thanks. >> hello, i am center roger wicker from mississippi. as we enter the third month of the deepwater horizon disaster, we continue to learn more disturbing liberation about gross negligence on the part of the p at about proposal from the obama administration that will do more harm than good. from the oval office tuesday night, president obama attempted to recover from a widespread perception that he has not made this a priority. the public outcry about the president's inattention has been loud and has been bipartisan. i am glad president obama is finally putting this catastrophe at the top of his agenda, but his response has been too slow. he was slow in listening to state and local leaders, slow in getting skimmers to the gulf, slow and understanding the seriousness of this crisis, and slow in taking ownership and responsibility for the recovery. manyyof his actions have actually taken us in the wrong direction. earlier this week, the president came to the gulf coast. after visiting with him in mississippi, i was optimistic that he was re

but right here at home, we have the earthquake 1811, ran the mississippi rivers -- mississippi river backwards for at least races, rang bells in a boston church. i'll never forget when i was in arkansas, governor clinton and i were talking and we need to pass some seismic building legislation for arkansas. and, you know, we worked with the legislators and got that legislation passed for seismic building codes for eastern arkansas. and i thought one day, arkansas highway department, we were over in eastern arkansas and they were building a lot of bridges, you know? i came back, and i said, you know, we need to have seismic building codes for those new buildings, the highway department building, because if all those bridges collapse, how are we going to get relief supplies to those people when something happens? and so i recommended to the highway commission and them to talk to california and get their building codes for the highways and bridges and so forth, and they did that. but from northridge earthquake, we spent just fema, spent $20 billion in that recovery effort in california.

the quest to be able to harness the mississippi river.he corps of engineers have start the wetlands of the sediments that are necessary to be able to feed those wetlands. yes, we are a big part of this nation when it comes to energizing this country. we have given up our air, our land, and our water to energize this country. at the same time, now we are facing an enemy that we cannot see. a lot of people in the state of louisiana are concerned and now along the gulf coast. the one thinggthat i want to get across to the nation is that yes, there is a reason to save louisiana. when you look at the largest port complex in this country, when you look at what we bring to the table in terms of feeding this country and energizing this country. to be able to make sure we offload oil both imported and domestic to deal to refine here in the state of louisiana. 690.re listening to the mighty we have a great guest list for deeper it at 12:30, -- we have a great guest list this afternoon. at 1:00, we have a coastal scientist for the environmental defe

let the water from the mississippi still go down there. let's do all we can to go down there. people in this town have a lot more courage and common sense and sometimes given credit for. -- than sometimes given credit for. their cost are external to what the consumer pays. in other words, the cost of oil is a little bit more than we really pay for it. it involves the military endeavors to protect oil to the carbon that gets spewed into the atmosphere to the oil spill. so let's put a tax. make it simple. do not get a huge government program. just put a tax on the use of oil. if we do not want to -- we could use it to reduce the federal deficit or rebate it back to citizens. abut let's do something sensible and clear but not get too complicated. let's just say we want to reduce the independendependence on the. hos-- il. host: the president announced the secretary of the navy will look at a plan to restore the gulf. you served on the louisiana recovery board. what was that role? how was it different from what the president has set up? guest: this was set up to administer the fede

is starting to move up toward mississippi and alabama. we have reports of contacts in mississippi of tar balls on dauphin island. to the extent that it is required, with or removed -- we will move resources that direction. any questions for me? >> the white house expressed frustration over inaccurate information coming from bp. there is a representative from the coast guard standing with them at every single press conference. if they were giving bad information, why did not somebody from the government column on the spot? >> i am not sure about the specific reformation. there may been disagreement on the flow rate after the riser pipe was cut. that was a technical group. >> can you explain what bp is not here? thlaw will there be no more joit press conferences? >> are people in rochester are breast of what is going on. i think we need to be communicating with the american people through my voice as national incident commander. that does not mean that we're not talking with bp. we need to understand what they're doing with both the coast g

oil was reported tuesday on petit bois island mississippi. mayor jeff collier... >> there's plenty of response teams that are here. we've got a lot of personal in place air, lot of equipment in place. and they're here and have been here and ready to go. >> lehrer: the alabama national guard is now flying surveillance missions along the coast. checking for oil. >> we constantly reevaluate. you assess daily, assess daily, hook to the future, and plan what's tomorrow, what's the next day, the next day down the road. and then each day, you have to readjust your plan based on what's happening on the ground. it's just like on the battlefield. >> lehrer: and in florida, governor charlie crist said the leading edge of the oil slick could arrive at pensacola's beach before the day is out. >> our state resours have determined that the oil sheen , with it are thousand of tarballs. skimers have been deployed near pensacola. the goal is to remove that oil from near-shore waters and prevent and minimize any potential impacts to our state. will be. >> lehre

