>> that would be a bad analogy because there are no sensors in the engine room. how the system works is there are several toxic and combustible gas sensors located in key areas, mainly around the drilling package. the drilling package is the key. secondary is all the air intakes. the air intakes could be anything from the accommodations to the engine rooms to machinery spaces. anywhere fresh air flows. all spaces are controlled with a positive fan that forces air and and an exhaust, so you continuously have air

circulating through the spaces. and when you get this in one zone, the zone should trip an emergency shut down and you should sound of the general alar -- sam the general alarm. -- a sound of the generaalarm. >> do you know whym this was inhibited? >> i had inquired about the explanation i got was the did not people woken up at 3:00 in the morning due to false alarms. >> did you voiced a concern to anyone about the possible safety issues? >> i did. >> who did you boys those two?

>> to the people on watch that day and to my supervisor. >> who were they? >> one was tom fields, a supervisor who is no longer employed by transocean. the other one was steve. i would have to look at my notes to remember his last name. he is also no longer employed with transocean. >> would mr. akbar tony no -- mr. bartoni know? >> in his normal duties, and no. >> who recommended they keep that inhibit your -- who was in charge of that system on the break? >> the bp operators were the first level. the second level would have been senior dpo's. the third level would have been the chief mate. the next level would have been

the captain. ultimately, the oim. >> were that all aware that these systems were inhibited? >> yes, sir. >> if the systems were not inhibited, would it have prevented the initial explosions, in your mind? i know this is your opinion. i am not trying to put you knowing the cause of the incident. but if the systems were actively running, would it have allowed personnel to get into an area that was safe, and would it have involved an explosion on the engines? >> objection. [unintelligible] >> let him state what facts he knows about how the system is configured. >> when you get to detectors,

one is the esd for that affected zone. that should trip. that will control your power and your switchboard. all those things should trip. air supplies, watertight dampers, and all the things for that affected zone should trip. also, you're going to sound the general alarm. that is how the system was designed. >> do you know from your position if the coast guard ever gave approval to have these systems inhibited? >> i do not know. >> i am going to move onto another subject. yesterday, we had a woman here who referred to this well as the well from hell. have you heard that term before? >> i have. was that common on the rig? >> it was.

>> what is that being pulled from? why well as help. >> a well over in doubles canyon, or doubles tongue -- >> devils tower? >> doubles tower. we have experienced a well very similar to this where we lost circulation, got stuck, and had to have wild well control come out. we ended up severing the pipe by putting a shot into the pipe. we lost the will completely. now we are back in another quadrant or another zone, but this well exhibited a lot of those same characteristics, where we lost circulation and for getting tons of gas back all the time. we got stuck. we had to sever the pipe. it was deja vu all over again. the well from hell was coined during the devil's tower well, simply because of the location,

with the term devils tower. if i remember correctly, it was steven curtis who at the time was the deck pressure who coined the well from hell. he is now deceased. >> how long were you at mc252? were you on the deepwater horizon to wrap its duration in the pacific-10 index >> yes, except for my time off. >> at any time, did you hear a bp will site leader request that the driller -- i think i pulled this from your 60 minutes interview. "let's bump it up." >> he was talking about the rate of penetration. >> was there any pending results of this comment? did anything occur after that? >> we lost circulation.

we blew the bottom out of the well. >> the drill picked up the rate of penetration? >> yes. >> in the same interview referenced, i think you indicated you saw chunks of rubble from the upper annual. is that correct? >> it is. prior to the accident, which would have put it back about five weeks, i was in the central shaft -- in the drill a shafshf. while troubleshooting and working on that system, a representative walked into the back of the ghouse and he had in his hand a double handful of

rubber. the only thing they're at that time is the only thing that is rubber down there and that is the annular. as he delivers these chunks of annular rubber, a look at the senior supervisor -- i look at the senior supervisor and i asked him what the hell that was. he said it is no big deal. that is normal. >> who is that? >> that would demarcate -- mark hague. it took me a few days to understand or to formulate why we were getting chunks of rubber back. there was an incident prior to

that when we were in testing mode and the annular was in close around the drill pipe. i got a call from the nighttime tool pusher to come investigate whether or not there was an input to the stick to hoist the block wall the annular was closed a. he said that the blockade moved 15 to 20 feet. we need to know why. myself and the electrical supervisor conducted an investigation. it was an informal investigation. we got into the chair log data and dissected the data. what we determined was that one of the styx was moved into

positive direction. we could not positively determined which stick. the tax system inside the log was not accurate enough. it's an awfully -- it simply said joy stick a and joystick b. we did confirm that there was joy stick input. -- joystick input. we confirmed that it was pushed but we could not confirm whi stick. one of them have been given an input demand --ommand. the annular was closed prior to chunks of rubber coming up. >> who is tommy daniels?

>> tommy daniels is the electrical supervisor. keeping onhe topic, on the panel, was there ever a problem with a pressure regulator valves? >> yes sir, there was 3 >> could you elaborate? >> at about the same time of the inadvertent stick movement, anthere was an issue with the bop control panel purge system. how that system works is the dog house is purged, so it is positive pressure and the panel inside the dog sh is also purged, so that you have two

purged systems working simultaneously. another tool pusher had held the back door open to the doghouse for an extended period of time in the drilling shaft lost purge. -- and the drilling shaft lost purge. during this extended time frame of him having that door open, someone had opened both of the glass access doors to the b of the control panel, and it lost purge. i got a call from the ad on tower which was also one of the deceased, dawn clark. i was told that i was needed to the record immediately, that the panel was dead. buy it -- before i got up

there, marquette already arrived -- mark had already arrived. i informed him that i had worked on that system on the last rig moved and that i had discovered what the issue was with it. i told him i could get it started an automatic so it would work properly. -- in automatic so it would work properly. the repair that i made was really not a repair. it was a true to the system to give it to start an automatic mode. once it started, it would keep running until it lost purge. when it loses purge, the whole purpose is to power it off because it thinks that gas may be in there or something that is combustible.

i had trusted to run on automatic, so it was running in automatic mode for a period of weeks. was not until it lost birds that turn itself off and i asked mark if he wanted me to started back in automatic. his exact words were, "no, and the damn thing has been in bypass four years. why did you even mess with it? as a matter of fact, the entire fleet runs in bypass." >> earlier, when i ask you a question about the chunks coming up, you made reference to

another problem. >> yes. >> can you tell me what was going on? >> that system is located in the doghouse. it is the main operating point for the driller to control drilling functions. it controls evething from mud pumps to top drive, hydraulics, it controls everything. for three or four months, we have had problems with this computer simply locking up. we even coined a of the term " blue screen of death." inside the doghouse, there is "b chair."

ere are three chairs. we had ordered replacement hard drives from the manufacturer. we had actually ordered entire nearly new system -- an entirely new system to upgrade from the operating system that it was using. those computers were actually used on a very unstable platform. between the manufacturer and the rig, they could not get the bugs worked out of the new operating system. they could not get the old software to run correctly on the new operating system. our sister raid was going through those growing pains for a spirit we have already ordered

the equipment, we were just waiting for them to make it work. in the meantime, we were limping along with whate have. we ordered a new hard drives. they came in and wee got them back running. the chair would run for two or three days, and then it would crash again. tommy daniels was instrumental. i cannot tell you how many hours or days he spent focused entirely on tting these chairs resolved. be new to his position as a logical supervisor, he took it upon himself that he would resolve the issue. -- as electrical supervisor, he tok it upon himself that he would resolve the issue. >> the correct -- do you

recollect if there was ever an incident when the "a chair" was down? >> not to my knowledge. >> do you know how long ago that incident was? >> not exactly. >> but it was down during an incident. >> it was discussed that the chair crashing caused the kick. the loss of the medications to the drilling package. they have no way to monitor any thing for several seconds. before they could get the "b chair" up, they got a kick. >> i want to go back to something we talked about earlier. when you talk about the pressure regulator valves, you said that

it was a policy that it be in bypassed for the entire fleet. >> yes. >> the know anything about the inhibited alarms on the other fleet. is there any thing you can think of? >> when i was on the deep water millenium, i was dirt out of bed by an alarm. -- i was jerked out of bed by an alarm. >> thank you. we reviewed a few audits on the maintenance of the deepwater horizon. can you touch upon the pipe wrecking system -- racking system?

>> yes. >> what was the condition of that? west german. >> jumpe-- junk. >> junk? >> yes. >>that was our number one downte caused. >> in some of your testimony, you said that it had been indicated that the raid had been scheduled to go to the shipyard for repairs. were you aware of that? >> yes, i was. >> were you going to be involved in that? >> my part of it would have been the complete rewiring of both pipe racking systems, top to

bottom. >> who was on that to you? >> it would have come down from the electrical supervisor. >> were you aware of an audit that occurred? >> i was, but i was not a part of it. >> did anyone present those items to you? >> no, they didn't. >> e thing that the audit also mentioned was that there was a personnel retaining issue on board the deepwater horizon. is that accurate? >> yes. >> due to have any issues within your means responsibilities because of that? -- do you have any issues within your responsibilities because of

that? >> no. >> whatever works ha come and assist with maintenance was needed? >> y sir. >> were they as confident as those others on the rig's? >> to my knowledge, yes. >> where did tey come from? >> displaced from other rig's ad new hires. >> or the familiar with the systems they were working on under your supervision? >> the last two that i got from there were not. they were familiar with the electronics, but not our specific electronics. >> do you know who had control over personnel issues? >> no, i do t. >> thank you, sir. i have no further questions. >> mr. williams, just a couple of follow-ups. were you on the rig in 2008?

