that can only be relved with a eady paycheck and the security that a stead job brings. what these numbers do mean is that we are moving ithe right direction. the economic policies we put in place are working. an economy that was shrinking at a scary rate when i was sworn in as president has now been growing for three consecutive quarters. we were losing 750,000 jobs a month during the winter last year. we have now added jobs for six out of the last seven months. the taxpayer money it cost to shore up the financial sectors and thof automotive industry is being repaid. i know ii was unpopular, but it was the right thing to do, and both gm and chrysler are adding ships and operating at a profit, which nobody would have imagined just a year ago. the question w is, how do we

keep this momentum going? how do we keep adding jobs, raising incomes, how do we keep growing not just our economy but growing are middle-class? in the short term, we have to keep creating the conditions for companies like k.eal to succeed, to keep growing and hiring. because of a bill i signed into law, businesses are now eligible for tax cuts for hiring unemployed workers. companies are able to write off more of their investments into equipment. as part of health reform, four million small businesses rently received a postcard in their mailbox telling them they will be eligible for health care tax cuts this year. those tax cuts can be worth tens of thousands of dollars to those companies. [applause] i have also urged congress to cut more taxes for small businesse so that they can get the incentives and credits that they need to create jobs and

growth. i believe it is absolutely critical that we extend unemployment insurance for several more months, so that americans who have been laid off through no fault of their own get the support they need to provide for their families and they can maintain their health insurance until they are retired. and we should provide further support so that states are not cutting back on jobs and vital services. as well as incentives to create clean energy jobs. in the long r, all of that is in the short term, still part of the emergency effort tohelp the economy grow coming out of the recession. in the long run, we need to invest in the technologies and innovation that will lead to the jobs ithe industries of tomorrow. i want to introduce to everybody who is here, we have dan, who is the president of navistar. dan, stand-up.

[applause] navistar is a company that sometimes does business with k. neal international. for months, there indiana manufacturing plant has been working on an electric delive truck that is filled entirely by plugging in power. facts, i visited thelants before it had reduced its very first uck. my understanding then is that we are ready to go. thanks to the investments we made in the recovery act, it just deliveredts first truck a few weeks ago. this is a plant that gave jobs to unemployed factory workers, and they are now part of a cutting edge industry that will create even more jobs and businesses in the mohs and years ahead. that is what the future can look like. if we keep on making investments

in research and development in technology and clean energy, products, and industries thawe have not even imagined y, can find a home run. the united states of america. if we provide our citizens with the education and traini they need to do these jobs,e are going to see rising incomes and a growing middle class. . .

[applause] it helped him keep fol >> it helped them keep folks on the job and joe deserves a lot of credit for that. so give joe biden a lot of credit for that. says that he ud to be able to drive one of these trucks. [laughter] what we cannot do is go back, now that we are starting to find out how big the whole is that has been dug for us, we cannot go back to the same policies that failed us, that led us into that hole. think about it. we have already tri scaling back our investment in clean energy and education and innovation, so that we could give tax breaks to the wealthiest americans and the biggest corporations. that did not work. we already tried putting industry insiders in charge of oversight. it did not work. we already tried stripping away

rules and regulations that kept wall street banks and oil companies in bounds. we let them play by their own rules instead. it did not work. we know where these ideas to lead us, and we are going to have a choice as a nation moving foard. we are going to be able to return to the failed economic policies of the past, policies that give us record deficits, declining income, and sluggish job growth even before the recession. polici that led to us almost going into a depression. we can take that road again, or we can decide we want to move forward. we can keep building a stronger economy. we can keep pursuing the policies that have started to create jobs again, policies that have helped companies like this, policies tha invest in companies, policies that invvst in our people and in our future. so, i do not know about you. i do not want to go back.

