"We are writing to ask that you open an inquiry into whether British Petroleum (BP) made false and misleading statements to the federal government regarding its ability to respond to oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico," the lawmakers, all Democrats, wrote to Holder.

The group, led by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chair Barbara Boxer, urged Holder to investigate whether BP misled US regulators on its ability to respond to catastrophic oil spills.

They cited a February 23, 2009 document BP submitted to the US government's Minerals Management Service expressing confidence in its ability to contain an oil spill and mitigate any impact on the environment.

"In the event of an unanticipated blowout resulting in an oil spill, it is unlikely to have an impact based on the industry wide standards for using proven equipment and technology for such responses," that document said.

"In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it does not in any way appear that there was 'proven equipment and technology' to respond to the spill, which could have tragic consequences for local economies and the natural resources of the Gulf of Mexico," the lawmakers wrote.

They also cited a May 10 document in which BP said all of its potential strategies for containing the disaster "involve significant uncertainties because they have not been tested in these conditions before."

The senators pressed Holder to evaluate BP's actions "with respect to civil and criminal laws related to false statements to the federal government" as well as "any federal law or regulation that may have been violated in connection with issues surrounding the s

earlier related report
Top US senator: Lift oil spill liability cap
Washington (AFP) May 17, 2010 - The top US senator said Monday that raising oil firms' liability for economic damages from a spill to 10 billion dollars was "inadequate," amid growing anger at a ruinous slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The catastrophe that continues to poison our Gulf coast is a wake-up call. We must make sure that oil companies learn their lesson," said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid noted that US law requires oil firms to pay up to 75 million dollars for economic damages, calling that "clearly insufficient" and noting efforts in the US Congress to raise that ceiling.

"Some believe it should be raised to 10 billion dollars. Others support no cap at all. I certainly think a 10-billion-dollar cap is inadequate," the senator said.

"It is the responsibility of Congress and the administration to investigate this disaster, and it is the responsibility of British Petroleum and anyone else found culpable to pay the price for those damages," he said.

US lawmakers have pushed for raising the cap in the wake of the April 20 explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform.

The blast killed 11 eleven workers and the rig sank to the sea floor, where the ruptured riser pipe has been spewing crude oil into the Gulf for more than three weeks.

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