>> yes sir, i was. >> were you familiar with the brown out of that ourred? >> yes, i was. >> can you explain what happened? >> i cannot. i was part of the deck crew, then. it was light outside f us. the only thing that we knew was that the crane shut down. >> you worked on the emergency disconnects system? >> no sir, i have not. >> no more questions, thank you. >> good morning. i just have a few questions. you indicated that you were familiar with the censors. >> yesterday >> would to be familiar withhe location of those sensors on the vessel? >> yes sir. >> will be familiar with the

locations of the intakes and automatic shutdowns on board the vessel? >> i could find everyone of them. >> you also indicated you were familiar with the pds system as well -- the eds system as well. >> yes. >> i have a couple of schematics of would like to put up and i would like you to go to those and indicate the location of where they are. >> yes sir.

[no audio] >> i am going to give you a blue pin. just for purposes of identifying [audio difficulties. >> the diagramming that we have a pierre is the deepwater

horizon safety plan. i would like you to go up to that diagram and take the blue marking pen and draw a circle around the gas sensors that you know are located on that level and around the engine rm. >> can we pull this out further? >> certainly. >> that's better. >> the engine rooms themselves do not have gas detectors in them. >> are there some located on that level of the deepwater

horizon? >> yes. >> can you circle where those locations are? . . >> the main debt vince up here on both sides of the rerig -- te

main deck vents up here on both sides of the rick, we are not seeing that shell shakers on this level. >> when those alarms activated, where were you see the indication that they had activated? >> you would see the indication at that ccr and the ecr. >> could you take that blue pen and also draw locate -- -- >> circle around those locations as well? >> thank you, sir. he may sit down. -- you may sit down. i am going to ask a little more

information about the gas detection system which you previously described as you experience it on the evening of the 20th. can you take is in a step-by- step fashion and describe how the gas detection system is set up. what happens when an alarm activates, and then the sequence of events that is set in motion by that alarm. >> any detector that is in a normal state can go to a high stake are eight high-high stake, depending on the level of gas or toxins that are present in the atmosphere when you get to those detectors to go high-tide in one designated zone, or if you get one detector in two adjoining zones, the system esd's at that point should trip, shutting down

the air and electricity to that space. at the same time, the general alarm should sound and individual alarm panel said in the ecr and ccr should also sound. >> or the engine rooms in a single zone or are there separate zones for each invidual engine room? >> in regards to the fire and gas system, the engines only had a thermal detectors in them. they did not have a gas detector actually in the engine space. the only thing -- the only gas detection had for those is for the air intakes. the index had the gas sensors mounted to them. >> of each individual air intake has a gas sensor? >> not exactly. >> please explain. >> the two circles that i drew on the port and starboard side of the rig, those were "

consider t main air intakes for the injuns basis. one side -- for the engine spaces. >> i believe we have been told that each one of the engine turbos has a separate air intake. is that correct? >> yes. >> does each one of those have a separate center? >> no sir, they do not, not to my knowledge. >> when you describe that you basically have to have to alarms acvated the hi-fi state within the sa zone, what would set that in motion in this series of events that you described on the 20th? >> what would set the alarms in motion? >> you explain that you started to hear the engine over speed and you had heard the gas alarms triggered. >> what i heard were local alarms on the panel. i had no idea what type of alarms they were. i could just to the beep, beep,

beep on the panel. i did not know what alarms they were. i did not assume anything. i just knew i had a bunch of alarms coming in one on top of the other. as fast as i could acknowledge them, another one was going off behind it. >> you are not aware of for those alarms were going off as far as location? >> no idea. >> i believe you indicated that the gas detection system is also tied into the ventilation system automatic shutdown process. is that correct restore >> yes, sir pickett could you describe in more detail how that happens? >> we have 30 esd panels located throughout the rig. they are stand-alone, manually operated panels. there is i want to say between 12 and 14 buttons on that panel. each button corresponds to a set

of functions that are going to occur if you press . emergency sutdown for say the drilling package was esd no. 4. i am familiar with that because we just recently tested it. it would have shut down the power to the rich lore, bacally, shut down the air- conditioning, hydraulics, the block, it shut it all down. and it shut down the air intakes. so it functioned in manual mode. we never tested the automatic feature, to my knowledge. i never tested the automatic function of it. we did not go introduce gas somewhere to see what it would do. it was jus understood that it would work. >> you indicated that when this series of alarms would go off, if you had to in the same zone, it would trigger that esd

system. with respect to shutting down a main engine, can you describe t sequence of events that would happen if those alarms triggered? >> if the fire dampers close, you lose your air intake to the engine and the engine would suffocate for lack of oxygen. i can say that thomas daniels explain to me one time that an esd got rid of him accidentally and shut down an engine ventilation intake, and it's up to the fire doors off the hinges in the engine kept running. it was looking for air, and it just literally sucked the doors off the hinges. so those esd's were never tested because of that risk. so the function of them was to snuff out the engines. if it cannot get air, it cannot run.

>> are you familiar with the term read saver? kent -- rig saver? >> i honestly do not know. >> we had some testimony from th trechief engineer. is it your understanding, and i refer to that -- i believe is termed a standby generators. what is the difference between a stand by an emergency generator? >> an emergency generator would give you entire read power, where a standby generators is available to do very little, honestly. is there to assist you to get

your main generators back on line. >> are you familiar with what happens if you have an engine running and a generator running, and for some reason it trips off the line, is there a standby ready to pick up the lo all the time? in this case here, if the no. 3 engine tripped off the line and exploded for whatever reason, there was a designated secondary engine that should have started and picked up the load. >> correct. >> if in fact that secondary engine does not start, what happens? >> within 10 minutes, the standby generators should have cranked. >> he said within 10 minutes. i believe that is also what [unintelligible] explain to us. is it your impression that that restart within 10 minutes is basically automatic, that no one needs to push additional bonds or switches are turnabouts or anything else to make that happen? >> that's how i was b.g.e. that

is how i was explained that the system worked. the only testing of the standby generator, to my knowledge, was a manual start, just make sure it would crank and run. >> when the chief engineer was here, he explained to us that when you all went down to the backup generators location to try to start, that he switched it from automatic imanuel. do you recall that happening? >> yes, sir. >> would that be the normal process as far as you understand it to start that generator? >> yes sir. >> would that be because 10 minutes ha not elapsed since the main shutdown -- since the shutdown of maine power plant gregoire >> we did not care about that. we wanted the generator on line. >> thank you.

thank you, sir. i have no further questions for you at this point. >> mr. williams, he recently stated a few moments ago the outboard air intakes on the port and starboard side cover all three engine rooms on each side crest or >> yes, sir brigance we have received testimony earlier in the second hearing that there are two air intakes located under the risers feet engine room 3 and 4. are you familr with those caused more >> yes, sir. they are directly under the riser stake. >> what do those vents fee? >> they are also feeding into the engine spaces. >> you have to import into out war on each side? >> yes, sir. >> all right, thank you. -- you have to importwo in boaro

outboard on each side. >> the p a system would be the only other m'means of communication. it was anyone else monitoring at from the bridge? >> there was personnel on the bridge. >> so the people on the bridge, if they saw high-high alarm would then notify the people in those zones that there was a gas situation? >> that was their plan, yes. they were going to be the ones to interpret what the gas alarms did and make the determination themselves to sound the alarm or not. that is the way it was explained to meet your >> who were those peop? what position did they hold? >> dpo and senior dpo.

>> you indicated that there were some alarms that were bypassed, is that correct? the vessel has a bypass log that is maintained? >> not to my knowledge. >> so who tracked these bypasses? >> the inhibited alarm? to my knowledge, no one track it. >> so if the was other safety devices that was bypassed on the deepwater horizon, to your knowledge, there is no procedure in terms of documenting and remove it -- approving them, closing them out? >> there was for individual detectors. >> but there is no one bypass log that is maintained to track all the items?

>> there was a log for individual detectors and sensors, a hand written log. as they would get an erroneous reading or a fault condition that would display, they would write in the logbook and they would call me so i could put it on my list. as far as the general alarm, no law that i am aware of. >> -- note lono log that i am a. >> should they approve these bypasses before they bypass? [inaudible] >> thank you.

i was just asking was there a procedure to spell out how these bypasses are documented and tracked. >> just so we are clear on terminology, he is not using the word bysses. i just want to make sure we are all on the same page. >> is just a general term i use, when the safety device or alarm is not in the proper condition, that some action is taken to bypass or inhibit it, or whatever it is. >> i am just concerned that there are two different modes, one being bypassed and one inhibited. we are talking about an inhibited alarm condition at this point. your question is whether the oim or the vessel master should know about this condition? >> these discrepancie and how they are followed up and closed

out. if there is one that you know. [inaudible] >> when i started in the et schaub officially in april of 2009, the fire and gas system was a wreck. there were several detectors that were faulty, overridden, and completely ignored out of the system due to lack of maintenance. i took it upon myself and my assistant to rectify that, and we got the fire and gas system

back up to stufsnuff. i made a point every pitch, when i got out there, the first thing i did was go tohe station and see how many detectors were inhibited, how many senses were inhibited, how many were overridden, how many were faulty. because that was my primary concern when i got to the rig, was my own safety. during on it, bp audit, i guess it was august of 2009, they discovered how terrible the fire and gas system was, and it was brought up in their audit. it was actually noted. during that time, there was no tracking of the fire and gas system, to my knowledge. there was one dpo done it this

way and another when done it another way. there was no standard procedure for tracking fire andas. after the audit came the log book. we had anctual, physical block that the senior dpo was the only one to write in it. he or she would write in it when the alarm faulted, what zone, location, everything, and then when it was repaired and who was repaired by, and the date, so that we cannot let fire in gas get in the condition it was when i started. does that answer your question? >> it hes int a picture here for me. >> you mentioned the bp maritime insurance on it.

did you participate in an audit? >> no sir, i did not participate. >> have you ever participate in any external audits or surveys? >> one, abs. >> can you elaborate on that? >> an abs represented came out and my entire function with him was fire and gas. he allowed me to pick which smoke detectors i wanted to put smoke to, which toxic and which combustible. he also ensured that we tested all six of the infrared they are cated in the engines basis. we did test each one of those. it was not a pick and choose, we tested all the engines. he was satisfied with the results of the test.