i want to move forward. and i believe that the american people wanto move forward as well. [applause] now, this economy has not return to prosperity yet, but we are headed in the right direction. there are going to be some ups and downs. there are going to be some months or people start worrying that maybe we are n out f the whole yet. -- out of the hole yet. but ife remain determined, if we stick to it, if we stay the course of investing in the people who are the heart and soul of america, then i am absolutely posive that we can succeed. with your help and help -- with yourrhelp, and the hard work and continuity of of rainier's -- of entrepreneurs and workers

like the ones at this company, we can do it. i m grateful to joe biden for all of his hard work. i am grateful to all of you. god bless you a god bless america. [applause] ♪ >> president obama has made his third trip to the the gulf coast to inspect conditions from the oil spill that began with an explosion 45 days ago. he was briefed by coast guard and other officials and met with the louisiana congressional delegation. he later told the media there's

been some progress but a lot of work remains to be done. >> it appears that the cap for now is holding that some hydrocarbon is being sent up and they are slowly ratcheting up

the amount that is being trapped so that they don't dislodge or disrupt the capping. we will know more the next 24 to 48 hours. and we have reason to be optimistic but we will have a more thorough briefing when he knows more. we spent a lot of time here just talking about the logistics of the response on the shore. and everybody here has particular concerns because we have limited resources, we are trying to get more in place. we have deployed some resources here and that meant some in alabama were not where they were supposed to be. the governor has been concerned about what is being done with

respect to alabama plants. what i told him is that they would meet with him with respect to the alabama plant, and if he is not satisfied with the answers that you given oath course of the weekend he will call me and we will meet and sort this out. here in louisiana where the oil hit most rapidly there are still areas where, for example, the mayor here was talking to fishermen and they want to try to build up some barriers to have areas protected that are particularly vulnerable. we will follow up with each parish president. one thing we have done to make sure that organizationally things are working the way they should is we now have a coast guard official who is stationed with each parish president and we actually have a b.p. representative who is stationed with each parish president so

that they have direct access to making sure that any information, any problems that they have are immediately being shot up to thad and he can respond quickly. we want to set that up not just in louisiana but alabama and florida we want the county equivalents to have that same representation and rapid response. we also talked about claims. this is an area where i think everybody has a lot of interest. my understanding is that b.p. has contracted for $50 million of tv advertising to manage their image during the course of this disaster. in addition, there are reports that b.p. will be paying $10.5 billion -- that is billion with a b -- in dividend payments this

quarter. now, i don't have a problem with b.p. fulfilling its legal obligations. but i want b.p. to be very clear they have moral and legal obligations here in the gulf toward the damage that has been done. and what i don't want to hear is when they are spending that kind of money on their shareholders and spending that kind of money on tv advertising that they are nickel and diming fishermen or mall businesses here in the gulf who are having a hard time. now, we've assigned federal folks to look over b.p.'s shoulder and work with state and local officials to make sure that claims are being processed quickly, fairly, and that b.p. is not lawyering up essentially when it comes to claims. they say they want to make it

right and we want them to make it right. what that means is that if a fisherman got a $5,000 check and the next time he goes in because it is a new month suddenly b.p. says we need documentation and this may take six months to process or 60 days to process, or 30 days to process for that matter, that fishermen with his money tied up in that boat may not be able to hang on another 30 days. he may lose his boat or livelihood. we heard from one of the parish presidents about a shrimp processing plant. they have a bunch of shrimp on ice so they are selling inventory but they are not bringing in in new product. and b.p. says your sales don't seem to have declined and they rye to explain we have to lay off the workers because we are not bringing in new shrimp and our cupboards will be bare the next several weeks b.p. has to anticipate that. the key point i'll making is

this has been a disaster for this region and people are understandably frightened and concerned about what the next few months and next few years may hold. i have absolute confidence about the resilience of this area long term, but if we can make sure b.p. is doing the right thing on the front end, it will make it a lot easier to fully recover on the back end. and it may be cheaper for b. pfpp. so, thad is emphasizing this, my administration is emphasizing it. i the want them to hear from me and i want the public to hear from me. they need to make sure that they are following through on these claims in an expeditious, fair way.