3 the east bank of the mississippi river, from tteemississippi state to the mississippi river. what is happening with the shrimping, because all of the other areas are closed, it has caused a concentration of boats in one area, nd the shrimp cannot handle that around the clock so hard, and what is happening is that the shrimp are leaving, where normally they would stay. they are leaving, so it is a problem. we do not have the area to work. we have a lot more people that are working small areas that are left, and right now, the oyster industries are faced with a lot of regulations that just started this year with us, refrigeration requirements and this other stuff, and this is also a problem for the oyster fisheries, because the oystermen have to move to different areas in order to work, and it puts them further away from home base, and it is just creating a problem with the guys who have refrigeration and do not have refrigeration. >> a lot ii still being done to try to mitigate the disaster. early off, everyone was talking about what they are going to do after the oillhit, and

. >> the mississippi delta has some of the richest farmland in the country. but a lot of what gets grown here, doesn't necessarily get eaten here. >> lehrer: ray suarez wraps up his recent reporting trip to china. >> woodruff: spencer michels reports on the campaign against hepatitis-b-- a deadly disease afflicting millions of asians worldwide. >> about one in 20 people in the world are chronically infected. one in 20. 10 times more than people in the world are infected with h.i.v. ♪ michelle, my belle... >> lehrer: and we close with paul mccartney singing for the president and the first lady at the white house. that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: but the workings froze in the deep, cold water. after that, a hose was inserted into the leaking pipe to siphon oil. it sucked up some of the oil, but not nearly all of it . the efforts to clog the crippled blowout preventer and plug the well. after three days, they were deemed a failure this past weekend. in today's "financial times," b.p.'s hayward con

it is about the billion dollar industry in south mississippi. my to them -- pay every legitimate claim, just like -- pay every lead in a claim or i will be all over you the way i was over the insurance industry out -- after katrina. the phone numbers are -- host: for your state's relatively good fortune in this process, less talk about causality. was it preparations made by the state, where you are geographically? guest: more the latter. my theory is, the same thing that keeps our war fairly brackish is we have a number of waters that feed into the mississippi sound. the mixing of fresh and salt water makes it extremely fertile for growing shrimp and oysters but we did not get a pretty water like other areas. i am convinced and the northern gulf institute feels the same way, the flow of the pearl, jordan, wolf, pascagoula and other rivers, the flow of them -- and we had fairly heavy rains this spring. it has been pushing the water out. there is an natural flow inside the island chain, that when it gets to a point near the louisiana line, turns a

did mississippi, florida, and alabama each to 25 billion -- $25 billion? >> i am not sure about the other states. >> were you all going to send that to the parishes? >> we'')re looking a priority projects at this point. what we do not want to do is rob peter to pay paul. we want to make sure that we have the funding available to assist us and make sure that bp is responsible for the parishes. what i have heard is that there is still money available and we will fight to make sure they get additional money. >> bill, have you spend your money? >> only for overtime for employees going out there rescuing animals and putting out boom. locally be funded $1 million of herridde money to build a potato race to protect the oyster beds. we are already doing that work on our own. protect the oyster beds. >> i think if you bought that vote that has been very helpful, which is good. we have got to get more money down to these locals. >> senator burris? >> we have got to get someone in charge down there. >> senator nelson? >> i do not care who has been in ccarge, i want s