>> do you know whether that was for a class survey or was it relating to regulatory -- you don't know. the first part of your answer, something about he allowed you to pick and choose which ones to test customer >> yes, he did. he told me to pick, i recall six smoke detectors, and he gave me general areas of where to pick them, one from accommodations, one from a -- -- machinery space, one from an office space. he let me pick the numbers, and he stood by on the bridge while i went and shot smoke to it to make sure we would get the indication and get the alarm. >> if the abs surveyor was conducting that activity on behalf of the [unintelligible] do you think it was appropriate for him to allow you to pick and

choose? >> thought it was a little strange for him to allow me to pick the ones i wanted. it sure made it easier on me, i picked the easiest ones to get to. >> indicated that during the event when you were up on the bridge and you were asking the captain about starting the standby generators, and he was asking you what about the generator? >> no one asked me anything about the generator. >> he said what does the generator due, is that correct? >> the capt. inquiry about would give us fire pumps, a way to fight fire. >> should he have known that before hand?

>> there are a couple of cab drivers out there we could ask the same question to. >> i appreciate that, sir. >> this is not something this man can answer. he cannot judge the captain. [inaudible] >> there is no reason for that. >> your objections are noted. please t down, please. now, let's back up a little bit. who is responsible for the safety of the vessel and the personnel aboard the vessel, as you understand? >> it depends on whether we are latched up or under way. >> let's say, when you are on the way, who is responsible for the vessel and the personnel on

board the vessel? >> the master. >> to the master of the vessel -- should the master of the vessel know what the standby generators is capable of supplying? >> i have not looked at his job -- it was something i heard him ask out loud. it was not directed at me. >> a lot of the testimony we have received relating to the problem incidence of the vessel. has ameria, how long have you serve that seek -- as a mariner,

how long have you served at sea? >> just the three years with transaction. >> are you familiar with international said he management -- saved the management -- how long were you serving on the deepwater horizon? >> just shy of two years. >> did have a safety management system aboard the vessel? >> we had the hs manual. >> can you describe to me what you know about the hs manual? >> help, safety and environmental -- they changed it to h and s menu. that was our bible. that laid out what we could and could not do. >> what is in that? >> a little bit of everything.

it is a very thick -- several hundred pages. >> does it describe the relationship between who is in charge, under what conditions they are responsible for that role in that manual question or >> i never read that page, if it is in there. >> any references on the vessel that relate to who is in charge? >> not to my knowledge. >> how about in the hs manual, does it describe how equipment discrepancies it documented, attract, and resolved? -- help equipment discrepancies get documented, track, and result? >> can you rephrase the question? >> does it describe how

equipment failures it documented, track, and resolved? >> not to my knowledge. >> how about equipment maintenance schedules press mark >> no,hat is not in there. >> so is there any guidance on board the vessel with regard to -- a lot of these maintenance issues, equipment discrepancies, a lot of people side as the reason it is in order. a lot of items did not been completed in that period of time. i just wonder whether there is a system that really documented and follow through on some of ese items. so to your knowledge, there is not, on board the vessel?

>> the rms system was the forum that i used to track my workload and to document what i have done for any system i have worked on. >> that is the rig management system. so you have the hs manual system that use and then the rate management system, but as for a juneau, in terms of the safety management system on board the vessel, you are not familiar with that quiz more cracks not a stand-alone document, no. >> so the risk-management system, he testified there was not a perfect fit.

is that your experience also question or >> yes, it was overwhelming. >> it did not match up with the system on board the vessel, is that correct? >> a lot of the equipment they wanted us to do maintenance on, we did not have. some of the equipment that needed maintenance was not included. there was a lot of redundancy from the impact system, which was the previous mintenance system. when they did the merger, they imported all the data from the impact system, and the corporate [unintelligible] a lot of times would be identical to the ones that came over from impact. sometimes we would have four different listings for the same job. there was a lot of that that we were still working through. i personally put in probably 100 change requests over the

previous three or four months, to eliminate some of our work load that was redundant or did not apply. >> so you got this rig maintenance system deployed on the vessel that was not a perfect fit. i understand from the testimony this morning about the software that also had problems. >> yes. those are not related, though. >> i understand, the overall picture of -- >> the chairs themselves work completely independent and isolated from the entire river network so there was no chance of infection, virus, hacking, there was no opportunity for that. >> and there is no system to track some of these bypasses or

abnormal conditions of the system. do you think some of these things, these examples, resulted in the condition that you found with regard to the condition of the gas and fire system when you took over, or do you think there is another reason why the conditions that she found -- that you found -- >> i think it was a coination of reasons. >> i just have a couple of questions. i should have addressed this earlier. you indicated you are familiar with the damper assistance and

in particular concerning the engine rooms. if i ask to go up to the diagram, could you indicate the position of those dampers? could you just go up there encircle the location of those dampers for me, please? thank you, you can sit down. >> are there any on the turbos? fire dampers? >> there are, across the back deck, but there is no fire and gas -- there are no detectors

that it is back there that i am aware of. >> in the course of your responsibilities in respect to maintenance, did you have any duties with respect to maintaining the fire dampers? >> yes. >> what are those responsibilities? >> eure that the signal given to open or close the deborah was received and that the actuator function. >> how frequently did you test those mechanisms? >> i did not, the marine department did. >> so you are responsible for the censors but not with respect to activation? >> yes. >> thank you. it has been about

in just a little bit. we want to spend some time to >> we have the honor and editor in chief. we spoke with him as the series got under way. we asked them who bears the ramosmost responsibility. who does bear the most responsibility? >> right now, i think most people are looking at bp. they said they are responsible, although it looks like they are trying to reduce their

responsibility. i think the people in the you see ana -- in louisiana are looking at the bp, saying that they are responsible. they look at bp at the same time, realizing that they are not really good players in this whole environment. >> vp and set aside this $20 billion fund to pay -- bp set aside this $20 billion fund to pay for the claims. if you write about a couple of concerns about that $20 a year -- $20 billion fund. what are they concerned about? >> they are saying there is a conflict of interest in terms of the money. they are saying that the

criminal allegations, in order for the united states and bp to be a partner and maintain the drilling in the gulf, for the purpose of monetary benefit -- what i understand that they are saying is that basically it is really hard to go after them criminally if you are also trying to ensure that they exist. >> these hearings from fellows who are working on the -- who were working on the rig the night of the explosion, today the texas journal -- general attorney filed a moratorium. what is the sense of the moratorium in louisiana?

how could the designee to be lifted? >> -- how quickly does it need to be lifted? >> that is a burning issue. it is a political issue. the elections are coming up. one is coming up for u.s. senate. we have the republican primary in a couple of weeks. the moratorium issue has problem become the number-one issue as it relates to the political and economic situations. people are suffering down here in the seafood industry and the labor industry. the oil and gas industry, basically people are thinking of moving out of the state because of the lack of action in that area. >> the web site is bayoubizz.com

on issues on the gulf -- it is bayoubuzz.com on issues in the gulf. >> we have a special web page with all of our coverage about the gulf of mexico was a spill -- oil spill plus all of the briefings, of things, and web pages. we also set up a twitter section on our web page. you combine it all on c- span.org/oilspi.. -- c-span.org/oilspill. >> after that, more of the

investigations by the coast guard in bureau of energy management into the causes of the deepwater horizon will explosion -- oil explosion in the gulf of mexican. he speaks tomorrow at the drilling and training summit. his books include "b lackwater." our coverage is here on c-span and 3:30 p.m. eastern. >> we provide coverage on politics and american history. it is all available for you on television, on theline, and on social media sites -- online and on social media sites for the of we are bringing our resources to your community.

