bob dudley is managing director of b.p. and one of the company's executives who met with the president earlier today. mr. dudley, thank you for being with us again. >> good evening, judy. >> woodruff: the meeting at the white house today, the president last night used the term "reckless" in speaking of b.p. he earlier talked about wanting to fire your c.e.o., tony hayward. what was the tone of today's discussion. >> judy, the tone today, the president was very direct, expressed his great concern for the people along the gulf coast, and businesses operating in the gulf coast, wants to make it clear his expectations were that b.p. would meet their obligation. we assured him that we would not only meet those obligations. we'd set aside $20 billion, put assets aside to make sure we can meet those obligations and transition the claims process we've set up to an independent claims producer. i think it was a-- it was a good meeting of the mind. it's what people on the gulf coast need and want to hear. it helps us put-- provide some

executive bob dudley. find out how you can submit your questions by visiting our web site, newshour.pbs.org, or you tube's citizen tube page. you'll be able to watch live online on our web site and on you tube at 3:30 p.m. eastern time. and we'll air excerpts on tomorrow's "newshour." >> brown: still to come on the "newshour": ambassador holbrooke on mcchrystal and afghanistan; elena kagan's third and final day of testimony; the oil spill's impact far below the surface and a poet who lives on the u.s./mexico border. but first, with the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. house moved today to approve a compromise bill, reforming financial regulation. it would be the most sweeping rewrite since the great depression. but democrats and republicans were divided on whether the bill would prevent another financial meltdown or simply burden the public. >> the purpose of the wall street accountability bill is very clear. never again should the american taxpayer b

they have a new person, bob dudley, that's going to handle the long-term recovery efforts, which works for b.p., but he's on the board of b.p., and from all indications that i have seen from him, at least he's american. >> wait for the mic, please. >> i'm bar radio jones from the christian church, zpismse christ, which covers arkansas, louisiana, and mississippi. we have lots of hurricanes. my question is, when you were on the cabinet, we knew where to turn for those disasters. mitigations and recovery, when you were not there and katrina hit, it was a mess. and we had difficulty finding help, and we have just now gotten back on our feet, and i'm talking n.g.o.'s, and i'm talking recovery, and we have had to do it on our own at churches, etc. so we are very afraid of what's coming this season, and we've got a conference call coming next week with the new administration, what kinds of organization is there now? where would we turn now in terms of government agencies? how is it set up now? >> well, you know, i'm not there, but we had a very, very strong relationship with a volunteer orga

i have talked with bob dudley about that as well. we've been working with the national hurricane is center and working through our national incident command with the coast guard commanders. depending on the type of vessel out there, it's going to take a shorter or longer time to be able to disconnect. the other ship will take six or seven day advance notice to evacuate. we have to look at the probabilities of the storms and act very early on. if you look at the area between cuba and the straits of florida, there's it's a radius or perimeter. anything that could fall in that area should prompt action. we're concerned about the vessels, when you get above igget -- eight foot seas they aren't effective. >> we noticed something had changed, the containment camp had been removed. do these units bump into the assembly snauven >> we've had two issues with r.o.v.'s. there are an unbelievable amount of r.o.v.'s down there it's our only eyes and ears for the relief well the vertical riser packages being installed, other installations. we were

i called bob dudley and we had a conversation about it and i notified the white house. mr. dudley is a native of mississippi. he has a lot of experience in the oil production part of the bp. i have had very frank and open conversation with him and i expect that to continue. we need to bring him into our unified command and make sure they understand what we are doing. they need to understand what we need from them. i continue to be very closely -- talk to him a couple of times a day. i think this is a positive step. >> were the fatalities work related are not customer >> it does not appear at this time that they are work-related. does not mean that we don't feel very badly about it. >> will take questions from the foul line. >> -- from the phone line. >> i hope you can what we forget what hapned, when was the cap removed, why would close in the event cause hydrates? can be reinstalled, and when will it be reinstalled? >> we are looking at all those things right now. my understanding was that they noticed there was some kind of burp the line. they thought they had hydrocarbons

i called bob dudley and we had a conversation about it and i notified the white house. mr. dudley is a native of mississippi. he has a lot of experience in the oil production part of the bp. i have had very frank and open conversation with him and i expect that to continue. we need to bring him into our unified command and make sure they understand what we are doing. they need to understand what we need from them. i continue to be very closely -- talk to him a couple of times a day. i think this is a positive step. >> were the fatalities work related are not customer >> it does not appear at this time that they are work-related. does not mean that we don't feel very badly about it. >> will take questions from the foul line. >> -- from the phone line. >> i hope you can what we forget what happened, when was the cap removed, why would close in the event cause hydrates? can be reinstalled, and when will it be reinstalled? >> we are looking at all those things right now. my understanding was that they noticed there was some kind of burp in the line. they thought they had hydroca

they have named a new person, bob dudley, who is going to be handling the long term recovery efforts. he works for bp. he is on the board of bp. the indications i have seen from him -- at least he is american. [laughter] >> all right. let's take questions. wait for the mike, please. >> i am barbara jones, the regional minister for a christian church which covers arkansas, louisiana, and mississippi. we have lots of hurricanes there. my question is -- when you were on the cabinet, we knew where to turn for those disasters. when you were not there and katrina head, it was a mess, and we had difficulty finding help. and we have just now gotten back on our feet. i am talking ngos. and i am talking recovery. and we have had to do it on our own as churches. so we are very afraid of what is coming this season and we have a conference call coming next week with the new administration. what kinds of organization is there now? where would we turn now, in terms of government agencies? how is it set up now? >> i am not there now, but we had a very strong relationship with volunteer organizations.