and if they are not, then we are going to stay on them about it. we have already submitted one bill, and they haven't said that they are not paying it so i don't want to anticipate problems. but we are already starting to see at the local level folks experiencing problems. and we don't want those problems to build up. we want to nip that in the bud right now. and the fact that b.p. can pay a $10.5 billion dividend payment is indicative of how much money these folks have been making. and given the fact they didn't fully account for the risk i don't want somebody else bearing the cost of those risks that they took. i want to make sure they are paid for. all right? the last point i wanted to make is we talked about what the environmental quality is down here right now. lisa jackson has been down here

all week and she went all across the country -- or all across the state of louisiana. she's going to be monitoring what is going on in in alabama and florida as well. so far the air quality, water quality is continually being tested and doesn't seem to be much elevated above normal levels. but i want to emphasize something she just told us and that is people who are on site involved in clean-up, they have to be mindful of the fact that we are dealing with toxins here and this could be -- this could make people very sick if they are not careful. they have to have the appropriate training, appropriate equipment. if they get sick we now have health centers that are stationed at each of the points. lisa, do you want to talk about that briefly? >> we have health and safety

officers and stations at each muster point so if somebody comes and feels they have been exposed or just don't feel well the first thing to do is report it so we have a record of it and we can track it and ensure they are not penalized for reporting and making sure they put their health and health of their families first. >> ok. again i want to just emphasize everybody down here, every local official, every state official, is working as hard as they can. our federal teams are working as hard as they can. there are still going to be glitches in the response. there are still going to be arguments an disagreements between local and state, state and federal, between everybody in b.p., between states and states in terms of how we are allocating some of the resources. but i think that thad allen has committed to me and to the people of the gulf that we are going to cut through any

bureacratic red tape, any problems that we have, and we will fix the problems that have been identified. that was the commitment i made last week. some of the problems have been fixed. some new ones have resurfaced. we will fix them, too and we will keep coming back until we have dealt with unprecedented crisis. but i'm thankful to everybody for the constructive meeting and constructive approach i think everybody is taking. thank you, everybody. >> could you talk about the economic difficulty from the drill moratorium? >> we had a conversation about that. what i told them is very simple. when i made the decision to issue the moratorium we knew that that would have an economic impact. but what i also knew is that there was no way that we can go about business as usual when we

have discovered that companies like b.p., who have provided assurances that they had fail-safe backup redundant systems in fact not only didn't have fail-safe systems but had no idea what to do when the fail-safe systems broke down. now, i announced this week that bob graham and bill riley, two respected individuals who have experience both on the environmental side and energy sector, are going to be examining the next six months what went wrong but forward looking how do we increase domestic oil production without seek the kinds of disasters we are witnessing on television. i think governor jindal and other parish presidents spoke about the immediate impact and what i said to them is the same thing i said to graham and reilly. if they can front-load some of

the analysis of what went wrong and how you would solve what has happened and what can happen, and you can do that more quickly than six months, then let me know. don't hold the results of your review for six months and then tell me. tell me when you find out. what i told the folks in this room was i'm not going to cut corners on it and i'm not going to press them to move faster than it would take to do an accurate, independent job based on sound science, because i do not want to see this repeated and the american people don't and i promise you the people of the gulf don't want to see it either. as difficult as it may be, it is important for us to do this right. because if we don't do it right, then what you could end up

seeing is an even worse impact on the oil industry which is so important to so many jobs. and i think everybody here emphasized -- and i want to be clear -- i didn't hear anybody here say they want unsafe operations on these rigs and they certainly don't want to see a repeat of this disaster. they did ask could we do it faster and what i said to them is the same thing i said to graham and reilly. which is you do it as fast as it takes to do it right. all right? thank you, everybody. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> i want to make sure the folks in alabama and florida, i don't want them nickel and diming people down here. i want them to abide by their obligation as shareholders and the obligations as vendors as well. >> following his remarks to the

news media the president toured parts of grand isle, louisiana. he met with the mayor and other residents to discuss the impact of the oil spill. >> i want to talk to these guys real quick. everybody knows the mayor. the mayor has gathered up a group of local business people. butch, for example, owns a mari marina. terry a shrimp boat. floyd. oyster fisherman. around patty has a convenience store. chris is the owner of this bait shop. so, we were just talking about the economic impact that this is having. just to give a sense. terry has been shrimping out here for 46 years. his grandfather did it before him. and right now things are

completely shut off for him. floyd leases the oyster beds from the staete. the state now, obviously and properly so, has said you can't be pulling seafood out of these waters right now. he has oil starting to seep into these oyster beds where he has leases, and as a consequence he is trying to figure out how long the damage. >> i'm a fourth generation and a son who is a fifth generation. we have been in this family for 100 years. >> butch was talking about the marina and making the point that these three or four months are basically when all of the business comes down. and normally all of his slips would be full right now. sounds like about only a third of them are full and it may get porse from there.