it is washington your way. it is provided as a public service a. >> the colorado democratic party held a rally today following the competitive primary this week. michael bennet defeated andrew romanoff. it is a little more than an hour. >> good morning everyone. welcome to our unity day. the democrats rose in the state of colorado. it is my great pleasure this morning to introduce to you one of the best chairmaen at the democratic party. he cut his teeth doing a grass- roots work. he is here to serve as in this country. please, welcome the chairmen of the national democratic party,

tim kaine. >> thank you. hello, colorado. this is great. thank you very much. it is an honor to be back in colorado. i use to come here in the summers for fun. you put on a great convention in 2008. everytime i get here, i have warm feelings. the yourself a round of applause. [applause] i am excited to be here because of so much good work that has been done by colorado democrat. we have so many great representatives. you will hear from a number of them. i will try to be brief. what you as a party have is a strong reputation for showing unity. here are two day -- [applause] two days after a challenging

election between two wonderful democrat. the democrats were on both sides. this democratic party is pulling together. you said an example for democrats all over this country. give yourself another round of applause. [applause] you are going to hear later be who set a wonderful tone of the other night in the aftermath of the race, andrew romanoff. give andrew a round of applause. test, test. did you hear from that? you are going to hear from a democrat to set a great tone, andrew romanoff. get him a round of -- give him a round of applause. there is a lot at stake in these elections.

we have been doing what we always do, the heavy lifting in a tough time to get the change in an economy. instead of losing jobs, we are gaining jobs. we are reforming wall street. we are not where we want to be yet. the only way we will get there is a reply good partners in place in november and keep moving forward and not backward. is everyone for that? with great candidates like hwe have, we have the house speaker and majority leader in the senate. you guys are holding on to the majority, right? absolutely. with michael bennet, you have a state senator who has expertise in business, expertise in education, trying to break down

the gridlock that can often get in the way of getting things done. michael is the type of person we need in washington. we have so much more good work to be done. he has he will be a great senator for colorado and tell president obama -- he will be a great center for colorado and will help president obama. you know some things about his opponent. he will likely cut unemployment benefits for people of colorado. ban birth control, supports -- take away women's rights. it does not stop there. i will let others talk about it. he had the choice between a candidate who will keep us moving forward and someone who will take us back.

is everyone on board for collecting these great did a crack? absolutely. -- for electing these great democrat? absolutely. i am going to make a quick. this is a great congressman. i love a lot about this guy. he should have trademarked and patented that idea. when you go out, you are always a good public servant. let me bring him out. >> thank you. i have two questions for you -- are you fired up? are you ready to go? change began right here in colorado that turns this nation

a round. that change has to keep going. we have got to move forward. we want to put the car in "d" for democrats and not "r" for republicans. this is a time in our state history when we can keep this country moving forward. we do that together. we are better to get the family are a parpart. have a great state, a great nation. democrats across this country have helped reverse the eight years of the bush era for tax cut for millionaires and billionaires, prosecuting wars without paying for them, and letting wall street run amok without any police. it is our turn. it is our time.

we will do it in a unified manner. the united states of america is with the best dates around. we will continue to move forward. we have great candidates up and down the ticket. we have gotten through the first quarter. we have a lot of work to do to bring this thing home. we are going to get people out for early voting. we will work every single day to keep this state blue. it is my pleasure to introduce our lieutenant governor who has been working so hard on behalf of this state and certainly on behalf of public education, barbara o'brien. [applause] >> thank you. what a crowd. we usually have more sunshine. we will take it. we are so blessed in this state to have so many leaders who have stood up for colorado's.

it was a tough senate fight. it was between two outstanding leaders. when we go forward, we are going to back michael bennet. we are also going to back andrew romanoff. he has the talent and the skills to continue making wonderful change for collar rowlands -- colorado people. let's hear it for injured. -- andre2w, -- andrew. it is really hard to make change and progress. there are all sorts of reasons not to do anything as we hear very often from the republican side. we are making progress. we have to keep pushing forward. we have got to make sure that we win this election and that these three candidates who are putting themselves out there, home

winners and make sure we keep moving in the past that we have set up. i want to thank you for being here today and coming together. i cannot wait to see the great campaigns we will be putting together to make sure democrats get elected and keep leadership moving in a good direction for everyone. it is my pleasure to introduce our great said treasurer -- our great state treasurer who is also moving us forward. >> thank you. thank you all for being here today. thank you for showing your support for the democratic party and the work that we are all doing together that makes colorado's such a wonderful place to live. over the past year, to amazingly talented comic caring, and dedicated men have shown us how

deeply they care about our state and how deeply they care about us, those of us a call colorado home, michael bennet and andrew romanoff. they have worked tirelessly for many years to improve opportunities for others. they have selflessly strive to open doors for children who are born in the disenfranchised homes to give them the power of opportunity that all kids deserve. they are both selfless leaders and a great man. like any hard fought contest between two exceptional opponents, after the 14th inning, after the third overtime, after the last shootout, one emerges the winner. today we congratulate senator

michael bennet. [applause] senator bennet goes forward with the full support of the democratic party and thousands of people all across colorado of every political affiliation be cut as he has earned it. he has shown is that he has a vision to build a world-class education system. he will and the partisanship -- and the partisanship in washington. he will bring down the national debt. he will bring the openness and transparency and the accountability to washington that this nation deserves. we are likely -- lucky to have senator michael bennet representing the democrat joic party. i want to thank you for being

here. we will work together. we have wonderful candidates. thank you very much. it is my privilege and now to introduce a great friends and a great colorado leader, senator market udall -- senator mark udall. [applause] >> it is always a treat to be introduced by a kennedy. do not you agree? i want to keep it short and sweet. i am not the main event here. i do want to acknowledge our great dnc chair, governor tim kane, whose leadership has been so steady and thoughtful -- tim kaine, whose leadership has been so steady and thoughtful.

i also want to recognize our wonderful state party chair whose leadership has also been steady and thoughtful. i think you would agree that is quite a contract with her counterpart at the republican party here in colorado. i'm not one to get into name calling. -- going to get into name calling. i am going to introduce a couple -- two young men -- can you hear the microphone? can you hear it? i will shout. i am going to introduce to young men. i want to emphasize the "young." they have given to public service for colorado. i thought about a famous speech that theodore roosevelt developed -- delivered 100 years

ago. he said it is not the critic who counts, not the man you point out how the strong man stumbles or the door of the could have done them better. the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by a sweat and blood, who strives valiantly without error or shortcoming but actually tries to do the dieeds, who spins himself in a worthy cause, and you at the worst if he fails at these fails while daring greatly so that his place john never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. it might seem a little anti or embroidered. i believe the eloquent still has

power. roosevelt was telling his audience then and reminding us today that our democracy works because people like michael bennet and andrew romanoff are willing to get into the arena. most important -- [applause] been so many of you who will never run for office are also willing to give up your time and energy and get in the arena. as rough as politics can be and there is plenty of evidence to fuel our cynicism, i also believe there is honor in politics ahead of -- in politics. there is a nobility of purpose in public service. i would like to think that if teddy roosevelt were with us today, he was still be in the arena quite possibly as a democrat this time around. he would also be chivvying --

cheapening -- championing green energy. he would be appalled that there are voices in the party of lincoln that are talking about repealing the 14th amendment. let me stop channeling teddy roosevelt and introduced to many of been in the arena for the last year -- two men who have been in the arena for the last year. they've had strong campaigns. most importantly, they stand together today united in fighting for our issues as western democrats. please, join me in welcoming speaker andrew romanoff and senator michael bennet. [cheers and applause]

>> thank you. i except for nominations -- sorry. wrong speech. thank you off for such a tremendous show of support. let me introduce the very honorable market udall -- mark udall. \

>> i am not the democratic nominee for the senate. i came today to support the man who is, our current and next senator, the hon. michael bennett. -- the honorable michael bennet. thanks to all the colorado people who have supported our campaign and voted for us. thank you from the bottom of my heart. i am very proud of our grass- roots team and to see so many folks standing with us together in this united democratic party today for not just my stake for the sake of the democratic party, i am asking you to throw

your support behind michael bennet for the united states senate. i say this not for the sake of the democratic party. the truth is, the party is as a vehicle, a means to an end. at the end we share is a healthier environment, more affordable health care, more jobs, the goals which we share. they will be advanced by michael bennet better than any other candidates. it is an easy call for me. it should be an easy call for all of you as well. this is a time of so much pain for so many people across this state and across this land. so many americans we have that

have lost so much. we have that families who lost their jobs and homes and lost their savings, lost their pensions, almost lost their faith. we need to restore that. that effort begins today. the campaign for america begins today coming here and now. which lead that effort -- begins today, here and now. we should lead that effort. i hope you will send our supporters jobs in november as well. [applause] this campaign is bigger than a single candidate. it is bigger than a single party. it is a cause for the betterment of america itself.

it was three-quarters of a century ago that franklin roosevelt looked out across the country in the midst of a great depression and saw 1/3 of america ill housed and ill- nourished. now we are in a recession the wors centst that period. -- the worst since that period. we want to make life on earth for every human a safer and healthier place to live. i know that is what drove michael bennet into public service. i know the like he and susan hope for their children is the same we hope for all of our children, the chance to hope for their potential, to enjoy a solid education, and a safe place to live.

we can do that in this century if and only if you will join forces together. i am asking you today to dedicate your time to the campaign of senator bennett and all the other talented candidates with whom we share the stage today with. please, let me introduce senator michael bennet. >> thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you. thank you all for being here today. air round of applause for all the elected and talented people that are here today. please come join me in st. thank you to them -- please, join me in saying think you to them. thank you for those words. thank you, colorado. andrew'legacys runs deep and

long -- in trandrew's legacy rus deep and long. colorado is a much better place for having andrew romanoff as our leader. [applause] andrew inspired thousands of people from colorado all across the state to volunteer for him to make phone calls, to go door- to-door. that is a tribute to him and the man that today -- that he is. i hope to earn your support in this race. when i said on tuesday night that there is far more that unites andrew and me than divide

us, i meant it. we fight for economic solutions in colorado's leadership in the energy economy. a round of applause for -- [applause] we both believe that our kids are our future and that our public schools and our teachers need our support now more than ever. if we are able to remain globally competitive, we must insure that our children have what they need to excel. that means providing a good education everywhere so that the zip code kids are born into does not determine their fate.

