WASHINGTON (June 8, 2010) – Responding to complaints from experts tasked with estimating the true flow rate of the BP oil spill that they still do not have access to critical high-quality video, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today demanded that BP release the video to these experts.

In a letter to BP America CEO Lamar McKay, Rep. Markey notes complaints from scientists on the Flow Rate Technical Group that they have still not received high-quality video from the period between the cutting and removal of the sunken riser pipe and the installation of the current containment cap system. This period is vital towards determining the latest flow rate of the oil gusher.

“Experts will be able to determine the current flow rate if they have access to archived high quality video of the period after the riser was severed and before the cap was installed,” writes Rep. Markey, chair of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee in the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. “Any efforts on your part to prevent experts from determining the size of this spill is are unacceptable.”

Rep. Markey requests, as he has done previously, that BP archive all footage and provide it to these experts in the highest-quality format to aid in their analysis. Rep. Markey also requests in the letter that the video be sent to him and these experts within 24 hours.

A copy of the letter can be found here .

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