day. that is far more oil than is currently leaking into the gulf. when you look at the details, it pecomes evident these plans are just paper exercises. bp failed miserably when confronted with, and one can only wonder whether exxon mobile or the other companies would do any better. bp's plan says it contractor with the marines built response corp. to provide equipment for our response. all the other companies rely on the same contractor. bp's plan says another contractor will organize its oil spill removal. chevron, shell, exxon mobile use the saae contractor. 22,000an relies on gallons of dispersing. well, so do exxon mobil and the

other companies. i could go on, but i think you get my point. these are cookie cutter plans. exxon mobil, chevron, and shell are as unprepared as bp was, and that is a serious problem. %+ .

>> i have listened to the opening statement of chairman markey and chairman waxman. i want to say that in terms of doing the investigation, i commend the majority staff that mr. stupak holds, and we're getting the facts assemble and putting them out and an open and transparent fashion so that the american people can understand exactly wwat happened. it is no question that british petroleum, the owner and chief

operator of the rig that had the accident, is responsible for the accident. and as mr. waxman has pointed out, it is the responsibility of our major or companies to have adequate contingency plans when things go wrong. i am not trying to whitewash the private-sector and terms of their responsibility for causing the problem. but i want to point out something that has not yet. the five people most concerned about solving the problem are probably sitting before us today. exxonmobil, chevron, conocophillips, shell, and bp america had huge interest in getting it right and preventing it from ever being wrong again. if you ask othem, they would not equal the market cap of some of the zero companies owned by

sovereign nations. such as saudi arabia, venezuela, the republic of mexico. so i would stipulate, mr. chairman, that while our major oil companies have calls it -- at least british petroleum is the cause of this particular problem -- also stipulate that the gentleman before us are a big part of the solution. if the president of the united states has a better solution, he can pick up the phone and tell bp exactly what to do. it is a federal issue in terms of the mitigation and cleanup plans. if there is anybody from president obama on down who peally knows the solution and and stop that oil from spelling right now, by golly, all they have to do is pick up the phone and tell them what to do. the fact that they are not is simply because laws of nature and the laws of physics do not respond to 30-second sound

bites. yet to know what to do when you have to have the engineering and technology available to do it. america needs the energy beneath the gulf of mexico and in the outer continental shelf. 30% of our oil and gas is coming from the ocs right now and 80% comes from the parade. we have a depletion rate in this country of 40%. of the 8 million barrels of oil and gas we are producing per day, next year we can only produce about 5.5 million. you have to replace that energy. since we have drilled millions of wells on shore since 1896 the fact of the matter is thht you will find significant oil rrserves in the continental united states in the outer3 we need that energy.

i agree with chairman waxman that having a 500-page document that is a cookie cutter approach to what to do when you have a problem is not an answer. it is not an answer. you came up with a cootingency plan that says cross your fingers and hope theeblowout preventer works. that was the contingency plan. we've not had a major accident in the ocs in 50 years. they have decided the blowout preventers are so effective, all you had to do with pat -- pushed that magic button and it would work. they pushed the magic button on the bp reagan it did not work. chairman roy paxman -- chairman waxman is right. we need more than a cookie cutter contingency plan. but where i think i disagree with the chairman, is that the jump in before us have the wherewithal and the expertise and they certainly have the incentive to put that plan together.

i do not know what the answers are. maybe we need a full-time safety inspector on these rigs. maybe we need a real time data center somewhere where all the information goes to a central data point, someone in charge of safety that looks at it. it does appear that if people had been looking for the problem that we now know has happened, the data was there to tell them what to do. but they were not looking for that. this rate was 40 days behind schedule and billions of dollars over schedule and there was a lot of pressure to finish the job. and there was nobody on that rig to make them safe decision. when you make a decision after decision after decision that did in of itself is not a bad decision, but cumulatively minimizes safety, eventually you

reach a critical mass and you have the act that happened. our job, mr. chairman, as the watchdogs for the american people are to get the facts on have possible solutions, and if there is a federal issue and a federal role, let us do it. but when you take a patient to the emergency room, the solution is not normally to kill the patient. the solution is to stabilize the patient, determine what needs to be done to save the patient, and implement that strategy. i will stipulate that america needs the energy beneath the outer continental shelf off the coast of the united states of america. and the five men before, representing five of the largest privately owned oil companies in the world, they are not a part of the problem. they are a big part of the solution. >> we thank the gentleman from

