AUGUSTA, Maine — With the estimated cost of the BP oil spill in the billions of dollars, members of Maine’s congressional delegation support increasing the reserves in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund that would pay cleanup and remediation of a spill by a company that does not have BP’s financial resources.
“Ultimately the responsibility should rest with the private sector,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe. “They should be the ones paying into this fund.”
She said the fund was set up so there are funds available immediately to contain a spill and start remediation efforts. The president can authorize up to $100 million from the fund for any single spill in a year.
“We need to structure this so the companies are paying, not the taxpayers,” she said.
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