The latest in efforts to stop the oil from spilling in the Gulf is starting to work, according to the Coast Guard. But Senator Bond says an effective response should have happened sooner.

A containment dome is now capturing 10,000 barrels of oil from spilling from the bottom of the Gulf each day, but much damage has been and is still being done. In fact, officials say the spilling won’t stop completely until August.

“The administration was supposed to have a spill proposal for the worst case scenario and obviously the Minerals Management Service  was asleep at the switch,” he says. “We have to be sure that, particularly when they’re drilling in deep water, that they be prepared for this.”

Senator Bond says if the well wasn’t so deep, it wouldn’t have been a catastrophe of these proportions. He contends that the government should not have pushed off exploration from the shallower waters just because people don’t want to see the oil rigs off the horizon.

“They have dealt effectively with minor incidents and kept them minor, but this one they were forced to drill in deep water, and before they start new ones there they darn well better have a fail safe means to preventing these blowouts that happen,” he says. “In the meantime, British Petroleum and its partners have to be pay every last penny to clean up the mess and compensate victims.”

He adds that BP and its associates ignored the warning signs before the blow out happened.

The Senate is currently slated to hold a dozen hearings looking into the causes and response to the oil spill.

For regularly updated posts on the spill, visit Deepwater Horizon Unified Joint Response.

Jessica Machetta reports [Download / listen Mp3, 1:10 min.]