now, i announced this week that bob graham and bill riley, two respected individuals who have experienceoth on the environmental side and energy sector, are going to be examining the next six months what went wrong but forward looking how do we increase domestic oil production without seek the kinds of disasters we are witnessing on television. i think governor jindal and other parish presidents spoke about the immediate impact and what i said to them is the same thing i said to graham and reilly. if they can front-load some of the analysis of what went wrong and how you would solve what has happened and what can happen, and you can do that more quickly than six months, then let me know. don't hold the results of your review for six months and then tell me. tell me when you find out. what i told the folks in this room was i'm not going to cut corners on it and i'm not going to press them to move faster than it would take to do an accurate, independent job based on sound science, because i do not want to see this repeated and the american people don't and i promise you the people of the g

my former colleague from florida senator bob graham, is the cochairman of this. we need to know what went wrong and what we do about it so it won't happen again before we allow those exploratory wells to go deep. now, the production wells, they can keep going. we're talking about exploratory wells. >> lehrer: you're talking about the wells already in production, leave them alone, no pause, no stopping. >> there's not the drilling in those. those are already done. >> lehrer: all right, senator barrasso, where do you come down on that distinction, between those that are already drilling-- i mean, already operating, versus those that haven't been drilled at all. >> i think we ought to be able to continue all the production that's currently ongoing but we also should not be pushing the pause button because i think this is another assault on the economy and the impact of the people who live in this area in terms of employment , in terms of productivity . you know, the interesting thing is when you look at the b.p.'s emergency response plan, it had to do with seals and

former florida senator bob graham and former epa chief william riley will head the panel. >> i'm directing them to report back in six months with options for how we can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spill that result from off-shore drilling. >> reporter: the president also discussed a separate investigation of possible criminal liability. to that end, u.s. attorney general eric holder was on the gulf coast today meeting with his state counterparts. >> we have already instructed all relevant parties to preserve any documents that may shed light on the facts surrounding this disaster. as our review expands in the days ahead, we will be meticulous. we will be comprehensive. and we will be aggressive. >> reporter: in towns all along the gulf coast even where the oil hasn't come ashore yet, people have been following raptly the news of the oil spill. this is the town named after the pirate jean lafeet who helped andrew jackson in the war of 1812. in this town some people are angry. some people are just resigned. but they're all deeply worried about their futures. while the feder

signed an executive order establishing this national commission, and i am extraordinary pleased that bob graham and bill reilly have agreed to be as cochairs. bob turner -- bob served two terms as florida's governor, represented florida in the senate for almost two decades. he earned reputation as a champion of the environment, leading the most extensive environmental protection effort in the state's history. bill is chairman emeritus of the board of the world wildlife fund, and is also deeply knowledgeable of the oil and gas industry. he was also epa administrator during the first bush administrator, serving during the exxon valdez disaster. i cannot think of two people who will bring greater experience or judgment to this task. i personally want to thank both of them for taking on this arduous assignment, for demonstrating a great sense of duty to this country. very soon i will appoint five other distinguished americans, including leaders in science and engineering, to join them. and the war -- and they will work alongside other ongoing reviews, including an independent examination by the nat

and i'm extraordinarily pleased that bob graham and bill reilly have agreed to be its co-chairs. served two terms as florida's governor, represented florida in the senate for almost two decades. and during that time he earned a reputation as a champion of the environment, leading the most extensive environmental protection effort in the state's history. bill is chairman emeritus of the board of the world wildlife fund, and is also deeply knowledgeable of the oil and gas industry. he also was epa administrator during the first bush administration, serving during the exxon valdez disaster. so i can't think of two people who will bring greater experience or judgment to this task. i personally want to thank both of them for taking on this arduous assignment -- for demonstrating a great sense of duty to this country. very soon i'll appoint five other distinguished americans, including leaders in science and engineering, to join them. and they'll work alongside other ongoing reviews, including an independent examination by the national academy of engineers. and i've authorized the commi

they include bob graham, a former florida governor and lyn wiley.meeting, he talked to reporters in the rose garden. >> i just met with these two gentlemen. they will lead the national commission on the bp oil spill in the gulf. it is now the greatest environmental disaster of its kind in our history. their job along with the other members of the commission will be to thoroughly examine this bill and its causes so that we never faced this catastrophe again. at the same time, we continue our efforts on all fronts to contain the damage from this disaster and extend to the people of the gulf the help they need to confront this ordeal. we have already mounted the largest cleanup effort in the nation's history. we continue to monitor minute to minute the efforts to halt or capture the flow of oil from the bp oil well. until it is stopped, we will multiplied our efforts to meet the growing threat and address the widespread and unbelievably painful losses experienced by the people along the gulf coast. what is being threatened and lost is not just a source