a major fight that andrew has championed and that we both share is a deep distrust of the current way our campaigns are financed. i applaud andrew -- [applause] i applaud andrew for his conviction to this issue and hope that we find a better solution, whether it is the fair elections now act which we both support or some other option that helps clean up the potential for undue influence in our democracy. speaking of which, another effort we both feel strongly about is passing the disclose act which would help bring accountability to the supreme court decision earlier this year.

essentially, it allows unlimited corporate influence over elections with no accountability. i agree with injured the we must change the way elections in government runs if we are going to people back in the driver's seat. we both know that this is not about -- this is about the people and not about us it is about a feature that colorado deserves. they are able to confront difficult challenges with real solutions. we can do that together starting today. [applause]

even though we have all occasionally have disagreements, in order to move this country forward, we need to have the real discussion about the fa cts. there is a quite -- there is quite a conversation to be had. as we face the most savage economy since the great depression, when need to get to work providing every child with the education they deserve, controlling -- doing everything we can to create good pitting jobs right here in colorado -- good paying jobs right here colorado. we all will reach out to democrats, republicans, and unaffiliated voters and build a coalition of men and women who care more about getting something done for colorado's

them playing political games -- colorado than plan political games. ken buck wants to cut off student loans for the nearly 200,000 students in colorado who currently rely on them. i believe that would only hurt our ability to compete in this global economy. he supports tax cuts for the wealthiest among us. he wants to slap a 30% tax hike on working families. i believe working families need tax relief. ken buck believe that social security is a "horrible policy that needs to be privatized."

i believe is a sacred contract between the country and the seniors and we should do everything in our power to protect it for future generations. his positions are not colorado positions. it these positions are about extreme politics, not about what is doing right for the people of our state. it was in the last decade that we saw in comes godown and health care -- in comes go down and health care go up. we are the first generation to leave less and not more to the next generation. that would be shameful. this campaign needs to be about the issues, a grown-up conversation about what is best for colorado and her people,

not name-calling and political games. together we can keep our eye on the ball to fight for working families, turning this economy around, providing a better education for the next generation, and providing accountability to reduce our deficit. we will be focused on the solutions for colorado and not get distracted by the politics that have stopped progress. that is why i am running for the united states senate. that is why i am asking for your support, your willingness to hear me out to earn your support, your blood and heart -- hard work this fall. thank you, andrew from the bottom of my heart. let's move forward to win this fall. thank you for coming out to show your unity.

we will win in november. thank you. >> we goboth want to mention one other race. it is not a done deal. we need to send joe garcia into the governors office. >> as the parties were assessing the outcome of tuesday's primaries, we talked with todd about his article on how washington works. this is 14 minutes -- 40 minutes. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

host: you have been making quite to the circuit. we are glad to have you here. what we are talking about is a separate issue article. here is the subtitle. how is washington above repair? we are going to talk about all of that in more. how does a day and about the president come about? guest: my editor and i have been talking for months about to get at this question that price -- vice-president said last fall. is washington broken? if you look at the bite of a

presidency -- the life of a presidency, you could probably create a pretty good portrait of on an average day. that is what we did. it started because of covering clinton in the white house 15 years ago. the pace of the white house today is so much faster and causes so many more problems that i cannot imagine doing it. i thought it was worth taking a look at. host: you have towo quotes. the modern presidency has become almost unrecognizable to the previous chief executives.

would you elaborate a little more? guest: people pointed out to me that when fdr was president, there were six people that had the title of assistant to the president. after the war, president truman had about a dozen. now there are more than 100 people in the white house that have some version of the word assistant to the president in their title. that is because the responsibilities of the vikki to branch have grown so enormously. -- of the executive branch has grown so enormously. it is a very intimate place. there is not much room to do the work. people are crowded. the gulf between the task that any president has is really

enormous. host: i wanted to wantedtwo books -- to bookstwwo books. it was a steady throughout history of how presidents are flummoxed by destructive technology, newspapers, radio, and then they learn how to master it to use it to their advantage. a similar book was about president lincoln. it was about how the telegraph at first flummoxed lincoln because his generals were communicating absent him. then he began using it. guest: then he was reading it in having the first line. host: 1 can also ask even is

washington broken comet is is still partly usable? -- broken, is it still partly usable? that is the central question of the obama administration as senior officials are aware. guest: i think that is a very fair point. this white house is not operating in an ivory tower. the white house has a very active logged -- blog of their own. if there is something that happens if they do not like, they put it on their own blog. they treat news pieces that compete with cable news outlets

one of the complaints is that the white house this not give as much access to news photographers. instead, they have a very capable and brilliant staff. they release official white house photos to the staff. in their play hardball on these questions -- they are playing hardball on these questions. host: a want to the callers in. this is a call from savannah. good morning. caller: i want to talk about the way the government is broken and some of the military subject you just spoke about. i was in the military 31 years. i was in civil service full- time. i've been a tax.

the entire time. one thing that has always bothered me, i have listened to the public's negative talk about how the government spends. our military spend too much. at the same time, i am highly involved in buying parts and supplies for military weapons dealers. we are told to use contractors and women owned businesses. there are times when i could have bought the part that was the best deal were guided and were forced the other direction. it is government overhead. the part of our overhead is we use one service for one business or one aspect of government to fund others. what i think they should do -- i

have always said i wish to let us work more efficiently. i wish they will let us fight the part that the best place at the best price -- buy the parts at the best place at the best price. host: there is the sheer growth and size of the responsibility . here is a tweet. does washington control too much? i guess the question here is, it affects administration's more and more. should there be a debate in the country going on about the size of washington? guest: is a debate going on. it has been going on for 30 years when president reagan came into office.

the government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem. they are talking a lot about whether we should shrink the size and mission of the government and get back to the constitutional principles. why is the government involved in these things? that was an interesting point about the multifaceted priorities of the government. speaking it the best goods at the cheapest price, and the other you. social justice -- you promote social justice. it is a constant trade-off. one of the problems is measuring the trade-offs. in some sense, you can see and understand them. so many things are built into the pie that the public is aware

of the choices being made. host: you had a sentence here want you to comment about. it is the kind of evolution that happens to rich and powerful state from rome to england. guest: there has been a big debate. are we rome? are the fat and sloppy compared to what we were in the years after world war ii? one of the thing that happens to any mature society is a certain kind of sclerosis. we have a hardening of the arteries. we take things for granted. i think we americans are spoiled by the freedoms we have. we taken for granted. we have low voter turnout.

host: detroit, good morning. independent minline. caller: i think the major problem with our government is the cover of some. i would like to brink of something here. -- drink up -- brin gup something here. -- bring up something here. it brought up when it the key sections, the ban on priority trading ahead of -- priority trading. there was the lincoln role, giving up gambling in dangerous instruments. then we had a senator, mr. chris dodd, the money he takes, the

lobbying -- there were senators in his own party that set up a watch on him so he could not put a substitute in for those bills. not one democratic senator or congressman stood up and told the american people what he was trying to do. that is the problem. that is why the american people will not trust our government. host: you have given us a lot to work with. and part of your piece of congress and the influence of lobbying. the lobbying industry is a true fourth branch of government. guest: the lobbying industry in

washington last year spent $3.5 billion. it is certainly a record. it has been steadily growing over the last 30 or 40 years. that amount to something over $1 million for every hour congress was in session. the scene this largest allotting was the chamber of congress that's been something like $130 million which is more than the combined payroll. the gap between the amount being spent by those influencing and those getting influence is large. >> good morning. i try to see who's on in geand t ideas. washington is corrupt.

we do not need -- they want to bring americans. we have a constitution that protect our government. what is next? he will tell us what clothes to wear? it is crazy. it is crazy. michelle obama was saying i am ashamed of my country. i am ashamed of my country for what they are doing for us. veterans are fighting for our freedoms. they are trying to take them away. host: thank you. guest: it is funny. you are citing something that is out there in the public. i was on a radio interview yesterday.

he was puzzled about in line of criticism in america. people in england but president obama was to the right of a new conservative prime minister of great britain. he did not think this business about president obama being a socialist was at all applicable. any time someone comes into office to make change, president reagan was not shy about trying to do it, they subject themselves to a lot of potential controversy. it is clear that president obama is in the broad mainstream of american life. he is not trying to do anything that other parties have not done before. what his problem is right now on some basic level is that he is counting on government to big things, whether it is financial regulatory reform our health insurance reform, at a time when the government does not --

the public does not trust government. that is biggest program -- problem. host: pessimism rises on the economy. ratings for congress are at somewhat historic lows. let me use that to get into the section about the partisan divide in congress. what are your take? what did you learn? what are your observations when it comes to working across party lines? guest: one thing is structural. the composition of the parties has changed. the republican party to be divided between midwestern conservatism and north western liberals. for either party to get anything done, it required cooperating with the wing of the other

party. there are no moderate republicans left in congress anymore. there are not many conservative democrats. they do not have any chartres' interest. the personal thing that happened is that congress was in session up to nine months a year. most members lived here. the kids went to school here. they need each other as human beings. that kind of stuff does not happen anymore. it is a lot easier to be nasty to someone if you do not have to see them at the grocery store. host: the level of congressional discourse has gone steadily down here. my colleague [unintelligible] guest: the rules of congress

require they talk about your colleagues in the third person. in this course of the floor, members are quite nasty to each other. host: we will come back and talk about the filibuster. republican line. good morning. caller: washington is not listening to the ordinary, everyday people out there. they are stuck in their own bubble. they are out of touch with what is happening in the rest of the country. when you guys have been played by john mccain on the c-17 issue is one example. he does not want any money going into that air force program. he wanted into the navy. -- want it in the navy. they are the work force of the two wars we have been involved in.