he ended the day in florida after visiting alabama and mississippi. he returned to washington for an oval office address. >> a number of our elected officials are here. it is from this staging area and 1600 like it across the gulf coast that our response to the oil spill is being carried out. i saw what is being done to repair and decontaminate boom, to train volunteers, and to help with the cleanup efforts. the hard work and sense of purpose on behalf of the people of alabama as well as the gulf coast is inspiring. i had a chance during discussions with state and local officials to reiterate to them what i have been saying across the coast and that is that we want to coordinate at every level, federal, state, and local, to make sure we are leaving no stone unturned in terms of our ability to respond to this crisis. what i heard from a number of local officials today is what i have heard from books and each of the four visits i have made to this region since the deep water horizon an explosion happened in april. there is a sense that this disaster is

host: from "the financial times" this morning in their opinion pages, "we need to free the mississippiif mr. obama is serious about recovery, the gulf needs to harness the mississippi by building a hoover dam like structure around the mouth of the river or immediately issue a white house executive order that they open the floodgatts and build diversion canals. the net affected these engineering boondoggles -- a fact of these engineering boondoggles -- effect of these engineering boondogglls has been to destroy the amazing louisiana wetlands. the program has deprived of wetlands of their annual said amend -- sediment. as the oil comes in the wetlands have no natural means of replenishmenttand are becomingga toxic dump." his solution is to wash out the wetlands that are soaked with oil. the morning, -- good morning, georgia. caller: thank you. as an energy pollcy we should have started this years agg when oil was becoming too expensive to afford. i heard from a historian years ago that our idea was that we were going to purchase foreign oil until it would become cheaper for us to go dril

>> we were unable to participate in the mississippi hearing. despite our inability to participate, we have been responsive to the mississippi lawmakers' request for information. we provided documentation to the federal administration and to congress. we have a representative who is attending the louisiana during which a believe is taking place tomorrow. we're able to participate in the louisiana hearing. we were not able to participate in mississippi. >> we appreciate of your being here today. you have someone at the gliese and hearing? >> we will. i am sure they will appreciate that. i would urge you to continue to talk to the local folks to provide the answers they're seeking. a question for mr. fleming. how does the deepwater horizon spill -- we have beaten that enough. the question i will close with and i will ask you -- reflect on thewhat we have said today. some closing thoughts before i close it out. >> i think we have covered the fact that we're dealing with -- >> maybe a question that should have been asked that we did not. if you can

we are working with alabama, mississippi, and florida to implement approaches to their unique coastlines. as the cleanup continues, we will offer any assistance our coastal states may need. a mobilization of this speed and magnitude will never be perfect. new challenges will always arise. if something is not working, we want to hear about it. if there re problems in the operation, we will fix them. we have to recognize that, -pdespite our best efforts, oil has caused damage to our coastline and its wildlife. no matter how effectiveeour response is, there will be more oil and damage before this siege is done. that is why the second thing we are focused on is the recovery and restoration of the gulf coast. you know, for generations, men and women who call this region home have made their living from the water. that living is now in jeopardy. i've spoken to fishermen who do not know how they will support their families this year. i have seen empty docks and restaurants with fewer customers, even in areas where the beaches are not affected. i have talked to owners of shops and hotels who won

i am from mississippi. i grew up in mississippi. i spent summers on the gulf coast. most of my family's in new orleans. anha

it is starting to move up toward mississippi.have dispatched survey teams to see what the impact is out there. that is an update today. >> there is a representative from the coast guard didn't know [inaudible] >> well, i'm not sure what information you're talking about. no one that i'm aware of has -- [inaudible] >> why will there not be more a joint press conferences? >> well, first, there are a couple things in play. number one, our people in robert, louisiana will be handling the press briefings that have been going on. [inaudible] -- with bp. that doesn't mean with bp but -- with him. and we need to understand what to do. >> [inaudible], radio. i have yet to see or hear what for what is happening with the operations. can you help us out with the time frame? >> what's going to happen is, as soon as the sheer cut is made, that will remove the weight of most of the riser pipe and send it across the ocean floor. they are -- wire saw to refine a horizontal cut. . once that's done and the pipe is removed then they will take a look

from tourism in florida, alabama, mississippi, on to the shrimpers and fishermen and oystermen and the restaurants that are now in a condition where they are shutting down, they are letting go of their employees, and they are pleading for assistance. this is a good amendment. it is a good amendment to this legislation, it focuses on our small businesses and i'd ask my colleagues to support this amendment. i yield back my time. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back her time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman, mr. cao, from louisiana. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. ms. jackson lee: madam speaker. with that i ask for the yeas and nays. the chair: does the gentlewoman ask for a recorded vote? ms. jackson lee: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from louisiana, mr. cao, will be postponed. it is now in order to consider amendment number 13 printed in part c of house report 111-506. for what purpose does the gentle