>> all the charter business is shut down and we make the living on taking people out fishing of >> right now butch isn't taking a salary to pay his employees. you have patty, who owns a convenience store and obviously that store is dependent on these guys. the boats come in, fill up with gas, buying ice, soft drinks. so, she's down 85% on her business right now. >> right. >> so, this is just a sampling of what is happening out here. and part of what we talked about was what we can do to prevent oil from coming in to these are areas. part of what we talked about is in terms of the relief effort can we deploy folks who have boats here to help save their lively hoods right where they are as opposed to having to go

to other places. so i will ask admiral allen to make sure that he is looking at where people are being deployed, where vessels are being deployed to make sure people who know the waters best are being hired there. the final thing is we have to about what we talked about up in new orleans, which is are we making sure that claims are being processed effectively. right now, after that initial $5,000 check that b.p. wrote, the claim center has been taking in claims. but it sounds, based on what i'm hearing that there is a lot of process but not much actual action. so, we are going to see if we can do something better on that. but the main point i think i want to make -- and mayor feel free to chime in on this -- these are communities that had a way of life for generations, and

what people are concerned about right now is not just the damage done in the short term, because these are tough folks and they have been through hurricanes and low prices -- >> high fuel. >> terry was talking about how the walls stay up on the buildings, hurricane comes, you wash out the mud and a week later everybody is back in business. so, these are folks who are used to hardship and know how to deal with it. but what they are concerned about right now is, is this going to have a lasting impact that they can't recover from. that is why thad and the rest of the federal team is so committed to making sure that everything that can be done will be done. this is going to be bad no matter what we do, but we can

hopefully minimize the damage. but it requires good coordination between the state, federal and local. and it requires b.p. to make sure, as i said up in new orleans, folks are not getting nickelled and dimed and we are doing what we need to do early to prevent the worst case scenario. >> the main thing is block the five passes. they stand by and hopefully we can get the president to get on b.p. between you guys and put some barges there temporarily to block the pass soss we can save the parishes, all these parishes, just block the five passes right now, these fishermen can tell you rb, we c

continue to save the rest of the two million acres of oyster beds. we have $2 billion of seafood that comes out of this and a billion dollars of recreational fishing that generates the marinas to all the stores all the way across louisiana. but these guys, this woman here with the convenience store, if we lose the estuaries we are history. they will tell you that. we were born and raised, we made a living here. there is no reason why this shrimp boat should be tied up. we need to make sure we block the oil. and i'm asking you to push b.p. to tdo it. >> we are going to work on it. last week when i was talking to the mayor, he started choking up just talking about the fact that out of his own pocket he was

having to provide some help and loans to his buddies to fisherm fishermen, folks in the area. that is what we should be able to prevent. there is oil washing in but people can help each other. and the company that is responsible can make sure that it is responding quickly and effective effectively. and when the mayor told me that story, it was, i think, an example of what is happening all across the tkwubg and it will be multiplied not just in louisiana but in alabama, mississippi, flori florida. there are mall communities like this all across the gulf, and they have got to make sure that their voices are being heard day in and day out. i know that they have a fierce

advocate in thad allen, but i want you to know that behind thad allen stands the president of the united states. >> since the last time you were here the coast guard has been unbelievable. they are working 24 hours and they have pushed b.p. and like i said, i'm very emotional because i'm still giving -- i'm not going to cut their electricity and water off and i won't cut their gas off. i have one of the businesses right now that has a $5,200 electricity bill and i'm calling energy to make sure they don't cut them off. when your business people come up to you and say it is time to help it is not easy and patty can tell you the night before last i'm going to keep you strong and try to bring you help. butch called me and. he is fighting to save his

oysters. i'm trying to keep grand isle alive to get tourists. i opened the beach memorial sun 3b8g so the marinas can sell the towels so the young kids can lay on the beach and watching oil come across the shore, some people think -- i live right down the street. i have been averaging two hours of sleep just worrying and looking at the ceiling fan and wondering what is going to happen tomorrow and praying to god no more oil comes on the beach. like terry said earlier, his wife is sick. i bring seven people a day in a van to putting gas in the truck and making sure we can keep their health and we help each other and we don't have no money, it don't matter. >> that is supposed to be what

