"Obama to meet Tuesday with heads of oil spill commission"

[Clio the Leo]

Obama to meet Tuesday with heads of oil spill commission

From CNN Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama will meet Tuesday at the White House with former Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator William Reilly, the co-chairs of a new presidential commission investigating how to prevent another oil spill like the devastating leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

White House aides said Obama will make public comments after he meets with Graham and Reilly, new co-chairs of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, which Obama created earlier this month by executive order.

Administration officials have said that five other people will soon be selected to serve on the seven-person commission. The other panel members are likely to come from outside government because of allegations that government officials at the federal, state, and local level have been too cozy with people in the oil industry they are supposed to oversee.

The commission has six months to issue a report to Obama with recommendations on how to prevent future spills resulting from offshore drilling.


Before the recent spill, Obama had expressed support for a potential expansion of off-shore drilling as part of a comprehensive energy reform plan. Now, he is facing criticism from fellow Democrats in coastal states such as Florida who want him to scrap plans for more drilling.

<snip>

Administration officials have previously said the oil spill commission will be modeled on federal panels created following the Three Mile Island
nuclear plant crisis in 1979 and the Challenger space shuttle tragedy in 1986.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/31/obama-to-meet-tuesday-with-heads-of-oil-spill-commission/?fbid=FIK4gPKmci8

[Captain Hilts]

1. Very good! nt

[jenmito]

2. Net recommendation: 0 votes (Your vote: +1) Sad. n/t