i just want to thank governor bermer and the first lady of mississippi for hosting yeus. we have a range of local and state officials. admiral allen provided a detailed report about what was being done specifically here in mississippi. he fielded questions and suggestions about things can continually improve. one of the things that came out of this discussion is how to make sure that there is effective coordination in terms opportunity that are out in the water right now, make sure that they're responding as quickly as possible to the oil before it starts getting closer to shore. there are a range of issues that went into communications. some of these smaller vessels have radios on them. have we done an effective inventory which ones are large enough and have enough trained personnel that they can actually lay boom or should be skimming. the local incident commander had gathered a lot of these suggestions and will be moving on them in the days to come. we aaso talked about claims, to make sure that people here in mississippi and throughout the region are going to be adequ

earlier, i asked ray mavis, the secretary of the navy, who is also of former governor of mississippi and a son of the gulf coast, to develop all long- term gulf coast restoration plan as soon as possible. the plan will be designed by states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists, and other gulf residents. and the people pay for the impact this spill has had on the region. -- and bp will pay for the impact this bill is that on the region. the third part of our response plan is the steps we're taking to ensure that a disaster like this does not happen again. i approved a proposal to consider new, limited offshore drilling under the assurance that it would be absolutely safe, that the proper technology would be in place and that the necessary precautions would be taken. that was obviously not the case on the deepwater horizon rig, and i want to know why. the american people want to know why. the families i met with last week who lost their loved ones in the explosion, these families deserve to know why. and so i have established a national commission to unde

they are having trouble deploying assets from the eastern side of the mississippi to the western sideit was too late a response to get all of this done at that time. now, thankfully, they have deployed people all in this area. the response is substantially better. they have some jack-up barges that are out in our area and it has done substantially better. and a number of manpower and assets deployed have gotten significantly better over the last two to three weeks. >> you say this has gotten better the last couple of weeks. what were the effects of it being slow the first couple of weeks? >> the effects were that we had sightings and the response was too slow. we will see oil coming into our parish one day and it was the next day before they would pond to look at it. and they didn't have the assets or people to actually do the respon response. right now, if we see one and they send skimmers and other teams to actually make certain that we are being protected. >> we haven't lacked for people that know how to close the hole, people that know how to disperse the oil, people who know how

the impact is from western mississippi over towards pensacola. the oil will generally start to move north and slightly east. the area we are concerned about is from the mississippi-louisiana line to port st. joe in florida. in regards to that we have a lot of people out doing clean up operations. i want to talk about two different things. the first is our vessel opportunity system. local boatmen and boat owners can register their boat to do work on the water. it can be anything from deploying boom to inspecting boom to seeing if it is damaged to reporting. yesterday we hit one of our best days since we started this response. we had a total of 443 vessels of opportunity working around alabama. i will give you a sense of where they are at. 1 vessels operating out of dolphin island. 142 vessels and 143 from home port marinas over in baldwin county. and 3 vessels from fair hope. we are trying to optimize local knowledge on the water, what these folks know, their expertise and talent. the second thing is our qualified community responder program. we s

his latest tour focused on mississippi, alabama and florida. the first stop was gulfport, mississippi, for a briefing by coast guard admiral thaad allen and local officials. the president acknowledgeded complaints of disorganized efforts to keep the oil off shore. >> one of the things that came out of this discussion is how do we make sure that there's effective coordination in terms of skimers, vessels of opportunity that are out in the water right now. can we make sure that they are spongeding as quickly as... responding as quickly as possible to the oil before it starts getting closer to the shore? >> suarez: later mr. obama met with gulfport residents, heard their frustrations after living with the spill for 56 days. then it was on to theodore, alabama, to survey the clean-up operation and tour a staging and decontamination facility. >> now, i can't promise folks here in theodore or across the gulf coast that the oil will be cleaned up overnight. it will not be. it's going to take time for things to return to normal. and in the end, i am co

