House Dems raise fears about another BP project
More than two dozen House Democrats are asking the Interior Department on Thursday to stop another BP drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, saying they feared it could end up being more damaging than the ongoing spill stemming from BP's collapsed Deepwater Horizon rig.
The 28 Democrats -- led by Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. -- are sending a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Minerals Management Service Director Elizabeth Birnbaum saying they fear the Deepwater Horizon accident could foreshadow a larger tragedy at the BP Atlantis rig, which is operating in deeper waters.
"A worst-case scenario oil spill from Atlantis, which has been in production since 2007, would exceed the Exxon Valdez spill in only two days," the Democrats said.
The spill stemming from the ruptured well of the Horizon over the past three weeks is believed by some to have exceeded the 10.8 million gallons spilled when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989 in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
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