Congress tore into BP CEO Tony Hayward yesterday, and he surely deserved it. Hayward apologized for the Gulf oil spill but did not take any personal responsibility for the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, a catastrophe that is causing 60,000 barrels of dangerous methane-filled oil to spill into the Gulf per day. The environmental and economic tragedy grow each day.

"I had no prior knowledge of the drilling of this well, none whatsoever," Hayward said. Accused of stonewalling Congress, Hayward denied it, saying, "I'm not stonewalling. I simply wasn't involved in the decision making."

Why is that CEOs always take credit when things are going well but shift the blame when things go poorly? If that well was the richest oil well ever discovered, I bet Hayward would have taken credit for it.

Asked what may have led to the explosion, Hayward also had no answers. "I think it's too early to reach conclusions," he said. "The investigations are ongoing."
Republican Congressman Michael C. Burgess asked Hayward if he had heard about documented problems with the well. "With respect, sir," Hayward said, "we drill hundreds of wells a year around the world."

"That's what's scaring me now," responded Burgess.




What's scaring me is the hypocrisy of Congress. Why has it not yet taken up an energy bill that would help wean this country from its drug-like addiction to oil? President Obama has called -- some say too late -- for this crisis to be a wake-up call for the need to change our energy policies.

"The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean-energy future is now," President Obama said in his address Tuesday night from the Oval Office. "Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America's innovation and seize control of our own destiny."

The process of moving to renewable energy sources will take years or decades, so we need to start now.

Now that Congress has had its jollies with BP's CEO, it needs to step back into its chambers and work on an energy bill.