the entire united states does. >> exactly. >> we are not bitter at the oil companies for what is happening. we are just bitter at those that have let the oil come in and. we thrive on the oil companies. >> we support them. >> well, i think that the point with the oil companies is that they have got to support you. and they have to make sure that -- because there are a lot of folks in the oil business that do the right thing and who are not cutting corners. we just have to make sure we find out what happened and those who are responsible are held responsib responsible. that we fix whatever is wrong. we are still going to need oil production, but we have to make sure that we do it the right

way. because, we can't have a situation like this. >> just tell the truth from day one. >> just tell people the truth. that is all we want. >> the biggest shrimp dock in america is right here in grand isle and if he is completely shut down, they will tell you, the boats are tied up, how many boats do you have right now? close to 100 boats tied up. and you have the families, the true cajun people and sitting on the deck of the boat waiting on the opportunity. and i want to respect the admiral and b.p. where, you know, they are trying. it just, since you came it made

a big change and we support you. but we are just worried. we don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. that is why we depend on all of you guys. >> on wednesday the c-span crew traveled with ly ma land son to louisiana as he met with constituents and federal and local officials to discuss the response. coast guard admiral thad allen and administrator lisa jackson are with those he met. this is about 25 minutes. >> right now we are having problems with the oil coming off the mouth of the mississippi and coming through these passes which are all opened and it would come into the inner waters right here. they are having trouble deploying assets from the eastern side of the mississippi to the western side. it was too late a response to get all of this done at that time.

now, thankfully, they have deployed people all in this area. the response is substantially better. they have some jack-up barges that are out in our area and it has done substantially better. and a number of manpower and assets deployed have gotten significantly better over the last two to three weeks. >> you say this has gotten better the last couple of weeks. what were the effects of it being slow the first couple of weeks? >> the effects were that we had sightings and the response was too slow. we will see oil coming into our parish one day and it was the next day before they would pond to look at it. and they didn't have the assets or people to actually do the respon response. right now, if we see one and they send skimmers and other teams to actually make certain that we are being protected. >> we haven't lacked for people

that know how to close the hole, people that know how to disperse the oil, people who know how to save the marsh. trust me, we have not lacked for that, have we? >> not at all. but the problem that we have run into is the implementation. there are so many people and it is a matter of connect being the right people with the right resources. that is basically it. but what congressman melancon says is correct. >> are you pleased with the federal government's response now even though it was a little slow in the beginning? >> can i suggest we are tripling our assets -- and this is me and not from congressman medical left hand son but what will hurt terrebonne parish right now is the moratorium on drilling. please understand terrebonne has worked with the oil field and seafood industry from years. a lot of people go from seafood

to oil field and oil field to seafood and right now the economic impact on the fishing industry is survive believe. b.p. has been coming in and making claims. we believe that the response is getting to be better. we think that there is at least if they can cap in that there may be some hope for the future for our fishing industry. our biggest problem right now is the oil field ban where they have discontinued drilling and -- >> 500 feet. >> 500 feet is the minimum. and -- i mean the maximum that they are letting. and we had somebody that was at 1,000 feet, drilling in 1,000 feet of water and they only had 2,000 feet left to go and they were told to cease and desist. all of these rigs are very expensive. horizon was $500,000 a day. there is no way that it is going to be sitting around for six

months and what is going to happen they are going to go to other countries. once they are they are they are not going to move back after six months. it will be a horrendous impact in our area. and right now easily we are going to have many, many thousands of people that will be impacted. and i would be willing to bet at least 60% of my parish -- and i have 120,000 people -- or directly or indirectly affected by the oil field. >> 60%? >> that is what i would think. >> employed. >> directly or indirectly. understand they have oil field people that work on the rig, they have boat companies, catering companies, fabrication yards that build the rigs. all of this is going to come to a screeching halt and this is the critical thing. with b.p. or the spill they have a resource to go to. on this moratorium it is not