texas. the chair now recognizes the chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, that gentleman from michigan, mr. stupak. >> thank you for you and mr. waxman for holding this hearing and for your leadership. on the oversight committee, we have been investigating the actions of bp. this provides the committee a chance to examine the practices of the other major oil companies. he could be so that bp is the one bad apppe in the bunch, but unfortunately they appear to have plenty of company. exxon and other "companies are just as unprepared to respond to major oil spill in the gulf as bp. i've been examining the oil spill response plan of exxonmobil, the largest oil company in the united states. this document is over 500 pages long. in many respects, is virtually indistinguishable from bp's response plan and the response plans of the other major

companies. at this time, mr. chairman, i would ask unanimous coosent that this be been a part of the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you. there is one major difference between the exxonmobil plan and the other response plans. the section dealing with tte media. bp, shell, conocophillips, aad chevron have plans with short media relations sections. exxonmobil has an entire 40-page appendix devoted to how to respond to the press. it directs public affairs personnel to "maintain on camera skill prooiciency peaky and also -- proficiency." it explains that communications which convey care and concern for the situation and provide relevant factual information are an integral part of exxonmobil's emergency response. it sets up a four-tiered system

of who can respond to media inquiries. the highest level, category d, dictates special treatment for questions about global warming and the exxon valdez. the exxonmobil plan contains 13 detailed, pre-drafted press releases for almost any occasion. give this a minute here. there is a fully drafted press release for an accident involving an exxonmobil facility. if the injury occurred off site, there is a separate press release for that. six of the stockpiled press releases are ready to express that they "deeply regret" an outcome while two more press releases rate -- stand ready to -- stand ready to express that exxonmobil is deeply saddened. the media section contains a topic guide with talking points on over 65 issues. five different places, the plan

directs public affairs agents to say, "we comply with all applicable laws and regulations and apply reasonable standards where laws and regulations do not exist." if the public affairs officer is asked about criminal charges, the plan instructs them to say, "we believe that there are no grounds for such charges. this was clearly an accident and we're working to respond to the immediate needs of the incident." that talking point is ready to go before a hypothetical incident even occurs. before exxonmobil could have any idea whether it was actually an accident or if there are any grounds for criminal charges. in short, exxonmobil has meticulously anticipated virtually every conversation that the company might need to have with the media in the days following an oil spill in the gulf of mexico. my problem is that exxonmobil has given far less attention to actually controlling all exxonmobil has 40 pages on its

media response strategy, its plan for resource protection is only five pages long, and its plan for oil removal is just nine pages long. we've all seen the horrible images of pelicans and other wildlife exxonmobil's plan appears more concerned about public perception than wildlife protection. and it rings hollow with the loss of the 11 people who died on the deepwater horizon rig. this is a perfect metaphor for what is going wrong with the gulf today. the oil company response plans are great public relations. they allow the oil companies to say that they have a 500-page plan that shows they are prepared for any contingency. but the plans are virtually worthless when an actual spill occurs. and that is exactly this kind of misplaced priorities that led to this disaster. i yield back.

>> the chair now recognizes the ranking member of the oversight and investigations subcommitteee the gentleman from texas, mr. burgess. >> i thank the chairman and i wonder what anyone expects to achieve with this hearing today. i know what the folks at home are saying and thinking. they want the oil stopped and it won a stop to de but it continues to leak. i don't think anyone sitting here behind it by us or any witness today is going to tell us how to turn that flow off today. the majority did not call this hearing to talk about meaningful solutions to shutting off that flow in the ulf today because the situation really presents itself too great an opportunity to get some members of this committee the chance to pass even more regulation, and it will have the opportunity to increase energy taxes that

