mr. salazar of colorado. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1344, the gentleman from colorado, mr. salazar, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. mr. salazar: thank you, madam speaker. my amendment adds training for energy auditors, field technician and building contractors to promote the use of energy retrofits and energy-efficient technology that may be part of the department of energy's stem education activities. i've been an advocate of renewable energy while reare preserving our natural re-- while preserving our natural resources. it's important we have a well-trained and knowledgeable work force in place to take advantage of every job opportunity that is created. alternative energy is an economic boom for rural districts like the one i represent, the third congressional district of colorado is leading the way with innovations in solar, wind and woody biomass. in the san luis valley, where i live, there is an eight megawatt solar farm with more in the works. however, it is critical to reduce the cost of america's

mrs. napolitano: i yield to congressman salazar. mr. salazar: i want to remind the ranking member that the individual who actually ran against me who was the department of resources director, who implemented this program, very strong supporter, and this was done in a bipartisan way. and this is a way, and it is modeled -- most recovery programs are actually starting to be modeled after the colorado fish recovery program. this is a way to keep endangered fish from going on the endangered species list. so i am very proud of this program. we do have goals. by the year 2023 everything should be in place. the infrastructure should be in place so we can maintain numbers of the endangered fish in the colorado river and the upper san juan. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. mcclintock: mr. speaker, i readily concede that if you put a gun to somebody's head you can get reasonable people to do unreasonable things. the e.s.a. is a gun to the head of the people of the we

mr. chairman. secretary salazar and deputy secretary hayes, thank you for coming to the committee. i think mr. kildee said best when talking about in a mess, -- about mms, a concern that there may be a culture that leads this agency to be a dysfunctional agency, and this is a bipartisan problem. this has occurred not simply over the last administration but the administration before that. and so my concern is that this goes beyond the consideration of ethics. his confidence, everything i read about this agency -- is confidence -- competence. everything i read about this agency seems to contribute to this today, its lack of oversight has led us to where we are today, and that i am glad to hear that we are in agreement it is vital to the united states to develop these offshore energy resources. and certainly that we are in agreement that it is necessary to balance the concerns of the economic needs of this country with safety and environmental concerns. and i do not think, based on what i've heard, and i look forward to the testimony of the inspector general later on today, that mms is capable of

mr. salazar this morning at a time with i had a whole bunch of other stuff going on. >> you rule out she was fired. >> come on, jackie, i don't know. i found out about it this morning. so, i don't yet know the circumstances and ken salazar has been in testimony on the hill. with respect to your first quest question e -- question at m.m.f., kep was in the process of making these reforms but the point i'm making, obviously they weren't happening fast enough. if they had been happening fast enough, this might have been caught. it is possible it may not have been caught. all right. we could have gone through a whole new process for environmental review, you could have had a bunch of technical folks look at b.p.'s plans and -- they may have said this is -- this meets industry standards. we haven't had an accident like this in 15 years. we should go ahead. that's what this commission has to discover is -- is was this a systematic breakdown or something that could happen once in a million times, or once in a thousand times or once every 5,000 times? the -- what exactly are the risks involved. n

mr. salazar. actually, i fully agree with what the secretary just said. what happened last night, this tool sits in a metal frame so that the adrill pipe lowered from the drill shift can connect to it. when they attempted to connect to it, the frame shifted zoo they were unable to -- so they were unable to make that connection. so what they had to do was bring the tool and the frame back to the surface and reor event the frame so that -- re-orient the frame. that's the problem. the adjusted frame and the tool are back on the seabed and they are attempting to make that connection. >> ok. our last question. >> yes, just a follow-up on that. you mentioned how difficult it is to be working 5,000 feet below the surface. in this instance with the risor, was it a temperature problem or a pressure problem that caused the pipe not to be connected? >> no, it was actually just the mechanical act of trying to take this 5,000-foot-long stream of pipe and connect it to this tool. if you can imagine trying to do that, it is essentially a mile long into what we would cal

. >> reporter: with interior secretary ken salazar at his side, mr. obama said cozy relationships between the oil industry and the minimals management service that reports to salazar led to environmental shortcuts. but critics say the fault lies squarely be california, who stood by while his regulators exempted b.p.'s now leaking deepwater horizon project from an environmental impact study and develople of an oil leak response plan that might have lessened the ecological catastrophe. >> had the proper review procedures been followed there is a high chance that the permit would not have been issued and almost a certainty we would have a better response than we're having right now. >> reporter: the president said he wants the oil leak capped asap, but everyone knows that is not going to happen. the president praised the use and deployment of hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemical disbursements, but there is mounting evidence that they may be harming or killing the sea life, including the birds, tortoises, sea turtle as rather and dolphins. >> shann

