Battle to bring BP to account for oil spill intensifies

The battle to bring BP to account for the Gulf of Mexico disaster intensified as senior politicians in the US gathered to co-ordinate their approach to the oil spill, hours after beleaguered chief executive Tony Hayward was summoned to Washington. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, met with seven committee chairmen to discuss how to proceed in the fight with 'big oil'. Following the meeting, she declared that Congress will write and pass legislation by August that addresses the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon explosion on 20 April. Dubbed the "spill bill", this could include new controls on off-shore drilling, higher fines for spillages, and more compensation for those affected. Pelosi's meeting was seen as an attempt to bring more order to the Democratic party's response to the ongoing catastrophe. At least fifteen house and Senate committees have held, or are planning, hearings into the disaster. Four separate meetings are scheduled to take place today alone. This has led to fears of a turf war, as politicians scrabble to be seen to be taking a tough line on BP ahead of this autumn's mid-term elections. "You have all of the house, a third of the Senate and a very motivated White House eager to look responsive," Kevin Book, an analyst with ClearView Energy Partners, told Bloomberg, flagging up how many lawmakers face re-election. But the scale of the investigations into the Deepwater Horizon disaster has also yielded benefits. For example, the energy and commerce committee has already held five hearings and obtained a slew of documents from the companies involved with the Deepwater drilling. The house select committee on energy independence and global warming forced BP to release live footage of the leak from its robot submarines. And the Senate committee on energy and natural resources exposed rifts between BP, rig operator Transocean and contractor Halliburton, when senior executives all tried to pin the blame on each other. Tuesday's meeting also gave a taste of the fury that many in Washington feel against BP. Edward Markey, chairman of the house energy and environment subcommittee, claimed that BP was "either lying or they are grossly incompetent" as he castigated the company for underestimating the amount of oil spewing into the ocean following the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Hayward grilled Up to now, BP has been represented at many of these hearings by Lamar McKay, its head of American operations. That will change next week, though, when Hayward appears before the energy and commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations. It wrote to Hayward yesterday, inviting him and another BP employee to a hearing next Thursday. The subcommittee will grill Hayward about the causes of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion. "The subcommittee anticipates that its members may have questions requiring technical knowledge of the Deepwater Horizon rig operations, well design, and safety measures and, accordingly, we ask that you be accompanied by a BP employee or official with sufficient knowledge to answer these questions under oath," said the committee in a letter to Hayward released last night . This will be Hayward's first appearance at a congressional committee since the oil spill began. He is expected to face severe criticism for his handling of the catastrophe, with President Obama already saying he would have fired the BP chief executive if he had the chance . Earlier this week Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner showed how little respect many on Capitol Hill have for BP. He told TV viewers that the company was essentially lying about the disaster: "Whenever you hear someone with a British accent talking about this on behalf of British Petroleum they are not telling you the truth. That's the bottom-line," Weiner said. There is also evidence that the sheer amount of scrutiny may be overwhelming BP. Politicians in Mississippi had invited BP, Transocean and Halliburton to appear at a hearing at its state capital this week, but the three companies declined. BP reportedly explained that its key officials would be tied up in Washington instead. BP's shares fell another 3.7% today to 393p, on fresh fears that the company will be forced to scrap its dividend. They have now lost almost 40% of their value since the Deepwater rig exploded, wiping nearly £50bn off BP's market capitalisation. Today's events Later today the house transportation and infrastructure committee will hold a hearing called Liability and Financial Responsibility for Oil Spills under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and Related Statutes. The house science and technology committee will discuss the need for better methods to fight oil spills, at a meeting titled Deluge of Oil Highlights Research and Technology Needs for Oil Recovery and Effective Cleanup of Oil Spills. The house energy and commerce committee will probe the current situation in the Gulf of Mexico at a hearing called Beneath the Surface of the BP Spill: What's Happening Now, What's Needed Next. And the Senate environment and public works committee will examine The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Liability Act of 2010, a bill under which the maximum cap for damages would be raised to $10bn (£6.9bn) from $75m. House committees holding hearings into the oil spill The committee on appropriations The committee on education and labour The committee on energy and commerce The committee on natural resources The committee on oversight and government reform The committee on science and technology The committee on transportation and infrastructure The select committee on energy independence and global warming Senate committees holding hearings into the oil spill The commerce, science and transportation committee The energy and natural resources committee The environment and public works committee The health, education, labour and pensions committee The homeland security and governmental affairs committee The judiciary committee The small business and entrepreneurship committee