they are going to have to be replaced and fixed. we just had the first one crash. it is probably from lack of maintenance. my son who is on a c-17 crew, they do not maintain them. the president said he was to be bipartisan, but he is not been bipartisan since day one. that is what is wrong with washington. guest: personally, i was puzzled about the involvement in the c- 17. these are the workhorses in the military. do they have enough? how will they do? i guess secretary gate is under enormous pressure to cut stuff. i did not think it was wrong to say that president obama has tried to be bipartisan. at the beginning, he certainly

thought there would be more bipartisanship. republicans say their ideas were not listened to. president obama try to reach out. he feels he has been snubbed. the republicans have not given him support in any degree for any of his most important priorities. host: that showed this to our audience who did not have a chance to watch this and get their reaction. >> there is a provocative article about washington being broken. they were trying to transcend politics in washington. your reporting suggested the president made an effort to reach out to republicans early on. this administration has not sought to transcended politics. this has been my way or the highway from the stimulus bill

forward. they have slammed the door on republican ideas, has slammed the door on bipartisan proposals. i saw on your program this morning the president sitting even though we handed him a book of republican solutions that our retreat and he acknowledged that we offered policy alternatives to stimulate the budget, the president is back to the old song republicans have no ideas. i think that is why his approval ratings are plummeting. guest: he was releasing the only thing with washington was president obama who is doing everything they do not like. they made a lot of changes and compromise, including removing the public option from healthcare.

the energy legislation has backed away from cap and trade. he has done things to get republican votes, but he is not been successful. caller: thank you for taking my call. it is a possible that it is not broken? it has gone from a solid nation to government that is more involved in the world? [inaudible] they are pushing forward. guest: i think that is an interesting point. for the past 20 years, we have

been in the transition from an old-style industrial economy into a new service economy. that is a stressful time. some jobs are never coming back. there is a real challenge to make sure the work force is up and ready for the jobs that will be there. you see than debating played out. . . and part of what you see in washington is that debate played out and those kinds of fights that have been around the world come to washington every day so i thinking makes a fair point host: the next call is from delores. good morning. caller: we need our defense build up. we need our boers protected. thethey're also breaking up

middle class in america and it is making us very nervs. general motors now, or government voters, that is not the government's place. -- general motors now, or government motors, that is not the government's place. thank you and have a good day. host: the question that comes out for me is how much of this is just tough for governing in times of an economic crisis than in boone times? guest: id that is a very good point. -- i think that is a very good point. it is more difficult. i know john mccain feels ts and other congressmen have made this point the of the day is that republicans got very sloppy

about controlling spending. yes, they cut taxes, but the under president bush. i think both parties have been years bonds " with current finances. host: thomas, go ahead. caller: all these people accusing obama of being a dictatorial tyrant, where were they during the bush years when he declared that he had the right to ignore those he did not agree with, and in fact, he did. he was struck down three times by the supreme court over the way he was treating the detainees in guantanamo. why do we hear all of these tea baggers andve decker'

others, about this? guest: one of the realities in politics is that we have such a few -- we have such a short memory. there is not a kind of consistency and institutional memory that would help us sort through some of these criticisms in a more useful way. host: next call is from jim. what good morning, jim. caller: [unintelligible] c-span won't even address that issue. host: to get his point of view, he is worried about neocons influence on policy and general

patraeus's upcoming speech. guest: i do not think general patraeus is going to be the kind person who will be unduly sway by either party. -- unduly swayed by either party. i think both parties agree tha if anyone has to be doing this job, general patraeus is the man to do it. host: it is interesting this week because of robert gibson's comments about the left -- robert gibson's comments about the left. he talked a little bit about this from the podium. >> do you regret any of what you said to the hilt? >> i will say i think there are many times when i read the transcripts even of answers i give in here that i could have said things slightly differently.

i will say, you know, i watch a lot of cable tv and you do not have to watch a lot of it to get frustrated by some of what is said. i think that is what that answer host: there is a lot to pick apart there. let's start with this daily press briefing and what it is about. guest: i have to say that 15 years ago i used to go there and say, i'm not going to ask a question and mike mcguire woods is something that struck me as not particularly right and then you end up in a 45 minute conversation. it has kind of evolved into a debate in society. it is not just that they need to have the sound and the pictures in directing with them.

i think robert in many ways has a very hard job and i'm sure he gets frustrated by it. i think most democratic president get liberated by the most liberal base in the same way that most republican partisans get frustrated -- most republican presidents get frustrated by their most conservative base. it must be said, for all of the callers who have said that obama is taking us towards socialism or wherever, president obama has not received unstinting support from the most durable -- and most liberal elements of his party. host: you participate in the daily political talk. guest: just as it were that obama participated in crazy game, too. one thing that has not changed

in the past 20 years in washington is that there is much ating gog on.i we used to say that we have news in the 80 -- in the '80s and '90s, when there really was a lot more updating. now we have discussion about what the president does and wha it means and what he will do next. guest: the thing about twitter is that it is always a little bit like a haiku. host: someone earlier treated us , themr. lincoln's e-mails original twitter user. up next is greg.

is washington brooke and beyond repair? call: good morning, how are you? -- is washington broken beyond repair? caller: good morning, how are you. let's get real. he was a part-time professor at a liberal university. did anybody really believe this country was not going to go to hell in a handbasket when we elected this man? thank you. guest: that is an interesting call from greg because by my indices, the president is, in fact, succeeding. he is getting done what he said he would do when he took office. you do not have to be a supporter of obama to recognize that he did many things other than standing on a street corner

in handing out pamphlets. as abraham lincoln once said and as president obama used to say, he had enough experience to know that what was happening was not necessarily working. host: north carolina, and davis on the air. good morning. caller: i look around congress and i see a lot of the old guys, right now, these old world war ii guys and they do not have open minds. ,et's say obama is a socialist if socialism would work best for our country, what would be wrong with that? obviously, something is not working. it is not just now.

for people to say it started with obama, well, nothing has changed just yet. it takes time to correct where we are right now. host: both of us are in treat the that you as a high-school senior are interested in politics. what inspired you? caller: obama. host: what is next? caller: i will probably join the reserves, go to university, probably north carolina state. host: will you eventually come to washington? caller: of course. host: thank you for calling us and sharing with us your plans.

guest: he makes a good point. although, when you talked about world war ii generation politics, even charlie rangel, who is 80 years old, is a veteran of the korean war. that generation, in terms of service in government, has passed from the scene. dingelldn't mr. service? guest: he may have, but just a handful. whereas, 20 years ago, there were many. obama was born during the kennedy administration. part of the stress in the criticism of obama is purely a generational question. host: i want to put another quote here on the health care

debate. guest: it is sending to think abouin this day and age because a lot of what used to happen in washington he been behind in scenes. -- happened behind the scenes. transparency is the word of the day now. i think a lot of what ud to happen in congress could not happen anymore. host: our producer is also reminding us about senator dan and away service in world war

ii. guest: good point. host: let's go to theresa, atlanta. caller: good morning. i have some point and i ask that you not cut me off. i do live in the south and i do want to ask about the calculated assault on the white american male worker from this president. we have heard several people saying that contracts are only going to minority workers, will women -- or women. the white male worker is under assault from this president. i want to get your opinion on that. that is how i feel. guest: of the interesting things about that is that almost all of the president's own senior aides are white males.