mr. hayes, secretary salazar, has made very, very clear that b.p. is the responsible party will be paying and that b.p. doesn't expect to be held to the cap. so if, in fact, it is correct here that there's no doubt that the responsible party is going to be held fully accountable for this particular spill, does the administration think then that we need any specific legislation to make this true? to ensure that this is in fact the case? >> i think we are going to continue to work to ensure that b.p. lives up to its commitments. so they have made that commitment. we take it seriously, and we will work with them to ensure that they do. so i think our focus on the legislative proposal is transition into a new liability regime. >> so basically going forward? >> we're focused on going forward. >> let me ask about that, because as the $75 million strict liability cap is in place now, it only aplies in cases where there's been no gross ng or regulatory noncompliance. so i'm assuming that there is a possibility or a likelihood that any of these three faults

and secretary salazar and this administration hired her to come to work for the mineral management folks. mr. akin: we are we're talking about a cozy relationship. obama's person in charge, salazar is in charge of this whole thing, basically hired somebody out to basically to do this oversight -- mr. gohmert: working nine years for british petroleum in high capacities. and so it's interesting to hear about that cozy relationship. mr. akin: what was her name, gentleman? >> andrea baca, b-a-c-a. this is completely an extension of the white house. the -- whatever the administration is, the minerals management service is part of the administration. the congress has no authority to confirm, say yes or no on somebody who is appointed. this is an extension of the president's own hand running the minerals management service. and we have absolutely got to clean house. the trouble is, it's not our house. it's the president's house. mr. akin: doesn't law require that the president in a major environmental disaster like this -- i have been told that the federal law requires that the president take charg

mr. chairman. madam swrare. -- secretary. we heard secretary salazar talk about wanting to help us and wanting to get the answers but we also heard the ranking member talk about requests that were made eight months ago for which we have not got answers. that really needs to be responded to. i don't care who is in the majority. there ought to be respect enough for this body and this body's oversight that we get answers within eight months and not only that, there ought to be enough respect for congress within congress that when congress can't get answers we demand them and don't reward an agency until they comply so i'm hoping that maybe it is a little bit pollyanna but i'm hoping for the future we'll have a little bit of respect for the department ofer intoier and get answer to the questions. also looking at the a.p. article. they didn't get any respect from d.o.i.. theyiested information so they could put together stories and indicate they got information from d.o.i. that deep water horizon was inspected after 2001 when it went into the gulffbut more

mr. hayes, i want to make sure i am not misinterpreting york -- your point. >> is always good to pay attention to your lawyer. >> secretary salazar has made it very, very clear that b.p. as the responsible party will be paying and that b.p. will not be expect to be held to the cap. does the administration the think we need any specific legislation to make this true to ensure that this is the case? >> i think we're going to continue to work to ensure that b.p. lives up to its commitment, so they have made that commitment. they take it seriously, and we will work with them. the legislative proposal is transitioning into a new liability. >> so, basically, going forward. >> we are focused on going forward. >> let me ask about that, because as the $75 million strict liability cap is in place right now, it only applies in places where there has been no gross negligence, misconduct, or regulatory lack of compliance, so i am assuming that there is a possibility or a likelihood that any of these three could be alleged, in which case the light cap is removed altogether? >> that is correct. >> oh, in fact, while we're talking about here wit

mr. mckay has fully cooperated with their inquiry. >> thank you for bringing that up, centered collins. i appreciate your cooperation and i do not appreciate the failure of mms to come. secretary salazar will testify tomorrow before the senate energy commission. i understand the broad of se -- the prerogative that the agency has to go before its committee of jurisdiction first. i hope those committee members will ask about the conduct of the mineral management service and the kind of demands they make for oil spill response plans, and just to restate the intention of senator collins and me to all the minerals management service's before our committee at some appropriate time in the not too cute -- too distant future to answer those questions if they are not answer to more. in the meantime, i thank you. the record of this hearing will remain open for 15 days for the submission of our -- -- of other statements. with that, the hearing is adjourd. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> more congressional hearings on the bp oil's bill this week. today, interior secretary ken salazar and the head of the

seen the president, but i've met with secretary napolitano and secretary salazar and other administration officials, yes. >> would -- mr. chairman, could i ask that the wte house make available to us the -- any minutes or notes or e-mails that would be relevant to that meeting? >> well, as the gentleman knows, he can ask. i'm not guaranteeing what kind of response you are going to get, but, yes, you can ask. >> i just think it would be helpful to -- were you the only executive of an oil company who was -- who was there, or were -- was this a collaborative response from many people who work in the industry to try to help solve a problem? >> this was the meetings that i am talking about were myself and tony hayward, big bp. both of us bp. >> are you aware of any other meetings that have occurred with executives of other companies? >> i'm not aware on this particular issue. >> when -- can ask you when that meeting occurred? >> there have been several over the last -- over the three-week period that we've been in. >> okay. when would the first meeting have been in? >> within the first week of the accident, i believe. >> an