we have coast guard cutters that of skimming capabilities of of mississippi, alabama, and florida. coast guard during command-and- control. helicopters for surveillance. smaller coast guard patrol boats working with vessels of opportunity to identify the small patches of oil and deal with it there. i will tell you this, though, the boom is not a silver bullet. we have a situation over the weekend we had a boom in place back behind off an island, and we had some oil coming ashore and we had to deal with that. we will continue to press forward. i think we have to deal with the reality no matter how much a boom, this aggregation of the slick will cause oil to come to short time to time. the challenge for us to get quicker and agile with smaller units and work offshore to find smaller patches of oil and deal with them as quickly as we can moving forward. with that, i will be glad to take any questions. >> what percentage of oil you think is being captured at this point? >> two answers. i think we will have to get more when we get the actual flow rate established. we have two models for

we have enough to stretch over 1,300 miles. 17 staging areas are in place across louisiana, mississippi, alabama, and florida. in short, this is the largest response to an environmental dissster of its kind in the history of the country. we have also ordered bp to claim -- to pay injury claims. we will make sure they pay every dime of it to people along the gulf coast. the small business administration has stepped in to provide loans and allow deferrals of existing loan payments. this week, the federal government sent bp a preliminary bill that was $69 billion to pay back american taxpayers for some of the cost of the response so far. in addition, after an emergency safety review we are putting in place aggressive new operating standards for offshore drilling. i have appointed a bipartisan commission to look into the causes of this bill. if laws are inadequate, laws will be changed. if oversight was lacking, it will be strengthened. if laws were broken, those responsible will be brought to justice. over the last few days, bp has played with their wealth. they are -- has plugged that the

you can take the mississippi queen. only rich people can afford to ride the mississippi queen or the delta queen up and down the rivers because they're all american flag. but you can go on a cruise out of miami for a third. the foreign ships have to go tag up at a foreign port before they can come here. also, you can't ride a ship from miami up to stop a savannah, stop at jacksonville, stop because of the jones act. so no other american ship has ever been able to put together a business plan thal work that people will ride the ships up and down the coast making calls on all the ports. host: let's get a response. guest: first, i did not mention carnival cruise line, you did. and you're correct by the way. and there was a put president golf course that was paid -- put put golf course. and you're also correct that no american company can compete with carnival cruise line or any other foreign cruise line because they don't pay american taxes, they don't play by our rules, they don't pay our health care costs, they're allowe

on all of these on the mississippi dealta. i've heard 25% to 50% of all the wetlands in the united states are going to be devastating. it's going to have impact on things we have no idea relies on the mississippi delta. and you can't clean oil up there. once it gets in there. it kills what's there, and the world's the less for it. host: lakewood, california, danny,ndependent line. caller: thank god for c-span. i love c-span. now i was wondering what environmental laws can actually be enforced right now mple? and like in instances of in-- like in imminent domain, can the government jus come in and take over bp's operation and profit and take full control just to get thing done? thank you. guest: there are two questions. the first is what environmental ds come into play? bp can be prosecuted under the refuse act passed in 1989 which prohibits putting things in the water. the clean watt err act passed in 1972 and the migratory bird treaty act. but again, i don't think those are going to have much impact on b.p. at all. because i

on all of thesen the mississippi dealta. i've heard 25%o 50% of all the wetlands in the united o be are going t devastating. it's going to have impact on things we have no idea relies on the mississippi delta. and you can't clean oil up there. once it gets in there. it kills what's there, and the world's the less for it. host: lakewood, california, danny, independent line. caller: thank god for c-span. i love c-span. ow i was wondering what environmental laws can actlly be enforced right now mple? and like in instances of in -- like in imminent domain, can the government just come in and take over bp's operation and profit and take full control just to get thing done? ank you. guest: there are twouestions. the first is wt environmental play?ome into e psecuted under the refuse act passed in 1989 which prohibits putting things in e water. act passed tt err 2 and the migratory bird treaty act. but again, i don't think those are going to have much impact on b.p. at all. because i think the gernment m out cheaply. the state gove

