Bingaman’s Energy Committee to Question Interior Sec. on Gulf Spill

Last week, executives from BP, Transocean and Halliburton got grilled by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Today, it’s the Interior Department’s turn.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who chairs the Senate energy committee, will lead the questioning, which begins at 9 a.m. MDT.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is the main witness. I don’t expect the committee to go too hard on Salazar – a former Democratic senator from Colorado – but I do expect lots of pointed questions about the Minerals Management Service, which has been accused for years of being too cozy with the industries they regulate.

You can watch the action online here.