mr. hayes, i want to make sure i am not misinterpreting york -- your point. >> is always good to pay attention to your lawyer. >> secretary salazar has made it very, very clear that b.p. as the responsible party will be paying and that b.p. will not be expect to be held to the cap. does the administration the think we need any specific legislation to make this true to ensure that this is the case? >> i think we're going to continue to work to ensure that b.p. lives up to its commitment, so they have made that commitment. they take it seriously, and we will work with them. the legislative proposal is transitioning into a new liability. >> so, basically, going forward. >> we are focused on going forward. >> let me ask about that, because as the $75 million strict liability cap is in place right now, it only applies in places where there has been no gross negligence, misconduct, or regulatory lack of compliance, so i am assuming that there is a possibility or a likelihood that any of these three could be alleged, in which case the light cap is removed altogether? >> that is correct. >> oh, in fact, while we're talking about here wit

mr. bernbaum, and also, i have a concern that, as expressed by secretary salazar before our senate committee yesterday, that raising the liability cap to some extremely exorbitant level would hurt the small companies a lot more than the bps or the big companies. and so i hope that when we arrive at legislativeolutions for the problems that we're confronted with on this -- in this situation, that possibly we consider having higher caps for some of the bigger companies and lower caps for some of the smaller companies. but i'm also -- i also wan to see bp and trans-ocean and the other companies involved recover from this incident, because mr. mckay mentioned that his comny has 23,000 employees in this country, and certainly, you know i don't want them to be harmed by this or the thousands of stockholders that the companies have. i know trans-ocean has 18,000 employees, is what i was told, and i don't know how many of those -- how many of those are in this country, mr. newman? >> i believe it's about 2500. >> 2500. well, let me just ask just one question. the last major oil rig spill in this cou

. >> secretary salazar also said if your company is found to not be doing what you're supposed to be doing, quote, we'll push them out of the way. end quote. do you feel, mr. suttles, you're reaching that point, that you've lost the confidence of federal officials and the people in the gulf of mexico? >> i think what i do know is everyone is frustrated. i think the people of the region are frustrated. i know we are. i know the government is. and i know that everyone wants this thing to come to an end. and the fact that it's taking this long is painful to everybody. most particularly to the people who live here. so, i do understand why he says that. and i can assure you, we are doing everything we know to bring this to closure as quick as we can. >> i would like to get, in closing, your reaction to some comments made by your company's ceo, tony hayward recently in an interview. in talking about the oil spill, he said that, quote, the environmental impact of this spill would be, quote, very, very modest, end quote. when you take a look at the images we're already seeing from the gulf coast region and when you consider that the bulk of this spill has not act

mr. danenberger, 38 years of experience with the department of the interior, nonpartisan, working as you have, i was wondering about the suggestion by secretary salazarcently that he is considering proposing splitting mms into two. one agency would be in charge of inspecting the oil rigs and enforcing safety regulations and the other would oversee leasing's and royalties. do you think that would be more effective for managing offshore exploration and improving safety? >> let me just say that that tends to be the trend internationally to separate the resource management agency from agency. -- and prevention agency. >> it would be viewed as being more independent under those circumstances. >> in the last congress, i introduced a bill to encourage and make the director of mms be someone who would be confirmed by the senate. right now, that position is not a senate desk confirmed position. by doing such a thing, that lets the senate investigate that person and ask these tough questions during the conference -- during the confirmation process. what you think about that idea? >> i don't have an opinion on that. >> dr. beck, you said that something blocking

mr. fowler. >> let me start with you on that born about who is in charge and the quality -- a quality of the response so far. secretary salazar said yesterday, "if we find that they are not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we will push them out of the way appropriately." what does that mean? what more could be done? >> i was said that that is more a metaphor for it will need to make sure that they execute their responsibilities, the responsible party, and we carry out our responsibilities and be accountable as the federal on scene coordinators. if we want something to be done some other way, they are issued an order by the federal on scene coordinator and they comply. and there have been adjustments made all along the way. and i need to, i call tony hayward myself. they are the responsible party. >> their role is to be in charge of this operation and the federal government's role is to be in charge of oversight and that is not when a change? >> i think that would differentiate in charge. that they are responsible for the cleanup, that is affected. ultimately we are accountable from the federal government side to make

