Sen. Begich: Oil-spill liability deal is imminent

He has been working with senators including Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a leading advocate of removing the cap, Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).

“We think most, if not all, the folks seem to be comfortable with it,” Begich said. An aide to Landrieu was more cautious, saying the two senators “are in complete agreement on their principles and objectives, but details will continue to be fleshed out.” A spokesman for Menendez could not be reached for comment.

Begich said the plan would include a shared insurance pool among small and mid-sized companies to cover costs greater than $250 million and up to $5 billion, although big companies could “opt in” to this pool as well, he said.

From there, the plan creates another $15 billion pool to cover potential spill costs among all companies. And for costs that exceed those levels, companies responsible for spills would be on the hook themselves by paying into an escrow account, Begich said.

The liability issue has been politically explosive in the wake of the BP spill. While senators all say BP must pay for its spill costs and damages, they are split on how to address industry liability moving forward. Menendez has been a champion of unlimited liability, but Republicans and some Democrats oppose it.

Landrieu, Begich and other pro-oil senators fear that unlimited liability would make it impossible for small and mid-sized companies to drill in the Gulf because they would be unable to afford massive insurance costs. An insurance pool is designed to split the difference by spreading potential costs among companies.

“We are all in agreement that we don’t want the taxpayers to pick up the tab, we want the polluters to pay for the cleanup, but we want to do it in a way that lays the groundwork for the industry to grow and operate and not to pull the rug out from underneath it,” Landrieu told reporters in the Capitol.

Reid, after abandoning plans to hold votes this week, plans to bring oil-spill response legislation to the floor sometime after the August recess. A Reid aide declined comment on the negotiations over the liability plan that Begich and others are crafting.

Begich predicted that Reid would look favorably upon the compromise that he called imminent. “They are aware of what we have been doing, they are anxious for us to get a resolution and I think they are going to like this resolution,” he said.

—Darren Goode contributed.