bromwich, if i may -- >> sure. arctic. i understand it, shell recently announced it would not be drilling and they wouldn't be drilling there this summer anyway, but they're going to be planning on drilling there plans that they have include up to three wells, as i understand it which is a pretty large expansion of activities there. the operation there is concerning because of the whole set of circumstances that they're going to have to deal with and the experience that we've seen from other activities up there. p -- so there's been a number of tragedies. we saw this gulf last year and more -- we saw in the gulf last year and more recently with an icelandic oil tanker that ran aground, i think, off of norway, off the coast sometime just recently, last month. so despite the bad things that have been going on up there and the context of those circumstances, shell intends to rely a on spill response plans that were written before the bp oil spill and the norway spill for the arctic operations. and that seems a little ridiculo

bromwich. is about the drilling in the arctic and as i understand it shall recently announced that it would not be drilling in gulfport. and they would be drilling fair this summer anyway but they will be planning on drilling there sometimes perhaps next year. the plans that they have include up to three wells as i understand it and chukchi sea is a pretty . the operation there is concerning because of the whole set of circumstances that they are going to have to deal with and the experience that we have seen from other activities up there. so there has been a number of tragedies. we saw and the gulf last year and more recently with an icelandic oil tanker that ran aground i think off of norway, off the coast sometime just recently, last month. so, despite the bad things that have been going on up there in the context of those circumstances shell intends to rely on spill response plans that were written before the bp oil spill and the norway spill for the arctic operation. and that seems a litt

the head of that agency, michael bromwich, addressed a conference at rice university in houston for about0 minutes. >> we're delighted to put this program together with our partner. it is a great honor not to introduce our midday keynote speaker, director michael bromwich from the bureau of ocean energy management, regulation, and enforcement. the director is overseeing the restructuring of the bureau, which you all know is responsible for oil and gas development on the conned into a shelf. he has a very distinguished past -- on the continental shelf. he is one of our country's foremost experts on internal investigation, compliance, and monitoring. having been an independent monitor for the washington, d.c., metropolitan police, and moving on to many different positions. associate counsel in the office for independent counsel for iran contra. as well as an assistant u.s. attorney in new york. he is a distinguished jurist -- jurist, publishing articles in various law reviews and publications. we're very pleased to have him with us here today to talk about the pathway for word, as has been

bromwich, was the difficulty that the department is having with personnel, because qualified experienced personnel are being hired by the oil companies, and so forth, and that we're having a hard time retaining them. what are we doing about that? >> we're doing a number of things. part of it is a generational thing. our employees are approaching retirement age and they're heading for the exits. i have down, i think i mentioned to both of you when i mentioned to you -- recruiting tours. so i went in october and early november to some of our best engineering and petroleum engineering schools in the gulf, lsu, university of houston, texas a&m, university of texas, other schools -- to try to recruit the best and the brightest of the engineers in school. telling them they're country needs them. working for us. regulating is terribly important industry, and the result of that recruiting tour was a narrow jobs announcement -- narrow in terms of time -- was overwhelming, and that was rewarding, and we're bringing people on. we're separately -- we're doing -- >> i would be curious, how many peopl