it affects my state of texas and louisiana and mississippi the most. it's interesting. although the oil spill affects louisiana and mississippi, alabama, these are the states, along with texas, who want to continue deep water drilling because they know it's necessary for jobs, the economy and making sure that america is independent of foreign oil. what is the reason for putting these workers out of business? why has the federal government seen fit to eliminate these jobs? actions have consequences, and in this case inaction also has its consequences. 17% of the nation's domestic crude oil comes from deep water drilling in the gulf of mexico. now where is the country to obtain energy for the loss of this oil? there is no plan. no answer from the administration about this question. a six-month moratorium will in effect send these expensive rigs to brazil and indonesia. it will cause about $500,000 a day to operate one of these deep water offshore drilling rigs. these rigs are not going to sit there and wait for the federal government to make a decision. and just like what

admiral allen provided us a detailed report about what was being done specifically in mississippi and questions pbout how the response is continually improving. one of the things that came out of this discussion is how do we make sure that there is effected cord nation in terms of skimmers, vessels of opportunity, and can we make sure that they are responding a3 before it starts getting closer to shore?having to do with communications, some of the vessels have radios on them, have we dooe an effective inventoryyof whiih ones are large enough and have enough trained personnel that thee can actually label where they can engage in skimming, and where thee can identify where that+ will as coming in. it was a useful conversation. a captain, who is the local commander, had gathered a lot of these suggestions and will be moving on these in the days to come here we also talk about claims, to make sure that people here in mississippi, but throughout the region, are going po be adequately compensated before the damage -- for the damages and losses that they are experiencing right now. there are

did everyone get that amount, mississippi, alabama and florida? >> i am not sure about the other states. in our state, each parish got $1 million. >> and each county did. are you going to send any of that to the parishes? >> absolutely. we want to make sure that the paaishes are supported. but what we do not want to do -- we have the funding available to assist us as well as the parishes. we want to make sure that bp is responsible to the parishes. >> billy, have you spent all of your millions? >> we are about halfway through it. we are spending in rescuing animals, putting out booms, and then we have also built a potato bridget to protect the oyster beds -- potato bridged to protect the oyster beds. >> you bought a boat that has been very helpful, which is good. we have got to get more money flowing down to the locals, and i will wait for my next question. >> iijust have to say, we have got to get somebody in charge down there. >> i do not care who is in charge. i want somebody with some authority, and it cannot be bp. by the way, the coast guard

we will do the same thing in mississippi. if there is a problem, we want to put leadership closer to the states and put assets on target as soon as we can, quicker. >> following up on the $100 million. it sounds like they are being put into a different category with the limited amount of money. are they not going to be treated as well as they would have if they could have applied like everybody else for the $20 billion? >> there were some concerns about under the law, their ability to participate, and we wanted to make sure there were mechanisms to address their needs, so the $100 million voluntary contribution bucks bp is a significant step toward meeting their needs. >> you heard the president say more than a week ago and reiterated in his speech last night that he understands the economic impact of the deep water drilling moratorium, understanding that we do not yet know what caused the accident. because of that, the president believes it it was important to pause additional deepwater drilling. the national commission will

it is all the way from western mississippi to pensacola. it is starting to move north and slightly east. thee concerned from mississippi and louisiana line all the way over to florida. in regards to that, we have a lot of people out doing clean- up operations on the beach, skimming off shore. i want to talk about a couple of things that will be of interest to the local community. we have a vessel opportunity system where local boatmen and boat owners can come and register their boats to do work on the water, anything from inspecting booms, observing oil concentration, anything that will help our response. yesterday, we had a total of 443 vessels of opportunity working around alabama. i want to give you a sense of where they were at. 61 vessels out of daulphin island. 74 out of dog river. 142 from bayou lebatre. 23 vessels from fairhope. we're trying to optimize the local knowledge, expertise, and talent. i would also like to talk about our qualified community responder program. what we're trying to do is find unemployed individuals that wou

on all of these on the mississippi dealta. i've heard 25% to 50% of all the wetland in the united states are going to be devastating. it's going to have impact on things we have no idea relies on the mississippi delta. and you can't clean oil up there. once it gets in there. it kills what's there, and the world's the less for it. host: lakewood, california, danny, independent line. caller: thank god for c-span. i love c-span. now i was wondering what environmental laws can actually be enforced right now mple? and like in instances of in -- like in imminent domain, can the government just come in and take over bp's operaon and profit and take full control just to get thing done? thank you. guest: the are two questions. the first is what environmental odds come into play? bp can be prosecuted under the re act passed in 1989 which prohibits putting things in th water. the clean watt err act passed in 1972 and the migratory bird treaty act. but again, i don't think those are going to have much impact on b.p. at all. because i thin