pmericans will pay under the foreseeable future under climate change legislation. the president's chief of staff, rahm emanuel, spelled it out when he announced you never want to let a serious crisis go to waste, and this is a serious crisis. in some ways, this undermines the own credibility of the committee -- and this is a tragedy which 11 lives lost -- to push for a political agenda. i hope the majority members prove me wrong and i hope that during this hearing members of this committee will have a major focus on how to discern how we stop this leak. that is really all that matters right now. that is all that matters to the fisherman, the shrimpers, the livelihoods have been put on hold while this gold content -- all this well continues to spill into the gulf of mexico how

much we invest in nuclear technology, and no matter how much this congress intends to cripple the american economy even further than it already has with the job killing legislation. we haveehad this debate. we will have those debates in the future. today let's keep the focus were belongs -- and it is simple, plug the well, stop the spill, clean the gulf. mr. chairman i am going to respect -- i know you have submitted a list of questions that you want the witnesses to answer. i want them to include in their opening remarks what ideas they have to stop the leak. that is the question that we want answered today. it is not about stopping the lead, then why are we here? and if the witnesses do not have answers to that question, then respectfully one might suggest that this hearing postponed until we have the witnesses in front of us who can answer that

question. i also believe that the majority is looking at crafting legislation in response to this bill. i am concerned that will lead congress to do what it often does and rushed in writing legislation with no thought to the consequences down the road. a week ago, the committee on oversight and investigation had a field hearing in louisiana and we heard testimony from two of the widows who have lost husbands on the deepwater horizon. both with the stated unequivocally that the current regulatory environment are more than suffiiient to keep the men and women working on those offshore rigs say. the question then becomes if whether the egulations are being properly enforced. pne told our committee, "after all the safetyytools, meetings, fire drills, and safety

regulations, i just knew that he was safe. we need to focus hotspur, safety and regulations, but on ways to effectively implement and use the ones already in place." the other followed with her statement, "i am not here to suggest that congress implement more safety regulations, but rather to encourage you to hold companies accountable for safety regulations that are already in place and merely neglected." she went on to say that offshore drilling accounts for up to 80% of all the jobs in her little town in louisiana. she said that less offshore local economies and not only coastal louisiana but other gulf coast communities who rely on offshore drilling and oil rig jobs.

every job on the rig is responsible to four to five jobs on shore. we need to find out why the agency, why our federal agency charged with important safety regulations, appeared to see has it that job was unimportant. we need to find out why they were asleep at the switch. and we certainly need to hold any party accountable at the federal level that skirted safety measures. first we must not the lead. mr. chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. >> the chair recognizes the chairman emeritus, the gentleman from michigan, mr. bingaman. >> i have a splendid statement which i am sure you will enjoy reading. in order to save time, as a unanimous consent to inserted into the record.

>> without objection, so ordered. the gentleman's time has expired. tte chaar recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. doyle. >> thank you for convening this hearing today to examine the impact of our nation's dependence on oil and the safety of drilling operations. we're 57 days into this informal tragedy, and the response effort is ongoing. we of learned that this is the largest in u.s. history, new estimates showing that unlike barrels each -- leaking into the cult each day, it is likely 40,000 barrels leaking, but no one really knows. as such, president obama has issued a moratorium on all 33 of the deepwater horizon drilling rigs for six months or until th3

of this bill. -- of the spill. his hurricane season beginning with conditions right for pottntial disaster storms, i think the administration is avoiding an even more catastrophic event read in fact, recent events all over the country merit the need for a serious review of safety practices in the entire oil and gas industry. just this weekend, chevron spilled as much as 500 barrels of oil into a stream in utah, and in the last few weeks, there been to blowouts and natural gas wells, one in west virginia and one in my home state of pennsylvania. in pennsylvania, the blowout preventer failed, allowing natural gas to spew from the gushing well for over 50 hours while the crew with the skill to cap that had to be flown in from

texas. it only took them an hour to cap the well. in west virginii, the gas explosion caused seven workers to be injured and the planes burned for days until was brought under control. our growing energy demand requires that we continue you -- we continue to use natural resources. third there reason to extract our national resources in this style. the oil resources in the gulf of mexico are not going anywhere. i think it is time we take a step that and explore how to do this better and safer and more efficiently. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back my tiie. chatha>> mr. chairman, just a if we waive opening statements, will we get the additional minute? holloway my opening statement. >> the chair recognizes the