he gets a lot of criticism for that. as kind of connecting a full employment plan for white democratic political operatives. i think that is just your opinion and i do not have any view on it. as one white male, 50 years old, who has been working for 30 years, i do not feel under assault. but that is as one person. host: next caller from maryland. caller: two people have called in and said some ridiculous things. the lady that just called from the south, obviously, she is in immediate. she does blamed- she is an idiot. she is blamed on obama issues for white men. you cannot get anything done. another caller said that he was

a pamphlet backhander and what did you expect? president bush was a draft dodger and a drunk and he became president. what we need to do is fire everybody in the senate, everybody in the house, get people in there that have no tenure were you cannot get them out, so they can work and do things. we can get more things done with college graduates taking their place. we can move things along. the pblem is we cannot get anything done because people are blaming it on the republicans, blaming itn the democrats. i do not care about the politics of it. i loved lbj because i watch c- span and i saw the movie. i love the way he did things. you're going to support this legislation or you had to pay for it. host: he is referring to on

saturday afternoons we hear the lbj and tape guest: as our wonderful tapes to listen to. -- those are wonderful tapes to listen to. there is intense anger in the ai can -- and on roger during the rod is the way to do i -- and i am not sure throwing them around as a way to do it. hon host: next call from betty. caller: i would like to hear more news, just straight news, what is going on. we have fewer journalists who are really journalists. these people are giving their opinion and they are going to the blogs and saying these things. this country shall not be so racist because other countries do that, too. we talk about other people in

other countries, but this country, we are divided between colors. we are all americans. i think obama is doing the best to can. i think he really wants to change washington. i think he really is trying to do the best he can and try to go across the aisle. but republicans are going along with this tea par and they are just going crazy. hong guest: that makes at least one indisputableoint, which is that there's a lot more in in journalism that there yesterday. the late senator from new york for many years used to say, everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not their own facts. i think these days we find that journalists tend to a substitute

their own facts. i think we have to find something that we can all agree on and president obama is trying hard to do that, i think. host: the new issue of vanity fair has lady gaga on the cover. is it broken beyond repapair? >> on "washington journal" tomorrow morning, we focus on president obama's relationship with the progressive movement. our guest is jane hamsher, terence jeffrey, and a special week-long series on energy concludes with thomas rooney, the president and ceo of the

solar energy company. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern every day on c-span. >> in a few moments, more on the investigation into the causes of the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion in the gulf of mexico. in 2.5 hours, a discussion of the effect of the stimulus package. after that, the reform of the european economy. later, a rally with colorado democrats. >> more now on what caused the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion in the gulf of mexico, part of a joint investigation by the coast guard and bureau of energy management. when this is included the wife of a deep water rig worker who died in the explosion. she said her husband was concerned about dangerous work conditions. this is a little more than one hour.

morning, it appears that there is some confusion about the designation of interests. interests. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> court reporter, let's go on the record the board will call on this natalie. -- on mrs. natalie. >> will you please rise and raise your right hand.

>> a false statement is punished. knowing this, do solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? thank you, and please be seated. >> before we begin asking you questions, the board wants to express our deepest sympathy for the loss of your husband. we would like to let you know that we are fully committed to do all that we can to determine the cause of this casualty, and obtained information that would prevent a similar incident occurred with your permission, is it ok for your husband to be referred to as shame? -- shane?

thank you, ma'am. >> for the record, could you please state your full name, and spell your left? spell your left? natalie roshto. >> when did your husband start working at transocean? >> september, 2006, i think. >> what was his position at the time? >> he was a forehand. >> did he hold any other positions prior? >> he started off as an ordinary seamen. he went to our roustabout for redneck. -- a rough back. >> they know when he became? >> about a year and a half prior to that. >> you know what his schedule was for the deep water?

>> three weeks. >> did when he was scheduled to come back? >> he would have come home wednesday, the 21st, april 21 aired -- -- april 21. his overtime would have started wednesday. >> did know if he received any awards were to the transocean? >> he received an award in 2008 for spotting a drop docket. they awarded him for stopping a job. >> how often did you speak to him about his job? >> on a daily basis. >> when he was offshore, as well? >> mmhmm. >> did you speak to him how many times a day? >> most, just once a day. >> provided your testimony, i'm

not point to ask you any detailed questions, but there were some notes that were presented that we might want to ask additional questions on. it is indicated you had talked to him on the day of the incident. do recall you had talked to him about? >> the matters on the rig. >> was anything specific or unusual? >> the extensive loss of mud, the kickbacks they had had, and the atmosphere that he was working in. >> this phone call took place on the 20th? >> yes. >> that he say anything about the work environment at the time? >> there was a little more pressure than there had been in times before. >> high-pressure? >> yes. >> did he say why? was there something more specific going on?

>> i think he felt the pressure because he knew they were behind. >> do you know who might have been applying the pressure? >> he never specifically pointed it down. >> do know if he was having the proper sleep, or was he being worked over? >> he was having adequate sleep, i think. >> during your phone call, was there anything unusual in his home, or anything you could have indicated? >> when we spoke at 10:30 a.m. the morning of the 20th, he had said that coming down hallway, he had been told that they had a kick back that night. specifically, he did not explain what that meant. he did not explain where or

when. that is all he said. >> was that the only phone call? >> we spoke at 1:30, when he was actually getting off of it shipped. >> did say anything differently? >> just the amount that they were losing -- that is all he kept stressing. >> had he voiced any concerns in many phone calls you had had previously? >> the previous trip that he was home, we had many conversations about the pressure on the raid, and the mod they were losing. he found out they had lost the well. i think he knew then that he was going back to the problems. he never stated that. i gathered he felt that way. >> i know you are not a

drilling expert, but did he ever mentioned anything about it this was different from other wells? >> yes. >> did he say anything in trent -- to say anything to anybody in transocean, or to you? united ticket that he went through a lot of training. did he ever comment on how effective it was? >> he had just attended a leadership safety school in houston texas, the six hour drive home, we spoke about how good he felt about it, and how he was quick to take back what he learned to the rank. the men at the school felt they would take it back to the rate and apply it. he felt it was well orchestrated could >> this was a transocean school? >> yes, sir.

>> did he go to any kind of well control training? >> i do believe he went to one when he was first hired. >> in 2006, around 2007? >> yes paris >> do you know with a majority of his training was in a question session, or on- the-drop? >> he did a great deal of on- the-job training. he always talked about the positions they were in. there were men there that were pushing him to do better, to move up. >> he was satisfied with the training he was getting? >> yes. >> did he ever discussed any >> did he ever discussed any safety concerns on board >> he

never expressed any concern of safety until as well. >> had he been involved in any type of a near miss? >> he was involved at this time last year. i did not speak to him for four days. >> i did not mean to interrupt you. >> he was actually in the compartment that was taking on water at the time. they all got off safely. >> did he have concerns after that? >> no. never -- nothing anymore than we just talked about life insurance and things like that because he knew his job was dangerous. >> did he ever mention anything to you about a safety stand down? >> he mentioned it. he said at the time, he could not say too much. when he got home, he did not

want to talk about it. that was all that was ever said. >> he said the walls were too thin? does that indicate he had concern about saying things on the rig? >> it is said he had not felt like talking about. it was a long day. >> you had mentioned that he would have liked to see better enforcement of existing laws. the ever mention anything to >> is there any additional information that you could share with the board? gave congress bird is there anything you like to share with the board that might prevent this from happening again, ma'am? >> i would like to stress the

last time he was home, he told me it is like blowing up a red balloon, and pushing up as far as it could go. he deemed the whole a well from howl from day one. he says mother nature does not want to be drilled here. i want to stress the fact that this industry is vital to our country. for our men to be out there drilling and their lives being put under business agendas, that is why i want to stress. i think we have enough safety rules. he was satisfied with his job. he loved his job. he planned on being out there for the rest of his life, but i do not think we need to make any more safety rules. i think the ones their need to be implemented harder for them

and work hard to provide as necessary commodities. >> thank you. have no further questions put >> i have no questions come to light. -- i have no questions. >> i have no questions, thank you. >> no questions, thank you, captain. >> no questions. >> no questions. >> jimmy? >> the questions. -- no questions. >> mike williams? >> no questions, capt. >> steven? >> no questions. bp? >> no questions.

>> transocean? >> no questions. >> anadarko? >> no questions. haliburton? >> no questions. are there any questions we did not ask, or additional intermission you would like to provide? >> i like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. is there a long road. we're getting through. i have been watching the progress. i want to say thank you, very much >> yes, ma'am. thank you for being here. you are dismissed. thank you. you are reminded you are still under oath. >> mr. died, i have one follow-

up question. -- mr. guy, i have one follow- up question, in mark -- regarding the circulating casing run. the decision was made not to circulate complete bottoms up. what was the reasoning for that? >> we were actually drilling the well. we cat to a gap of 18,000 to leaded 60 feet, and it appeared it was worn out. we circulated bottoms up a couple of times. we got out of the cutting out. we got out of the cutting out. what we routinely do, once we get that out, the ecd is lower, so we add some but wait so that it is equal. when we did that, everything was

fine, and then, all of a sudden, we lost complete returns. the biggest risk associated with this cement job was losing circulation. that was the top risk. based on the fact that we have lost circulation, just like that, out of the clear blue, we decided to go ahea and get circulation established. then, because of the actual volumes, we would actually have the bottoms up above the wellhead, once the cement was in place. then, we would be able to circulate that. that was our plan. >> ok. thank you. >> i have a few questions for you. >> you indicated your last

control school was 2007. >> 2008, sir pitt >> how many schools did you go to? >> every two years. >> your member how many total you want to? >> i did not remember exactly. i have been certified for a long time. >> yes, sir. >> i do not remember exactly. >> what is your best guess? >> 20, 15. >> ok. >> you have been with bp since 2000. , so you are very familiar with the city management system. >> yes, sir. >> how do you ensure that safety was addressed in the well design and construction operations? >> could you please replete -- repeat that?