he is responsible for mississippi, alabama, and florida. he has a task force to push out 50 miles and find these smaller patches to deal with them before they come to shore. this is an adaptation to the changing characteristics of this bill which is no longer a single spilled in a massive collection of smaller spills moving forward. what is becoming critical in the near future will be to get skimming abilities. we have made significant process with bringing people into the fight. these workboats that recertified to help us and certify the individuals on them between louisiana, mississippi, alabama, and florida we have at 1500 vessels of opportunity that we have certified to kreuz and put them out there. we have an opportunity to outfit them with skimmers. we want to increase the amount of them now that we have the number of vessels. we have over 100 large vessels offshore skimming. we want to take this down to eight lower-level with smaller boats to work on the harbors and days. we will be looking nationally at our inventory to try and get

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 is the white vest i'm wearing a and my staff which is typically a liaison operation, our safety operation for the totaliiy, our legal operation. what is the most c

we have had a presence at every staging area in louisiana, mississippi, alabama and florida. we're on the ground, monitoring health and safety conditions, doing air monitoring, air sampling. we have been on the vessels of opportunity, observing health and safety conditions there, doing air sampling as well. we have over -- almost 150 people in the gulf area at this point, 25 of whom are assigned 100% of their time to the gulf cleanup operation. we are bringing in a couple dozen more as well. we've also been involved from the beginning with b.p. and the incident command on the type of training workers will need. we've been preparing and working with other groups to to prepare educational materials in a variety of languages, english, spanish, vietnamese. we've been aggressively assuring that b.p., the contractors, everyone are complying with health and safety standards and any safety conditions, including being supplied with the appropriate personal protective equipment, which may include gloves, cover yawls, in certain cases respirators. we've been taking samples of worker che

far beyond the banks of the mississippi, people are noticing. the u.s. council of mayors called dubuque the most livable small city in america. "forbes" magazine proclaimed it number one small city for projected job growth. even the federal government is calling dubuque a model for 21st century economic development. dubuque, iowa? the quintessential city of the future? apparently o. so what is it that makes this place a model for sustainability buol believes the model starts with community input. shortly after taking office, he formed a citizen task force to draw up a blueprint for sustainability. >> and they brought that back to the city council for our approval and i think they hit a home run. today that plan is looked at by other communities as kind of a benchmark. >> reporter: it's great to have benchmarks, but you also need the bucks. dubuque has been effective at combining the two. >> citizens of dubuque, you hear proclaim the week of may 8 to the 15th, 2010, as americorps week in the city of dubuque, iowa. >> reporter: when we were here, we witnes

the oil spill in the gulf of mexico fouled more of the coastline along florida and mississippi. and three more americans were killed in action in afghanistan, making 49 so far this month. the newshour is always aunlt. hari sreenivasan in our newsroom previews what's there. >> mark shields and david brooks stop by the rundown, our news blog for one more thing. check back later this evening for our conversation. on art beat, jeff talks to the "new york times" book review editor about new discoveries in the archives of writer john updike. and get a jump on next week's supreme court hearings elena kagan . here's an excerpt of our conversation with marcia coyle. >> i would say probably the nomination of robert bork was the major turning point in how we have hearings today for a number of reasons. he became quite controversial because of the position he took on how he interprets the constitution, which he felt went back to the original intent of the framers , and when he did that, he didn't find a right to privacy in the constitution. and this ignited a lot of debate and discussion ou

governor barbara told me there are three different offices right on the gulf in mississippi. so b.p. is trying to do the right thing. they're well intentioned. we've just got to improve that system based on experience. >> brown: now, to be clear here, people will still retain the right to sue b.p. themselves. so part of what you're doing, i guess, is to convince them to join in to this fund, to go through the process that you set up. what's the-- what's the argument that you make to people? >> i make the same argument i do with all of these claims facilities-- you will get money quicker , you will get money with a certainty . you don't have to give 40% to your lawyer. come in and get a check. and you're absolutely right-- right now, these emergency payments for small businesses , individuals, you don't have to relinquish your right to sue. take this money , and later on file a claim with the fund that will give you a choice -- take the liquidated amount or litigate. and you'll make that choice only after you know how much you'll receive from the fund. >> brown: and does b.p.

