U.S. Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Michael Burgess, R-Texas, ranking member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, today sent a letter requesting that the committee add Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as a witness for the May 12, 2010 Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing on the causes of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill.

The letter, sent to Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, cites two other recent incidents in which federal officials were included as witnesses at similar Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearings.

“We believe the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing, planned for May 12, properly seeks initial information from key companies involved in the incident. We also believe, given the integral role of federal oversight on offshore drilling operations, that it is critically important to hear from the appropriate federal authority. The Subcommittee followed this approach on the hearings concerning Toyota (February 23, 2010, at which the Department of Transportation Secretary testified) and crib safety (January 21, 2010, at which the Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission testified).

“Considering the issues under review, and these precedents, we respectfully ask that you invite the Secretary of the Interior to provide such information necessary to enable the Committee to examine the agency’s role in permitting and in performing inspections prior to the incident.”

To view the letter, click here.

Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D., is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, and a member of the Health and Energy & Environment subcommittees. He is also a member of the bipartisan, bicameral Joint Economic Committee. Prior to becoming a member of Congress in 2002, Congressman Burgess practiced medicine in North Texas for over 25 years.