here is what exxon mobile says. you can see the text on the screen.in the event the spills or cannot be controlled by the facility operator or remotely with a safety system, exxon mobile will activate the oil spill response plan and assembled a team of technical experts to respond to the situation. the plans are identical. so were the plans for chevron and konica phillips -- conoco- phillips. shell did not give us a plan, but we were told that they had the same strategies as a bp used that have not worked. on paper, these plants look reassuring. bp's plan says it can handle the spell of 250,000 barrels per day. both chevron and shell say they can handle over two hundred thousand barrrls per day. exxon says and they can handle over 150,000 barrels per day. that is far more oil than is currently leaking into the gulf. but when you look at the the details, it becomes evident that these plans are just paper exercises. bp failed miserably when confronted with a real leak, and one can only wonder whether exxoo and mobil and the other companies will do any b

well, so do exxon mobil and the other companies. i could go on, but i think you get my point. these are cookie cutter plans. exxon mobil, chevron, and shell are as unprepared as bp was, and that is a serious problem. %+ . >> i have listened to the opening statement of chairman markey and chairman waxman. i want to say that in terms of doing the investigation, i commend the majority staff that mr. stupak holds, and we're getting the facts assemble and putting them out and an open and transparent fashion so that the american people can understand exactly wwat happened. it is no question that british petroleum, the owner and chief operator of the rig that had the accident, is responsible for the accident. and as mr. waxman has pointed out, it is the responsibility of our major or companies to have adequate contingency plans when things go wrong. i am not trying to whitewash the private-sector and terms of their responsibility for causing the problem. but i want to point out something that has not yet. the five people most concerned about solving the problem are probably sitting b

here is what exxon mobil says -- the text on the screen. "in the event this bill source cannot be controlled by the facility operator or remotely with a safety system, exxon will activate the oil spill response and assemble a team of technical experts to respond to this situation." the plants are identical. and so are the plans for chevron and conocophillips. shell says it would use the same strategies of top kills and a jump shot that have already failed. each of the plans include a section on responding to worst- case scenarios, involving offshore exploratory wells. on paper, these plans look reassuring. bp's plan says it can handle a spill of 250,000 barrels per day. both chevron and shell say they can handle more than 200,000

bp has 47 leases, and exxon mobil has 14. chevron has 51. shell has 28. conocophillips has 10. you do not pay any money in royalties, to the american people with the people of the guuf of mexico, for the right to drill for oil, and make billions and billions in profit. when you are asked if you can't stop the massive quantities of oil that are now running the beaches, killing the wildlife and devassating the economy, you say that you are not well- equipped. the catastrophic impact is simply unavoidable. this is unacceptable to the people in the gulf of mexico. this is unacceptable to the this is unacceptable to the people of this

whether the liberals said exxon mobil hould not have to pay the amount the jury gave the people of alaska for their oil spill commo, and it was not activist liberals who said that for the first time since the time of teddy roosevelt, you could allow corporations to get political action, and it was not a liberal activist court decided the presidential race between president bush and al gore. >> i want to ask a question that jeff sessions has been critical of elena kagan's position regarding military recruitment relating to discrimination against gays when she was dean of harvard, and saying she was being hypocritical by criticizing that policy but not criticizing harvard from mexican money from members of the saudi royal family for a center. what do you think of that? >> if i was on the board of overseers of harvard, i am not sure i would be that eager to except saudi money, even though i think the idea of having real studies of islamic life, islamic religion, islamic society is a good one to have in this country. that was not a decision she made. i think that is a bit of stretch. are they

whether the liberals that said that exxon mobile shouldn't have to pay the amount that a jury gave the people of alaska for their oil spill. and it wasn't a liberal activist liberals who said that for the first time since the time of deady roosevelt you could allow corporations to get involved in political action. and it wasn't a liberal activist court that decided the presidential race between president bush and al gore. >> if i could ask a question. jeff sessions, the top republican on the committee, has been critical owea kagen's position against gays when she was dean at harvard and tried to link that saying she was hip crlcal but by not criticizing harvard from accepting money from members of the saudi royal family. what do you make of that? >> first, it it wasn't vell as co. if i i was on the board of overseers of harvard, i'm not sure i would be that eager to accept saudi money even though i think the idea of having real studies of islamic life islamic religion, islamic society is a good one to be having in this country. but that wasn't a decision that she made. i think that's a

. >> larry: in the congressional testimony, i want to get this right, the chairman of exxon mobile, exxon that if oil companies followed proper well design, drilling maintenance procedures, accidents like this one should not occur. do you agree? >> i agree. i think rex taylorson said the right thing there. if you follow everything, it's just like flying the airplane. if you follow the rules, then watch the instruments, then you are a qualified pilot you will get from "a" to "b" and there are things that happen in between. some times there are accidents. some times people made bad calls. >> larry: so you wouldn't do anything -- if you were chairman of bp would you fire the people who are running it? >> i don't -- well, i would find out, you know, if we -- if somebody made some bad calls, made some judgment errors and all. but i wouldn't rush to do that if i was the chairman of bp. i would get the well plugged. and along the way, i would, i would figure out. they know about what happened. and we know they got a bad cement job, there is no question about that. we know the blowout preventers

