Obama taps top scientific minds for oil spill probe
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Monday named five of America’s top scientists, environmentalists and conservation experts to his independent commission set up to probe the causes of the Gulf oil spill.
The five, mostly drawn from some of the nation’s leading academic centers, will join the bipartisan body set up last month in the wake of an explosion that ripped through a BP-leased rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
“These individuals bring tremendous expertise and experience to the critical work of this commission,” Obama said in a statement released as he toured stricken southern states on a two-day trip to the Gulf region.
“I am grateful they have agreed to serve as we work to determine the causes of this catastrophe and implement the safety and environmental protections we need to prevent a similar disaster from happening again.”
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The seven-member body is chaired by two-term Florida governor and former senator Bob Graham, a Democrat, and former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency William Reilly, a Republican.
Its main task is to provide recommendations on how the oil industry can prevent — and mitigate the impact of — any future spills that result from offshore drilling.
Obama has slapped a six-month moratorium on deepsea drilling in the Gulf, pending the results of the probe into what caused the Deepwater Horizon rig to blow out on April 20, and sink two days later.
Among those tapped to join the commission are Cherry Murray, who was appointed the dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and professor of engineering and applied sciences in July 2009.
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She will join two other women, among them Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a non-profit corporation working to push US and global environmental policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com
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