A Texas congressman with a tin ear gave Tony Hayward, the embattled honcho of reviled oil giant BP, something totally unexpected on Thursday – an apology.
Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican whose sprawling district includes Houston, called Hayward the victim of a “$20 billion shakedown.”
“I apologize,” Barton told Hayward at a House Energy Committee panel hearing on BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. “I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it’s a tragedy.”
Barton was referring to President Obama’s faceoff with the BP barons that ended with the oil company saying sorry for the mammoth oil spill currently fouling the Gulf of Mexico – and promising to finance a $20 billion fund to compensate the victims.
Hayward, who was bracing to be raked over the coals by furious members of Congress, appeared to be taken aback by Barton’s apology.
The White House quickly slapped back at Barton.
“What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction,” spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
“Congressman Barton may think that a fund to compensate these Americans is a ‘tragedy’, but most Americans know that the real tragedy is what the men and women of the Gulf Coast are going through right now. Members from both parties should repudiate his comments.”
Barton is one of Big Oil’s biggest boosters. Before his election to Congress, Barton was an executive with ARCO, which was later acquired by BP.
He has taken $1.4 million in campaign contributions from the industry since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Barton’s backers have been political action committees and employees of Anadarko Petroleum, Exxon Mobil and Valero Energy, the watchdog group reported.
In earlier statements, Barton said he held BP accountable for the environmental disaster but said the committee should also be looking into the Obama administration’s response to the spill.
Barton has also opposed attempts to more tightly regulate the oil industry.
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