bromwich. and then open the floor for questions. >> thank you, madam chair, and ranking member alexander, as well as distinguished members of this committee. let me say that, the way i look at this challenge facing the united states department of interior is that we -- there is a problem, and of obviously we have seen that problem and we have been living that problem, and working at it very hard since the deep ter explosion occurred on the evening april 20th. the president directed -- be relentle and work on this matter until we get it resolved. secondly, our job is to make sure we are learning the lessons of this horrific incident which happened in the gulf coast, and we will learn those lesson. and we also say, senator feinstein and distinguished senators, that today i'm confident and resolute that we will get through this, and at the end of geing through this inquest, i see happening the creation of a catalyst that will have us move forward with a safer set of standards and enforcing mechani

michael bromwich, who is a tough federal prosecutor and inspector general. his charge over the next few months is to build an organization that acts as the oil industry's watchdog, not its partner. one of the lessons we have learned from this spill is that we need better regulations and better safety standards and better enforcement. but a larger lesson is that, no matter how much we improve our regulation of the industry, drilling for oil these days entails greater risks. after all, oil is a finite resource. we consume more than 20% of the world's oil but have less than 2% of the world's oil reserves. that is part of the eason oil companies are drilling one mile beneath the surface of the ocean. places to drill on land and in shallow water. for decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. for decades, ww talked and talked about the need to end america's century-long addiction to fossil fuels. for decades, we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge requires. time and again, the path forward has be

bromwich and i welcome him to this effort. we look forward to hearing his thought as well. in addition to reviewing the reprogramming, our purpose here is to focus on the performance of the minerals management service. to try to understand what went wrong, to hear from the secretary the details of the proposed reorganization, and why he believes this proposal is the right way to go. the key question for me underlying everything that is discussed your today is this. how does the proposed reorganization, the changing of the organizational chart, change the culture of the minerals management service to protect the gulf of mexico and the people who live and work there? i want to be clear that by law, the department of interior is responsible for ensuring the safe and clean production of oil and death on the outer continental shelf no one else, and this responsibility cannot be delegated. bp, trans ocean, halliburton, and the rest of the companies operating on the gulf and elsewhere are required to obey the law, abide by the decisions of the interior department, and clean up any

. >> larry: senator, can you comment on the president's selection of michael bromwich served as justice department inspector general. he is going to revamp, minerals management and regulate offshore drilling. what do you think? >> we need somebody to clean up minerals management. ken salazar started the job, think he found a bigger mess than he bargained forch . government does have a job to play in regulating not just this industry but other industries so consumers, the environment are protected. just getting back to this moratorium. nobody wants them to be safer than people living close to them. people in louisiana, mississippi, and texas. but we have to do this for the deep water rigs faster and let the shallow rigs operate as quickly and safely as we can. it is not just louisiana jobs. the entire nation depends on this energy propose duction. even as we move to a cleaner, greener, energy future. we have to revamp minerals management. i tell you there is a lot more that needs to be done. the president's call for gulf coast restoration was music to our ears. i mean james has been ape

the president has asked michael bromwich, a former federal prosecutor and inspector general to lead this effort and build an organization that acts as the oil industry's watchdog, not its partner. and so we must look towards the future, mr. garamendi. we must look at our energy future. and we must get off this addition to oil. -- addiction to oil. the globe is speaking to us. we have gone too deep this time and at the core of this earth, there is a lot of static and volatile motion and we are seeing it bubble up. and when we look around this globe and we see the volcano explosion in iceland that grounded pplanes for weeks, whe we look at the earthquake down in haiti, and we see other effects on the globe naturally, we are getting the message. so we must take action to look at our planet, to notice the environmental tragedies that really underscore the need for this nation to embrace a clean energy future. and i look forward to having conversations on this floor with all of my colleagues and with you leading those conversations. we will make plans that will sustain a future for those yet