host: our guest is the president of the nrdc, frances beinecke. you can find out more about our coverage of that this morning on a c-span.org. at 9:00, an introduction and welcome by the deputy secretary of the interior. one of the issues they will be looking at in one hour are the findings and recommendations on the national recommendation on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill. our guest served on that commission. richmond, va., on the republican line. caller: how are you doing? good morning. congress is a wall on just about everything that they do -- awol on everything they do unless someone has something to gripe about. i like the epa and the unions. they go hand in hd. big business depends on dng things right. some people say they do not want to do things right and they just want to dump this stuff. you have these so-called the do- gooder's out there in congress and people in the businesses who say they are going to save the company money. usually the tops of these companies want things done right. they take short cuts and they tried and say t

my work at,nrdc, taught me most california streams and rivers need more water now to support healthy eco systems. one of the victims would be a beautiful north coast stream which in addition to providing most of,m oren, counties water supply endangers cohost salmon. if it doesn't fix it water regulator many the next drought may have to choose between the thirst of 2 hundred people and continued existence of this fishery. we face this on our greater scale with the pay delta in ecological collapse in the last decade. we know the collapse in any number of emergencies we're going to lose a number of facilities and it may be rendered by a moderate rise in sea level and future realize on increases diversions. in light of all this, we ask how should water managers best respond to the threat of global warming. my first hope is that water managers get on the front edge fight against this. your not bush administration scientists and nobody will stop you from talking about that. this panel invited us into a very unsettling way of framing the discussion those of us steeped the fight. we assume t

host: our guest is the president of the nrdc, frances beinecke.ou can find out more about our coverage of that this morning on a c-span.org. at 9:00, an introduction and welcome by the deputy secretary of the interior. one of the issues they will be looking at in one hour are the findings and recommendations on the national recommendation on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill. our guest served on that commission. richmond, va., on the republican line. caller: how are you doing? good morning. congress is a wall on just about everything that they do -- awol on everything they do unless someone has something to gripe about. i like the epa and the unions. they go hand in hand. big business depends on doing things right. some people say they do not want to do things right and they just want to dump this stuff. you have these so-called the do- gooder's out there in congress and people in the businesses who say they are going to save the company money. usually the tops of these companies want things done right. they take short cuts and they tried and say

gina solomon, we welcome you. >> senior scientist at the nrdc. specs before, chairman boxer and members of the committee. senator crapo, good morning. my name is gina solomon, i'm a practicing physician. i'm also a senior scientist at the national resources defense council and a and the director of the occupational and environmental medicine residency program at the university of california san francisco. most health professionals at some point in their career encounter a disease cluster. disease cluster is a mysterious excess of one or more illnesses such as cancer, birth defects or neurological disease in a particular work place or particular community over a period of time. and the disease clusters are frightening for communities and often frustrating for scientists because at least in the past there were limited tools for understanding and solving them. but my disease clusters also hold the potential especially with the new scientific tools of today and that are emerging as we move forward. these disease clusters may unlock some of the myster

chairman carper and also chairman boxer and members of the committee, i want to thank you for providing nrdcnd me the opportunity to present our views on the japanese nuclear disast disaster. i've submitted my complete statement for the record. i will briefly highlight a few things here. you requested that i offer my views regarding the implications the disaster has for reactor safety in the united states. first, i think we all are in agreement that the first priority is to provide assistance to our friends in japan. but eventually and even today we're turning to the issue of the implication negligencs in t. before turning to that issue, twoish make two observations. first, my colleague, dr. matthew mckenzie, with my colleague dr. matthew mckenzie we made a rough preliminary estimate of the radiation dose of the external monitoring data from japan. we should be mindful the uncertainties at the exposures in this stage are quite large. there's much we simply do not know. with this caution we find the collective dose from the external exposure to date and the consequently excess cancers project

agee was afraid of congressional investigations, lawsuits, journalists, and eventually may be the nrdc a lot of independent. you know, whistle-blowers in the 1960's. they may have lost their jobs and had a difficult time inside the establishment, but they did not lose their heads as they might have under stalin. so, i think that is one reason there is more of a safety culture and more of the idea of independent regulation. although, i think some of the atomic energy commission culture continues. i think there was an improvement in how the nuclear regulatory commission operated after three mile island. what you said is a relative statement. i do think today that the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission is far too reluctant to impose costs on safety, and its record of vigilance on behalf of the american public is not very good. maybe -- there are plenty of examples like the recent inspector general report about self assessments and self reporting and so on. so, why have would not disagree with your relatives statement i am not very sanguine that there is an adequate level of vigilance in t

there was a lot of fear of different agencies, and maybe nrdc. whistle-blowers in the 1970's may have lost their jobs and had a lot -- a hard time inside the seven, but they did not lose their heads as they had under -- inside the establishment, but they did not lose their heads as they had under stalin. there is more of a an identity culture.y coulte although, i think the culture continues. what you have said is a relative statement. i do think today the u.s. regulatory commission for nuclear is far too resistant to impose regulations on safety and its vigilance in protecting the american public is not very good. there are plenty of examples, like the recent report about self assessment and self reporting, and so on. while i would not disagree with your relatives statement, i do not think there is an adequate level of vigilance in the u.s. >> i am a business consultant here in washington d.c., but i worked in the ukraine. first, i appreciate the attention to this. many have felt the lack of interest and, for some, like of support for this issue.

chairman carper and also chairman boxer and members of the committee, i want to thank you for providing nrdc and me the opportunity to present our views on the japanese nuclear disast disaster. i've submitted my complete statement for the record. i will briefly highlight a few things here. you requested that i offer my views regarding the implications the disaster has for reactor safety in the united states. first, i think we all are in agreement that the first priority is to provide assistance to our friends in japan. but eventually and even today we're turning to the issue of the implication negligencs in t. before turning to that issue, twoish make two observations. first, my colleague, dr. matthew mckenzie, with my colleague dr. matthew mckenzie we made a rough preliminary estimate of the radiation dose of the external monitoring data from japan. we should be mindful the uncertainties at the exposures in this stage are quite large. there's much we simply do not know. with this caution we find the collective dose from the external exposure to date and the consequently excess cancers proje