. >> we just left houma and we are over here in terrebonne parish.e are going south on highway 56 to the end of the road in terrebonne parish in the coastal washland. there are a couple of marinas and jump-off points for oil and gas industry services. also down here we have louisiana university marine consortium facility right before you get to the end of the road. >> can you just point out on there the areas that have been hardest hit? >> grand isle is getting oil on the beach. right past grand isle is a port that is getting oil. and they are starting to get oil showing up on the barrier islands that are out here in the bay. terror are bonn bay. the coastal islands. and, of course, we are getting some in the mouth of the river. as the crow flies, you can see that is not very far. >> how many miles is that, do you think? >> i don't know the exact mileage. i'm going to say probably the port to the mouth of the river 25 miles. that is a guess. >> when you hear about oil getting into the marshes, where is that? >> that is happening at the mouth of the r

he said i have been down innthe command center in houma for over 35 days. i am going to read it to you. the problems at the incident command center in houma that results in the slowing down for this response. agency requests must go through two levels of approval. the first request must go to the i.c.o. for command approval, which typically takes less than a couple of hours. the final level of approval comes from the u.a.c., roberts the admiral. sometimes it gets approved the next day or the day after, but most requests take over five days. this timing is unacceptable for an effective response. when the dm 932 spill spoiled 80 miles of the mississippi river in 2008, the c.e.o. of the command post had full authority to only ate and engage the osltf funds. why is this not happening now? -pthe current federal project ceiling is $150 million, causing the emergency partner of the fund to be almost pompletely depleted. there is almost $150 million in the principal fund. why hasn't the congress allowed the coasttguard to borrow from this fund as it did in 1980? th

he said i have been down in the command center in houma for over 35 days. the problems at the incident command center that result in a slowing down of this response, agency reece -- requests must go through two levels of approval, first the request was go to the ico command approval, which typically takes less than a couple of hours. the final level approval comes level approvaluhc. sometimes it gets approved the next day or the day after. most requests take over five days. this timing is unacceptable for an effective response. when the [unintelligible] spilled into the mississippi river in 2008, the ceo of the command poss had full authority to obligate and engage funds. why is this not happening now? the current federal projects is $150 million, causing it to almost be depleted. there is more than $1 billion in the osltf principal fund. why hasn't congress allow the coast guard to borrow from ttis fund as it did when the barge broke in louisiana? the lack of action by congress is forcing the u.s. coast guard to ration the little money they have left, ther

three incident commands that are designed to work a lot part of lake across the gulf of mexico from houma, louisiana where we are responsible for the surface to the louisiana shore line for the second command post is located in mobile, alabama and manages mississippi, alabama, and a portion of the florida panhandle. there is a third incident command located in miami which is focused on flora. over these three into the command post is the area command structure which is locatee in robert, louisiana, outside hammond. >> i see a lot of coast guard people here and people in civilian dress. can you explain the breakdown? >> under the national incident command system, this response has been developed as part of a unified command a price for it what you find in this building more than 80 different agencies3 come from literally all over the world as experts brought support our mission here.d >> can you explain the different colored desks? >> under this structure, there are typically four command staffs that are supporting the overall running of the operation. there is the incident command which i

the barges are available all along the coast from the then is to harvey canal, all the way back to houma. we can put some barges there temporarily to block these passes so we can save over neighboring b.g.e. save our neighboring parishes. in jefferson parish where we live, if we can block five passes right now, these fishermen can tell you that we can save the rest of the 2 million acres of oyster leases. we had $2 billion worth of seafood that comes out behind me write it in this estuary. -- right in this estuary. this woman here with the convenience store, if we lose estuaries in the back, we are history. they will tell you, our grandfathers, we were born and raised and make our living right here. we need to make sure we can block the oil until we put these booms. >> last week and i was talking to the mayor, he started choking up just talking about the fact that out of his own pocket, he was having to provide some help and some loans to fishermen and votes in the area. that is what we should be able to prevent. people can help each other. the company that is responsible, to make sure i

>> the barges are avaible all along the coast from the then is to harvey canal, all the way ck to houma. we can put some barges there temporarily to block these passes socan save over neighboring b.g.e. save our neighboring parishes. in jefferson parh where we live, if we can block five sses right now, these fishermen can tell you that we can save the re of the 2 million acres of ster leases. wead $2 billion worth of seafood that comes out behind me write it ithis estuary. -- right in this estuary. this woman here with the convenience store, if we lose estuaries in the back, we are history. they will tell you, our grandfathers, we were born and raised and make our living right here. we need to make sure we can block the oil until we put these booms. >> last week and i was talking to the mayor, he started choking up just talking about the fact that o of his own pocket, he was having to provide some help and some loans to fishermen and votes in the area. that is what we should be able to prevent. people can help each other. the company that is responsible, to make sure it is responding qu

. >> welcome to houma, louisiana to the incident commander in that we call the war room.3 direction and developing strategic plans for operations working from the offshore resource areaa once the fluids arrive at the surface, all the way back to the shorelines, and our efforts to protect the shorelines from impact. this is one out of the three commands designed to work collaborativvly across the gulf thehouma responsible for all surface operations from the source to the louisiana shorrlines. the second post is located in mobile, alabama and manages mississippi, alabaaa, and a portion of the florida panhandle. there is a third command located in miami locatefocusing on flor. over these three is the area command structure located in robert, louisiana. >> you notice that this is a bp oven. what is it usually used for? >> in a normal environment for operations and is designed to be a turning facility for operators. it is a location in which we train, develop, and expand the skills and capabilities of men and women involved with producing oil and gas. >> i see a lot of coast guard people her