chaarman, i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from mississippi, mr. harper, a valued member of our committee. the chair: the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. for how long? mrharper: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentlan is recognized. mr. harper: if there is anything the hearings on this bill and subsequent discussion taught us, it is that the bill is far from clear. theeauthors of the bill say it does one thing, the experts says it does another. the majority's own witnesses have said it will be up to the f.c.c. to decide what the language means. this conclusion and am bigute would be bad enough in any bill, but it is especially bad here. this bill s implementing language that makes it take effect 0 days after enactment. regardless of whether the f.c.c. has published regulations. indeed one of the majority's witnesses said at a hearing it would be next to impossible for the s.e.c.o promulgate regulations before the november electis. that means as we move toward elections just four months aw

it is going to hit mississippi. this oil is huge. we are very concerned. i am not trying to cut down obama. i did not vote for him. i am i third-party kind of person. but i think that he could have done a better job of management. i know he is a smart guy. we just need him to come up. i do not even know the fishermen that are losing all of their livelihood at this point. they cannot fish. they cannot do anything. restaurants are going out of business. everything. no one will stay here. host: we will have to leave it there. in the international section of "the new york times" there is pressure to ease the blockade in israel. egypt has opened its entryways into the gaza strip for people to go from egypt into gaza and bring aid to their as well. "the new york times" editorial this morning, "mr. obama needs to state clearly that the israeli attack was unacceptable. the united states needs to join the security council in urging israel to permanently lift the blockade, lessening the suffering of the people and give the united states more credibility to negotiate

bp's plan relies on 22,000 gallons of dispersant tored in mississippi. so do the other companies.i could go on, but i think you can get my point. these are cookie cutter plans. you re as unprepared as bp was, and that is a serious problem. in your testimony and responses to questions, you say that you're different from bp. but when ou examined the company's response plans for an oil spill, it is hard to share their confidence. hearing, congs to review the evidence and passed new laws pursuant to our regulatory system, but we cannot stop there. our national energy policy is broken. we are addicted to oil and this addiction is fouling our beaches, polluting our ptmosphere, and undermining our national security. thank you. >> the chair recognizes the ranking member of the full committee, the gentleman from texas. >> thank you. i appreciate you and chairman of waxman holding this hearing to bring our major oil company executives before us and before the american people. i have a prepared statement i am going to submit for the record, but i am going to speak extemporaneously. i have li

we have had a presence that every staging area, louisiana, mississippi, alabama, and florida. we are doing air monitoring, air sampling, and have also been on the vessels of opportunity, observing health and safety conditions there, doing air sampling as well. we have almost 150 people in the gulf area, 25 of whom are assigned 100% of their time to the gulf clean-up operation, and we are bringing in a couple dozen more as well. we have also been involved from the beginning with bp and the incident command on the kind of training the workers will need. we have been preparing and working with other groups to prepare educational materials in a variety of languages, english, spanish, vietnamese. we have been aggressively ensuring that bp, the contractors, and everyone working down there are complying with health and safety standards and working conditions. including being supplied with the appropriate personal protective equipment including gloves, coveralls, and respirators in certain cases. we have been taking samples of worker chemical exposures on the beaches and in the swamps

we have had a presence that every staging area, louisiana, mississippi,labama, and florida. we are doing air monitoring, air sampling, and have also been on the vessels of opportunity, observing health and safety conditions there, doing air sampling as well. we have almost 150 people in the gulf area, 25 of whom are assigned 100% of their time to the gulf clean-up operation, and we are bringing in a couple dozen more as well. we have also been involved from the beginning with bp and the incident command on the kind of training the workers will need. we have been preparing and working with other groups to prepare educational materials in a variety of languages, english, spanish, vietnamese. we have been aggressively ensuring that bp, the contractors, and everyone working down there are complying with health and safety standards and working conditions. including being supplied with the appropriate personal protective equipment including gloves, coveralls, and respirators in certain cases. we have been taking samples of worker chemical exposures on the beaches and in the swamps