compensable by anybody. so, this is a lost that we are going to have and the oil field drilling is without question such a significant problem that it will affect my community and my parish more at this time than the oil spill will. >> we just left houma and we are over here in terrebonne parish. we are going south on highway 56 to the end of the road in terrebonne parish in the coastal

washland. there are a couple of marinas and jump-off points for oil and gas industry services. also down here we have louisiana university marine consortium facility right before you get to the end of the road. >> can you just point out on there the areas that have been hardest hit? >> grand isle is getting oil on the beach. right past grand isle is a port that is getting oil. and they are starting to get oil showing up on the barrier islands that are out here in the bay. terror are bonn bay. the coastal islands. and, of course, we are getting some in the mouth of the river. as the crow flies, you can see that is not very far. >> how many miles is that, do you think? >> i don't know the exact mileage. i'm going to say probably the

port to the mouth of the river 25 miles. that is a guess. >> when you hear about oil getting into the marshes, where is that? >> that is happening at the mouth of the river by the southwest pass. they are getting some sheen into the inner marsh in the bay up to what they call myrtle grove. you see a lot of that white is no longer there. it has been eaten away. we talk about coastal erosion. we are getting erosion of a lot of the wetlands and marshes. they are putting booms out in the enterior marsh trying to protect the estuaries where shrimp and fish lay their examples. and into terror are bonn -- i mean into st. bernard and plaquemines parish on the east side they are concerned with the

wetland. the lake up here is open to fishing. lake katherine is open to fishing but you have protection. that oil is collecting on chandelier island. if it keeps going like that it will get in the north end and get into the lakes from the back side. you don't know where the tide is going to take this stuff. >> would you point out new orleans as reference? >> it is on the north end of all of it. >> thank you. >> you are welcome. >> she is the on-seen coordinator. the administrator is on the way and should be here in 10 minutes and admiral allen. >> we are heading up here. >> have you seen john glover around? >> no. his son is here. >> michael? >> mr. glover is actually here.

>> lead the way, guys. >> how are you doing? >> making it. staying out of the rain. >> got you stranded down here? >> an assignment until further notice.

>> in the last week and a half we are dealing with the parishes trying to push authority out and be more responsive. >> i think we have a great relationship with the e.o.c. and working hand in hand. we have a rep down there and they are working with us. with the booming operations we have quite a bit of our sites covered and now we are considering alternate bottoming strategies to ensure we are doing things that are right on. except some of the exclusion booming from the islands we are shifting to diversion collection. >> how about boom supply? >> we are good. we get trucks in every day. >> all the trucks you need? >> yes. >> getting the solid boom. >> do you have the requirement for the larger boom? i imagine back here you don't need that. >> we are looking into requesting some of the larger booms in the barrier islands. >> is that just maintenance.

>> it is every day. >> hi. nice to meet you. >> we are going to try to do a tour of the staging area. >> good. >> just trying to get caught up. what i'm getting from terrebonne parish, i haven't been down to grand isle since last friday, and charlotte was down this and we wanted to see what we are hearing about that. what i'm hearing from the parish here in terrebonne is it looks like they kind of got caught up and they are moving quite well.

>> yes, before the weather blew in. there were a few place because they are getting caught up. it looked pretty good. >> how are they standing on boom over there? >> they had some lined up to be used, then they had plenty on the beach that wasn't, was far from soil but they got caught up. >> they were moving over there pretty effectively. i thought that was pretty good. that is one of the most effective uses of that boom i have ever seen. >> i see booms, that is all i see. >> they are like pompoms strung together and as the waves wash it out. >> is it the green stuff? >> it is all different colors. the oil is absorbed and they replace it. that is what i showed the president. >> i looked at waste disposal all you see is the brown, you

know, you can't seen see it. that is how much it picks up because it is just in fibers and the surface area is so great. >> it it -- it is basically pompoms tied to a rope. >> it is like human hair. they should see it. >> somebody got a haircut. >> i feel comfortable knowing that we have made it there and there have been a lot more burning. they have been doing a lot more skimming and booming and containing. they are supposed to cut down and they are using less than 15,000 gallons a day and we are monitoring toxicity, dissolved

oxygen tests. everything looks good. the toxicity tests i would actually say very good. >> how deem are you going down? >> 5,000. >> good seeing you guys. >> i could use a little bit of rest. >> it looks like it was taking some off of yoo. >>