>> as the team leader, how you assure the safety was properly addressed in the well of design plan and the construction operation? how do you insure safety? >> can i ask a clarifying -- are you talking about the actual design of the well, or at the site, sir? >> in terms of the design and construction operations -- your responsibility as the weld team leader. >> ok, sir. the well-designed is actually done by the engineering group. done by the engineering group. then, it is passed on to the operations group, which is what i am in. we implement the job. the actual safety on the break is run by transocean. we follow their safety management system. they have procedures in place

for actually doing the job. the physical part. we got rid of the transocean's system management system. -- we operate under transocean's safety management system. >> my understanding is there is a bridge in documents under transocean and bp. so you're not operating under transocean, is that correct, sir? >> no, we operate under transocean. >> this transocean contract worked for bp, right? >> yes, sir. >> how the winter -- how do you

insure that third-party contractors comply to transocean's safety management system? >> the people work out there, they know before they go, and when they get there that they are responsible to operate under the safety management system. >> can you describe what the management system is on the deep-water verizon? >> there are several factors to it. there is the start program. it is similar to stop. different people cobham different things. you have observations -- different people called them different things. you have observations by the crew. we look to see if there are any trends. we have a prompt card. a prompt card is something you can keep in your pocket, when you walk around, getting ready to do a job.

it can take the card out, and you have a various was of things to go through to remind you of that may be hazardous, and/or things you would need to have in place. all jobs have a job safety analysis. it is also called a think plan by transocean. these need to be filled out by the individuals who perform the work. if you're not part of the think plan, you need to stop, and take a timeout if you want someone to join the think plan, and go through it again. the major tasks are called task- specific think plans, where there is a much more extensive analysis done, which includes a safety risk assessment. it needs to be signed off by all parties involved. that is the basic, fundamental safety management system on a

day-by-day basis. >> ok. so, there are safety conditions that have been identified when operation can be stopped? >> yes, sir. everyone on the rate has the right to stop the job. >> having the right is one thing, but what are the specific conditions where they can exercise that right? >> if they see something they're not comfortable with, where they see an action -- someone is doing something they consider unsafe, they have the right to stop. >> that is a pretty general guideline for a very expensive and complex operation, is it not? >> our guidelines -- transocean 's guidelines, and bp's are very specific. anyone has the right to stop the job. if they do not understand what is going on, they can stop it.

>> has anyone ever stop to an operation because they do not understand what is going on that you are aware of? >> yes, sir. we even keep track. we get a morning report that is called a timeout for safety. they will have observations on there for a timeout was called for safety. >> during the drilling of the well, were there any instances where people exercise their right to stop an operation that you are aware of? >> yes, there were. >> what were they? >> they were mainly in lifting type of operations, where somebody might not be in the right place, and they wanted to make sure that he or she was in the right place when something was being listed prior to the list starting. things of that nature. >> particularly, with the drilling operation and the

construction and operation? >> i do not recall about the actual well construction operation, sir. >> yes, sir. who is the safety officer? >> there is a safety representative from transocean. >> from transocean? and to get that person work for? >> he works for transocean. >> he works for transocean, and transocean works for bp. >> yes. >> did you have a separate contractor to serve in that capacity, or was it just a transocean person serving as a safety officer? >> we have the transocean person, and every couple of weeks we would send a bp representative out as well. usually, there will -- their role was to see how the operation was going, and

concentrate on a specific assessment -- say, a lifting or hand safety, things like that -- when they were there. >> things happen 24-7. as a transocean person, does that set up not represent a conflict of interest in terms of the thoughts regarding the safety officer -- since he works for bp, he would not be able to stop an operation? >> i think that -- he is really not a safety officer. he is not a policeman, so to speak. he gets involved in the operations to make sure that the necessary risks are being identified, and that any safety issues are addressed. the culture of the rate is that everyone wants to be safe.

>> the culture is one thing, but enforcement, and insuring that there is an independent safety net aboard the vessel is another thing, right? another thing, right? now, who decided the -- this was a suitable platform for this particular job? >> i do not know how to answer that. i am sorry. >> who vetted and approved the employment of the deep water horizon? >> that was done to the upper drilling management, and the upper-level people. >> you do not know who? >> who signed a contract, sir? >> who went through and did the

audit to determine that it was suitable -- and did the audit to determine that it was suitable for the operations? >> i am not aware. >> would be the gulf of mexico maritime authority -- would be his group? >> i amateur if they were the individuals in place in 2000 -- i am not sure if they were the individuals in place in 2010 >> would it be that office that to be the setting and the approval? >> the new rigs that have come into the fleet had been vetted by the great audit, and the marine group. >> it would be the marine authority. >> and the audit. >> yes, sir.

i understand in know if anadarko part as a base in that? >> i do not know. -- participate in that? >> i do not know. >> in terms of the bp, september 2009 maritime audit, who is responsible to monitor whether those items were discrepancies were corrected within bp? >> the marine group would send out an individual, and they would go through the process, and report back. >> who determines whether the progress made unresolved -- resolving those discrepancies was efficient for the continuation of operations? >> that was the actual marine group. >> so, the gulf of mexico marine authority -- that would be his group's decision whether the

vessel would have been suitable? >> is that correct -- is that correct. >> yes, it would have been the people in his prepared >> -- people. >> there was a discrepancy with bp in september, 2009. i do not have that here, specifically, but there was some problem with the bop. this audit was done in september, 2009, and the deep water horizon was not on the well, is that correct? >> that is correct. >> that particular discrepancy was not corrected by the time zon was onater horia station, and working. why was bp not required to

correct the discrepancy? white, and who made that decision? -- why, and who made that decision >> are you referencing the recommended practice for the bonnets? >> i believe he is reckitt -- referencing the major inspection which was required every three to five years. both the september, 2009 b p audit, and the modem spec audit, indicated that the only major inspection we could identify -- the only time that had been done was 2000. i think what is try to ask is why, when you have a chance to go from one location to another, why, when you pull the stackup comedy do not perform a major inspection? >> we did -- i am sorry.

transocean inspected the stack thoroughly, every time it was pulled. in fact, it would usually take anywhere from seven to nine days to do the actual inspection of the stack. it was gone through, from top- to-bottom. i am not an expert, but i do know that we a lot of them the time -- allotted them the time to commitments and inspection. >> did it ever dry dock? did it ever go to the beach and have made this done on it there? >> not that i am aware of. there was a operation done in 2009. the vessel was scheduled to go on dry dock in 2011.

it was one to be a minimum of 60 days at >> i know you just said that transocean inspected the stack every time they pulled the before they went to another location. is that when you consider a major inspection? >> i cannot answer that, sir pitt >> ok. thank you, sir. -- sir. >> ok, thank you, sir. >> i understand the marine authority is responsible for the qualification of the suitability of the the -- the suitability of the vessel, and the qualification of the marine personnel. is that correct? >> they were the people from bp that were involved with transocean and any marine issue? >> who is in bp, and how they determine the qualification of the crew and third-party contractors, and how is it

determined? determined? >> transocean was responsible for supplying qualified people. it was up to transocean to supply qualified people. it was the same with our third- party contractors, which would be haliburton, etc.. whenever we got a new person, from the third-party contractor, which would review the resonates -- the resumes. we will talk to the management of the company, before the people went out. >> ok. so they are responsible, but bp that it, or confirm that they are actually qualified? >> the third party? >> the third party, yes. >> not the transocean personnel. >> we saw what their training matrix was, but it was up to transocean to supply the

qualified people. >> yes, sir. yesterday, i think the april 18 halliburton kissing design report -- ken lewis -- casing design report -- can we put that up? >> can you that? >> now, my relationship between the site leader -- he received direction from you as the well team leader. is that correct? >> yes, sir. did you see this report from halliburton that was produced on april 18?

if in doubt, on the bottom of this -- if you note, on the bottom of this exhibit, there is a gas flow problem. did you see that? >> i did not see that on the 18th. i saw that after the incident appeared >> would this be something that you would review in terms of your daily interaction? >> this particular report is part of the simulation that is run. it is usually with numerous other attachments. the well site leader and i would discuss the actual cementing procedure itself, which is a completely different attachment. it talks about the composition of the cement, the pump time, the compression strengths, etc. this is just part of the simulation, which we did not

discuss. we did not discuss simulations. >> yesterday, during testimony, they did not see this particular information. do you know -- was aware of this piece of the affirmation? >> i am not aware. >> it was never brought up in your discussion with the two men? >> no, sir. >> now, mr. matthews, -- mr. matthews showed you three different -- i believe. one was on april 14.

one was on april 15 terret i believe the other one was on april 7. all three documents. yes, sir. now, are other individuals listed on three documents -- are they all bp personnel? in the level one approval, the debt reached the names are there. can you identify any non-dp personnel? -- dp personnel? >> ok. >> captain, would you like them to take them 1-1 -- 1-by-one? >> take a look at the exhibit.

>> yes, all of the level one are bp employees. >> from the originator, and the approvers, they're all dp personnel? personnel? >> yes, sir. they are bp. >> how about the other documents? documents? >> yes, sir. these are bp employees.

>> yes, captain. these are bp employees. >> while third-party >> while third-party contractors, and partners and anadarko provide input, at the end of the day, it is bp that reviews the change and approves the change? is that correct, this new york stock exchange in front of me? >> yes, sir. -- and reuse the change, is that what i see in front of me? >> yes, sir. now, for the document, dated april 14.

on the second page, i see mr. patrick o'brien. what was his position within bp? >> he is the vice-president of drilling completion for the gulf of mexico. yes, sir. i'm looking at all three of these documents, only one of which has his name on it. is it normal for the vice- president of drilling completion to be part of this process, and why is it that his name only appears on one of three that i see in front of me? >> i do not know why mr. o'brien is on this particular document. i was not under the impression that he had to be. >> since his name is on it,