mr. griffith. >> i want at thank you for calling this important hearing+ today and the witnesses for taking time to come before a subcommittee to discuss drilling in our current and future energy portfolio. our number-one priority must be stopping the flow of oil. it is the job of this congress to do whatever we can to aid and unified command to reach his goal. this is engineering inaction. is not time to put together knee-jerk energy policy that could jeopardize our security in the future. it is imperative that this committee remember that the united states is one of the global eeergy economies, and therefore it must take into consideration that we are only 4% of the world population. if we enact policies that draw drilling and out of u.s. waaers, these companies will not cease to drill. we will cease to be able to ensure that oil and gas productionnis done in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. as we await he outcome of many investigations taking place, it is bottled we learn lessons from this incident so that we can keep our workers and firemen say it while continuing to produce

mr. griffith for opening statements. three minutes, please. >> thank you. mr. chairman and ranking member for calling this important hearing today. mr. hayward for taking time to come before our subcommittee to discuss what happened on the deep water horizon. i know that like us, your number one priority is stopping the flow of oil. congress and this committee owe it to the american people do whatever we can to aid the unified command ineaching this goal. this is a time for engineering and action i hope you wil let us know what we can do in congress to be helpful. there are still many questions to be answered about what happened on the deep water horizon and unfortunately we do know that the the documents that we're reviewing it does not look good. my hope for our hearing today is that we will be able to put political public relations shenanigans aside and focus understanding why decisions were made and how bp and the industry can ensure that they learn from this incident so that drilling safely for our valuable resources can continue. and i might say this to y

mr. griffith for opening statements. three minutes, please. >> thank you. mr. chairman and ranking member for calling this important hearing today. mr. hayward for taking time to come before our subcommittee to discuss what happened on the deep water horizon. i know that like us, your number one priority is stopping the flow of oil. congress and this committee owe it to the american people do whatever we can to aid the unified command in reaching this goal. this is a time for engineering and action i hope you will let us know what we can do in congress to be helpful. there are still many questions to be answered about what happened on the deep water horizon and unfortunately we do know that the the documents that we're reviewing it does not look good. my hope for our hearing today is that we will be able to put political public relations shenanigans aside and focus understanding why decisions were made and how bp and the industry can ensure that they learn from this incident so that drilling safely for our valuable resources can continue. and i might say this t

mr. griffith for opening statement, three minutes please? >> thank, mr. chairman and ranging member for calling this hearing toong, and mr. hayward for taking time to come before our subcommittee to discuss what happened. like us, you're number one priority is stopping the flow of oil. congress and this committee owe it to the american mahinmi to do whatever we can to aid the unified command to attain this goal this. is a time for engineer and action. let us know what we can do in congress to be helpful. there are still many questions to be answered, and unfortunately we do know that the documents that we are reviewing, it does not look good. my hope for our hearing today is that we will be able to put political public relations chen ganls aside and focus on understanding why decisions were made and how bp and the industry can ensure they learn from this incident so that drilling safely for our valuable resources can continue. i might say this to you. you're never as good as they say you are or as bad as they say you are. so this hearing will go back and