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March 28, 2024

Sharron Angle: BP compensation program is ‘slush fund’

Updated Thursday, July 8, 2010 | 10:54 a.m.

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Sharron Angle

Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle twice referred to BP's $20 billion victims' compensation program as "a slush fund" and accused Democrats of using the spewing oil well as an excuse to pass energy legislation.

Angle told a Las Vegas radio station on Wednesday that President Barack Obama and the Democrats were taking political advantage of the April 20 explosion on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig to push for a cap-and-trade energy bill that has stalled in Congress. She also said the disaster that sent gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico occurred because BP "cut corners" and seemed to suggest the Environmental Protection Agency is to blame.

Appearing on KXNT, Angle agreed with a caller who said Obama strong-armed BP executives to set up the fund after the April rig explosion.

"Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company and I think you named it clearly, it's a slush fund," Angle said.

A spokesman for Angle's campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Obama met with BP executives at the White House last month and emerged from the meeting with a $20 billion commitment from the company to pay fishermen whose businesses were affected and to clean up the Gulf.

BP publicly backed the plan.

"From the outset, we have said that we fully accepted our obligations as a responsible party. This agreement reaffirms our commitment to do the right thing," BP chief executive officer Tony Hayward said when announcing the plan.

Angle also said the entire industry shouldn't have to pay for the spill. Only BP is funding the victims' fund.

"Everyone in the petroleum industry shouldn't be penalized for one bad person's actions. It would be like throwing us all in prison because one person committed murder. And that's exactly what's going on here," she said. "It's an overreaction by government for not the right reasons. They're actually using this crisis ... to get in cap and trade and every fine and penalty and slush fund, like you said."

Angle, a former state lawmaker, seemed to suggest the oil industry was regulated by the EPA. Offshore drilling, however, was overseen by the Minerals Management Service, a part of the Interior Department.

"The problem with even the EPA is that it's all about money. It's a taxing, fining agency. What we really needed was a management agency," said Angle, who is challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Angle's remarks were first reported Thursday on The Washington Post's website.

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