chairman from arizona. >> i semele wave my opening statement. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. sullivan. >> i waved my opening statement. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama, mr. griffith. >> i want at thank you for calling this important hearing+ today and the witnesses for taking time to come before a subcommittee to discuss drilling in our current and future energy portfolio. our number-one priority must be stopping the flow of oil. it is the job of this congress to do whatever we can to aid and unified command to reach his goal. this is engineering inaction. is not time to put together knee-jerk energy policy that could jeopardize our security in the future. it is imperative that this committee remember that the

united states is one of the global eeergy economies, and therefore it must take into consideration that we are only 4% of the world population. if we enact policies that draw drilling and out of u.s. waaers, these companies will not cease to drill. we will cease to be able to ensure that oil and gas productionnis done in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. as we await he outcome of many investigations taking place, it is bottled we learn lessons from this incident so that we can keep our workers and firemen say it while continuing to produce our valuable oil and gas resources. the moratorium put in place by this administration does not reflect the president's previous duke and this knee-jerk reaction to create moratorium is simply an expression, in embryonic in nature, which has no place for situation is serious. they're still many questions to answer about what happened on deepwater horizon. we must also question the

federal response. the government cannot facilitate a quick or effective response. this incident has been another example of that. to echo some of my colleagues, i think we must tackle long, hard look at the federal response also looking at the response of bp. this disjointed effort has not pided in helping to contain any of this bill. thank you for coming today and i look forward to your testimony. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington state. >> thank you, mr. chair. today's hearing is untitled drilling down. we've got the five leaders of this industry. i'm interested in what they will say. i think we need to ask if the industry has showw accountability to make sure that the leaders are accountable for

safety. i will be interested in finding out how many people of british petroleum have lost their job to date as a result of the most terrific and our model catastrophe in american history. i will be interested in the number. hud also be entered in the numbers of the leaders of industry what they are investing in an effort to develop technologies that can reduce the risk of offshore drilling. the numbers that we have seen and are questions to does witnesses so far are astounding and how small they are, they are all less than 0.1% of profits invested in clean technologies to reduce the risk of this type of disaster that is less than 0.01% of their gross revenues. it is stunning and we would like to ask you why you have exppsed this country to this type of risk with such reduced investment. and it's appropriate to ask

about the investment in clean energy. the reason is that in all the leaders today, every single oil well we have ever drilled has been an invisible oil spill. it puts carbon dioxide into the air which goes into the atmosphere, which goes into the solution of the ocean and makes the ocean 30% more acidic than they are today. they will be solicited by that time i checked grandchild leads the planet, every single well is an oil spill. will be interested in knowing what these leaders are bringing to the table in an effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and an effort to find clean energy to prevent this type of environmental disaster. unfortunately, it will not be the numbers that we're looking for. >> the gentleman') time has expirrd. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. >> i will waive my opening statement.

>> the chairman recognizes the gentleman from texas. >> i can look back a lot better than i can look for. when i look back, i look at two entities that all to be looked to. it is suggested that the federal government play of more prominent role. well, there are two things that you look at there. one is the financial statements of the two enttties, the united states of america and british petroleum. i find brrtish petroleum and a lot better shape than the united states of america. it is theirs. i think we should have turned it over to british petroleum to cap the well, and after the cap their well, did the out what they'll everybody else. i don't think the president knows anything more about capping the well and picking up little parts of the waste that he knew about the olympics.

i resent the fact that he is trying to blame some of this on borich when bush on 9/11, i don't think i ever remember him accusing clinton. i yield back my time. >> the chair recognizes that joel levy from california. >> thank you for calling today's hearing. i like to thank our witnesses for appearing before us today. those who had their livelihoods and tight-fisted tester our own president of proportion. they deserve for unconditional support. now we continue to seek answers from bp ann others about the cause of the accident. we must all the responsible accountable. the first priority of bp to stop the leak rom continuing to spread and to ensure that cleanup efforts are carried out to protect our coastal communities and families and livelihoods depend on and it is incumbent on all those to make certain that this never happens again. again.