tomorrow, the oil company ceos will be on capitol, including the heads of exxon mobil, shell, and bp.will have live coverage as they answered questions from the house oversight committee starting at 9:30 on c-spaa3. + tomorrow night, president obama will address the nation from the oval office and talk about steps the nation is taking to address the oil spill. live coverage of that speech at 8:00 on the c-span networks and online. coming up thursday, the ceo of bp is set to testify on capitol3 he'll be questioned by the house energy and commerce oversight committee about the handling of the il spill. that is 10:00 eastern on c-span 3 and c-span radio. >> the second one is to continue to press the frontiers of the industry to give access to new supplies to the world. that is at drilling wells to 10 kilometers in the gulf of mexico, beginning to explore under the ice in the arctic. >> the ceo of bp on global policy this past january before the oil spill. he will testify thursday on capitol hill. selah other government offfcials have said about the spill. it is all archived at c-span's v

the chief executive of exxon mobile testified just yesterday that "we would not have been drilled the well away they did expert." in addition, the chief executive of shell said, "is not a shell that we would have drilled, and there are occupational concerns." if i had delivered a baby that resulted in of bad outcome, a seriously bad outcome, and two of my friendly competitors, a well-respected peers, and said that i had practiced below the standard of care, i would be in a serious world of hurt. reflecting on the fact that two of your major competitors said drilled a well in a what isdard oway, your reflection on the way that bp drilled the well? >> there are clearly some issues that our investigation has identified, and when the investigation is complete, we will draw the right conclusions. >> well, with all due respect, you have had 59 days, and you are not exactly moving with a fever pitch here. do you believe that bp was a drilling the well following the best safety practices and that you claimed to reinvigorate when you were promoted a few years ago? >> if i sound at any point th

even 20 years after the exxon mobil oil spill, oil is still washing up on shore.his is one the last for quite some time. lastly and most importantly we need to take long-term steps to dramatically reduce oil use. that is the ultimate solution to this problem, including making significantly cleaner cars, alternative fuel, and investing in transportation. host: senator mary landrieu was on our program last week defending oil drilling in general. she talked about the issue and whether or not we should continue drilling oil. if it should be in the shallow or water or the deeper water. we want to show you a little bit of that and then come back to talk about it. >> i hope to the american people understand the difference between deep water drilling and shallow water drilling. when you have drilling in 1,000 feet or less of water, the blowout preventer is on the surface. the structure that causes so much trouble is not beneath the surface, it is on top of the surface and it can be manually controlled. we are trying to control this one with robots. there is a great diifer

we have exxon mobile. after katrina, president bush called and askeddhow many gallons of oil we had in it the tank. you could see the ships at the facility, the ships coming in right at debt port that port. it is very imporrant that we work like brothers and sisters, we clean up our mess, and we continue drilling. >> i am trying to get to the gist of the conttol and command, who is in charge. what is the recommendation -- do you have a recommendation? during katrina, i saw a man come on television and say we are going to do this and we are going to do that. and do you have someone like that down there? >> we need somebody on the ground to kick some butt and make this happen. we have lost the battle but we can win in the war. we can save our heritage, but it has to happen quickly. we need someone with authority to mobilize all of the equipment necessary, wherever it may be, to do what ever it takes to keep the oil out, to do what ever it takes to pick it up, and to have the heart and the compassion to do it

last week on the senate floor senator bernie sanders said that last year exxon mobil paid absolutely no income tax and actually got a rebate of $50 million. if there is a tax problem i think we should recommend something like that. thank you very much. host: next we will be turning our attention to a discussion about what is next beyond oil and petroleum with deborah gordon. she used to be an engineer for chemicals and regulatory engineers. she wrote a piece about moving beyond petroleum. we will talk to her about that. first we wanted to show you a little bit of what our crew shot in louisiana recently, caught up with environmental science, talking about studies of oil contamination sites on the shoreline. take a look. >> my name is yvonne adeffy. >> you are with? >> in a technical specialist from california brought in by the national oceanographic and atmospheric association. one of the federal agencies responding to this bill. i work for the california department of office in response. i have been doing marine oil spills for about 20 years now. host: your disclaim -- your display

the chief executive of exxon mobil testified just yesterday at the energy and environment subcommittee of this committee that, "we would not have drilled a well the way they did." in addition, the president of shell stated, "it is not a well that we would have drilled in that mechanical set up, and there are operational concerns." mr. hayward, my profession before congress was the practice of medicine -- obstetrics and gynecology. if i had delivered a baby that resulted in a bad in come -- a seriously bad outcome and two of my friendly competitors, well- respected peers, said that dr. gingrey in this instance practice below the standard of care i would be in a serious world of hurt. reflect on the fact that two of your major competitors said that bp drilled a well in a non standard way. in retrospect, what is your retrospect of bp's design plan for the well? >> as i have tried to explain, there are clearly some issues that our investigation has identified. and when the investigation is complete we will draw the right conclusions. >> with all due respect, you have had 59 days and you ar

here is what exxon mobil says -- the text on the screen. "in the event the spill source cannot be controlled by the facility operator or remotely with a safety system, exxon will activate the oil spill response and assemble a team of technical experts to respond to this situation." the plans are identical. and so are the plans for chevron and conocophillips. shell says it would use the same strategies of top kills and a jump shot that have already failed. each of the plans include a section on responding to worst- case scenarios, involving offshore exploratory wells. . . . . . . [captions copyright national cable satellite corp 2008] [captions performed by national captioning interests tute] >> i want to ask this question to exxon mobile and to chef ron. -- chevron. if we were to maintain this, how does that affect the energy you get to america? do you look for that energy somewhere else or perhaps even import it from somewhere else? >> well, we will redirect our human resources, the technical talent, to other parts of the world, and we will