Sen. Mary Landrieu on the Truth-O-Meter

By Louis Jacobson, Catharine Richert
Published on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 6:18 p.m.

Related rulings:

"In the last 10 years we've only had 7,000 barrels of oil spilled in the Gulf ... not counting hurricanes. This well is spewing that amount every day and a half."

Mary Landrieu, Tuesday, May 4th, 2010.

Ruling: Mostly True | Details

Louisiana gets "not one single penny" from Gulf Coast offshore oil revenues.

Mary Landrieu, Tuesday, May 11th, 2010.

Ruling: False | Details

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Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., speaks at a May 11 hearing on the impact the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has prompted lots of criticism of oil companies and made some people question whether the federal government should pursue more offshore drilling.

The spill has put a spotlight on Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat from Louisiana. She has said BP should pay for the damages caused by the spill, but she's also sought to put the spill in perspective, saying it's a very rare occurrence.

We checked two of her claims:

• Landrieu said her state gets "not one single penny" in revenue from the drilling. We checked the numbers and found she was wrong, that the state gets millions of dollars in royalties. We rated that one False.

• She said the spill is a very rare event, claiming that over the past decade, only 7,000 barrels have been spilled into the gulf if you exclude the amount spilled because of hurricanes. We rated that Mostly True.