[general conversation] >> this is all connected by a rope and you string it down the beach. sometimes it is embedded and that is ok and you leave it until it turns brown and rip it you have and it goes to a disposal site. >> the state has been giving us use of a waste disposal plant. they put it in dumps that are lined with plastic. they take it and. >> oil it the debris is

hazardous. >> the actual oil is exempt waste so we can put that in special place. >> we only have room for a few people. >> how are we doing, guys? where you from? >> texas. >> louisiana. >> aramco. >> how are we doing? all right. so, why don't you give an overview.

lisa, you colonel down here. go ahead. >> these are the barrier islands. that we are at every day with the boom maintenance and boom tending. the sites are here. we have an east operation going on up here and the west operations. and then we have skimmers positioned between the islands every day as well as a set course through the bay coming there and back. and we are also now working with the local indian tribes up here to protect their burial grounds. >> that is a combination of the indian tribes. >> one important thing i saw yesterday is houma was on the reassessment work that happens on the shore hraoeurpbs.

so, not only are we responding to what happens when the oil gets to the shore, but we have a god picture of the before. so -- baseline. >> we have a good baseline. >> the other thing i see is getting people out there dealing with the debris. that is a good reason to clean up the beaches. >> that is a good thing. >> ok. very good. and of course this connects over to the people. >> yes. >> what is your people? >> we kick off every day at 0600. >> we start at 0600 and runs until 6:00. 12 on, 12 off. basically night shift we have them out there readdressing the vessels, putting boom on per the strategy we have so the first thing in the morning the boats are ready.

the captains just do the manifest, jump on the bode and go. they picked up our response team as far as leaving the docks. >> that is the whole thing. i have been hitting all of these understands personally from me, reduce that cycle time from achieve the effect. we know we have done something. that is moving people closer to the problem and giving the people here the authority to do what they need to do. we are trying to take a lot of decision-making authority to give to you so you think you got it? >> we do. >> they did what i told them to do then. >> we've got it. >> all right.

>> it is not for me to make that. if a parish atperbl tells me he is not happy what told charlotte, michelle, billy, craig, steve, if you have something and you are not feeling you are getting a response, call me and i will make a call. now, i did call in and talked with rahm emanuel at the white house and now that i have had the meeting with thad allen and with lisa jackson, i think --

i'm trying to find a balance on the deep water drilling between spill, baby, spill and drill, baby, drill. we've got to make sure that there is a conscious effort for safety. we can't have this happen again. but at the same time the economic impact down here in this region, i think it will devastate louisiana's economy. and we were one of the bright spots in the economy. we we have had the lowest unemployment rate for probably two years. so, with fishermen out of work, marinas and ice houses and shrimp processors and if it wouldn't be for the stuff going on here because of the spill all the marinas would probably suffer. and i don't think johnny, because of his location, is probably doing better than the rest of them. but that doesn't take care of the rest of them and grand isle

is like a ghostown. and from memorial day on is when they make their money so splichhhers are not making money, hotels, restaurant not making money, grocery stores and the oil companies with the drill stuff, that is another issue. >> what did you get out of this meeting today with them? >> mostly getting updated on where they are. the meeting that was the most important was sitting down with michelle. i ne -- with michel. if he is feeling better i'm better. it is not a perfect world. we are not getting everything we like but as i mentioned a minute ago we are in a response mode. the oil is not come into this area. we are watching for it at the barrier islands. once they see it then they deploy. right now they have deployed where they need to or feeling they need to apnd policing it because we have to continue the

integrity of the boom and it will be an ongoing process. as long as that thing is pumping oil who knows how long it will go? >> what do you tell your constituents on a daily basis? >> the only thing i can do is keep your chin up. if you are out there working laying boom i don't have to tell you anything. i know you are doing it because your heart is in it and not because there is a check in it although the check is important with people out of work. this is about saving an area that we love. as i told people, i grew up hunting and fishing town here. all my life i fished out of the marina. i tphknow his politics, one thi we agree on is he the saltwater marshes, preservation of the coastal wetlands and conservation for the fisheries. we don't differ on that.

>> thank you. >> see you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] . ñsñs