate and energy bill on Wednesday, May 12.

Over in our Blog Briefing Room, Michael O'Brien reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) believes the Gulf of Mexico oil spill should prompt the Senate to pause efforts to pass energy legislation.

The liberal blog Firedoglake.com is launching a new TV ad that uses the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to drum up pressure on President Barack Obama to rethink plans for expanded offshore drilling.

The ad will run on Washington, D.C. cable stations beginning next week.

It combines images of the April 20 rig explosion and spill with Obama’s late March speech announcing wider offshore oil-and-gas leasing, including his comment that “oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills.”

West Virginia Sens. Robert Byrd (D) and Jay Rockefeller (D) want language added to the Wall Street reform bill on the Senate floor that forces mining and oil companies to publicly disclose information about safety hazards at their operations.

Their amendments highlight growing political pressure on both industries in the wake of fatal accidents: the April 5 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia that killed 29 workers, and the April 20 blast at a Gulf of Mexico oil rig that claimed 11 lives.

“Investors ought to know if a company is jeopardizing its workforce in order to maximize its profits,” said Byrd in a prepared statement.

The oil spill makes it harder to pass energy and climate legislation, according to one of its principal authors. But Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also told Environment & Energy Publishing in an interview that he could vote for what he still refers to as "our bill" so long as it isn't “substantially changed.”

Graham had withdrawn his support for the bill he helped to craft over a separate dispute on immigration reform, prompting a public roll-out to be cancelled and a new round of questions about the legislation's chances this year. Graham's interview gives bill supporters some reason to hope.

“If it doesn't get substantially changed, and I don't know how it's going to change, but I could see myself being the 60th vote for an energy-independent, job creation, clean air bill. It's pretty clear that I found it's something I can be for.”

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* Containment dome lowered to stem oil flow 1-mile below the surface

Crews lowered a 100-ton steel and concrete container to the ocean floor early Friday in hopes of slowing the free flow of oil from the ruptured well.

From the Associated Press this morning: “The box was about 4,000 feet underwater before dawn Friday, with another 1,000 feet to go, Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said.

A crane late Thursday lowered the containment vessel designed to collect as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funnel it up to a tanker. Eventually the crane would give way to underwater robots that will secure the contraption over the main leak at the bottom, a journey that would take hours.

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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday that no new offshore drilling permits will be issued while Interior conducts a safety review the White House ordered in response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Salazar’s announcement followed a Houston meeting with officials from BP to discuss their efforts to halt and contain the spill. The oil giant leased the Deepwater Horizon rig that blew up April 20, creating the ongoing spill from a damaged undersea well.

President Barack Obama in late April ordered a 30-day review of “additional precautions and technologies” that may be needed for offshore development. Interior intends to submit the report by May 28.