and secretary salazar, he launched this reform and he put tom strickland in charge. i thought that pretty much had worked. and mr. newman, this safety record, i thought, was pretty impressive that the m.m.s. had conducted 26 inspections on deepwater horizon in the past five years. is that unusual? is that what has been happening in the past? what's the story on the swat teams referred to by salazar? is that an inconsistency and saying we are doing something we should have done before. >> there are two parts to your question. one has to do with the relationship between transocean, the drilling contractor and the m.m.s. and the way i would characterize our relationship with the m.m.s. is they show up on our drilling rigs regularly, unannounced. they conduct thorough inspections of the drilling rigs. they know what to look for and they are thorough and rigorous. >> when they come up unannounced, what kind of frequency? >> the frequency was 26 times on the deepwater horizon. they are out there once a month, every other month. they are out there routinely. >> you were the recipient of an award that was for quote, out

mr. mckay has fully cooperated with their inquiry. >> thank you for bringing that up, centered collins. i appreciate your cooperation and i do not appreciate the failure of mms to come. secretary salazar will testify tomorrow before the senate energy commission. i understand the bro of seed -- the prerogative that the agency has to go before its committee of jurisdiction first. i hope those committee members will ask about the conduct of the mineral management service and the kind of demands they make for oil spill response plans, and just to restate the intention of senator collins and me to all the minerals management service's before our committee at some appropriate me in the not too cute -- too distant future to answer those questions if they are not answer to more. in the meantime, i thank you. the record of this hearing will remain open for 15 days for the submission of our -- -- of other statements. with that, the hearing is adjourned. thank you. host: c-sp [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> tomorrow, interior secretary salazar were testified before the senate environment subcommittee. live covera

salazar is expected to reveal many of those recommendations during testimony today." remember, live coverage of that on c-span 3 and seized and radio. "if the oil is still flowing on thursday, mr. obama will also address what more can be done. this step up response comes after political heat is rising as critics said they were too dependent on bp for a solution. others said the government's response has been sluggish and not well coordinated. the office of bill -- bill nelson calls on the president put the military in charge of the clean up." thiensville, north carolina, independent line. caller: you must have an idiot line for that first caller. sounded like he was way out there in left field with his suggestions. i guess everyone has to have something. well, i got something to say too. with at this petroleum mess, how many people trust this -- we in this petroleum mess, how many people out there -- with this petroleum mess, how much do the people trust these people with nuclear power? host: "bp had takes a swipe at critics over oil spill cleanup. yesterday he insisted that while the reputation of bp has suffered damage, it should not last long if they do the right thing and

mr. mckay. do you have any idea -- can you give us any indication as to how bp intends to respond to secretary napolitano and secretary salazar's may 14th letter requesting clarification on bp's intentions regarding the $75 million statutory cap on damages? >> yes, we have responded in writing to that and we've said we will not -- that, excuse me, that cap will not apply. we've resnded in writing to that and i can provide that to the committee. >> wl, in that connection, i'd like to ask you about the expedited claim process that bp has put in place. which features claims offices that are easily accessible. and you've handled about 19,000 claims thus far. is that correct? >> yes. 19,000 claims have been made. that's right. >> and -- >> sorry, can i correct one thing? i think i used the word "paid" earlier. 19,000 claims have been made and i don't know the exact number. something like 4,000 have been actually physically paid. >> okay. and is it true that these claims that were filed came largely from shermen? >> i don't have a breakdown but i think a lot of them are fishermen and folks that are earning a living right on the gulf

salazar. she specializes in research on instructional leadership, professional development and school improvement. she wrote a book that has been adopted by many school districts for principled leadership training programs. mr. marcus winters is a senior fellow at the manhattan institute. he has written extensively on school choice and special education. he has performed several studies on performance pay for teachers. his research has been published in many educational journals. welcome to all of you. those of you have been here before know that when you begin your testimony, a green light will go on. about four minutes in, and orange light will go on. when the red light goes on, you should wrap up your testimony. we have two panels today. i am going to try to get through both panels inside of thhee hours. i do not know how many members will be coming and going. we have some meetings this afternoon on the oil spill and other activities going on. we will try to go through the first panel with everyone that has a question. if we are not able to do that, if you do not have a question on the first panel, you can have your question on the second panel. the focus of these two panels is really about how we suppor

mr. mckay has fully cooperated with their inquiry. >> thank you for bringing that up, centered collins. i appreciate your cooperation and i do not appreciate the failure of mms to come. secretary salazarwill testify tomorrow before the senate energy commission. i understand the broad of seed -- the prerogative that the agency has to go before its committee of jurisdiction first. i hope those committee members will ask about the conduct of the mineral management service and the kind of demands they make for oil spill response plans, and just to restate the intention of senator collins and me to all the minerals management service's before our committee at some appropriate time in the not too cute -- too distant future to answer those questions if they are not answer to more. in the meantime, i thank you. the record of this hearing will remain open for 15 days for the submission of our -- -- of other statements. with that, the hearing is adjourned. thank you. >> tonight on c-span, campaign events from the special event in pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. the first rally for a democrat with bill clinton and johnstown, pa. 3 our rally for republican can hearns with massachusett