oil production. if we eliminate that supply and our dependency -- the dependency on foreign oil will indeed go up. saudi arabia will be happy. hugo chavez will be popping champagne. the team of engineers tapped by secretary ken salazar to examine what went wrong on the rig recently wrote, "we believe the blowout was caused by a highly improbable chain of human error is coupled with several equipment failures and was preventable. the petroleum industry will learn from this. it can and will do better. we should not be satisfied --" just wait for a second. "we should not be satisfied until there are no debts and environmental impacts offshore ever. however, we must understand that as with any human endeavor, there will always be risks." let's learn from this awful mistake, fix the problem, clean up the golf, and move forward to fixing our ailing economy and creating private-sector jobs. i yield back my time. >> the chair recognizes the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from california, mr. h

oil. it recognizes the threat within a national security context of global climate change. it expresses the commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and pledges support for fledgling democracies. it includes under national security human rights, global health and development aid. madam speaker, it even emphasizes the important national security implications of investing in education and human capital right here at home. frankly, sounds a lot like the smart security platform that i have' been advocating for the last several years. i'm glad that the folks at the other end of pennsylvania avenue are getting there also. and yet, madam speaker, i can't reconcile all of those promising ideas with the ongoing prosecution of two wars which are bankrupting our country morally and fiscally without reducing terrorism threats or contributing to our national security. the situation on the ground in afghanistan remains very ten with us while americans, -- tenuous while americans, other nato forces continu

oil is a finite resource. we consume more than 20% of the world's oil, but have less than 2% of the world's oil reserves. and that is part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile beneath the surface of the ocean. we are running out of places too drill on land and in shallow water. for decades, we have known that the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. for decades, we have talked and talked about the need to end america's century-long addiction to fossil fuels. and for decades, we have failed to act with a sense of urgency that this challenge requires. time and again, the path for have been blocked not only by oil induutry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candor. the consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight. countries like china are investing in clean energy jobs in industries that should be right here in america. each day, we send nearly $1 billion of our wealth to foreign countries for their oil. and today as we look to the gold, we see an entire way

oil. it is his job. let him start digging and stop whining. host: headlines about the oil spill this morning. front page of "the washington post." "criminal probes began." the front page of "the financial times" this morning, "the one they fall yesterday was the worst in 18 years, cutting the company's market value to two- thirds. the market measure of the risk that bp would default rose sharply. focused on the damage to the position in the u.s., accounting for about 40% of its business. the attorney general said yesterday that his department is looking at potential violations of the clean water act, the oil pollution act of 1990, the migratory bird treaty act, and the endangered species act, as well as other traditional criminal statutes." winston-salem, north carolina. proctor, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing today? host: doing well, sir. caller: i was thinking about this. if this was just one oil well doing this and we did not know exactly how man

i am so tired of oil. it will kill you and me and future generations from breathing it and using it. it is time to electrify our grade. it is crazy and insane. it is like you are talking about people in the republican party saying drilling offshore and the national parks. you are neanderthal. you probably still believe the world is flat. the guy who mention from texas who worked on an oil rig, i am saying over long, obama should have tapped nasa. . guest: i have to say, and this is never something that makes me popular but i'm afraid it is reality, we can't stop using oil any tile soon. if you look at the scale of energy consumption in this country and around the world and look at the share that oil has in conjunction with the shares of natural gas and coal, then look at the starting place for everything else especially renewabl renewables, you see it is a challenge that we really can't meet if we are talking about totally crea totally ceasing the assumption of oil and gas. we are mobile, industrialized, w

it services over 90% of the gulf of mexico's deepwater oil production, with over 600 oil platforms. the petroleum industry accounts for 17% of all jobs in the state and we saw hundreds of the 5,000 or so oil platforms that dot much of the gulf coast waters, a virtual city on the water, pumping oil and gas, and piping it to shore. 37 miles offshore on the continental shelf, more than 90 miles from the b.p. "deepwater horizon," was our destination, a production platform called ewing bank 305. built by conoco in the 1980s, it is now owned by independent oil producer louisiana-based stone energy. this production platform operates routinely, sending 2,500 barrels of oil and 11 million cubic feet of gas to the shore every day. since stone bought it eight years ago, it has had no leaks, no problems. running night and day, the platform's 18 wells descend deep beneath the ocean floor-- 10,000 to 18,000 feet. the ewing bank 305 will not be affected by the moratorium, but drilling on a stone energy well several miles away is being curtailed pending a safety inspection, to the company's dismay.

>> yeah. >> reporter: what about the oil? is there any oil in the oyst jeerz no. no oil. they're good ones, good, no oil. >> reporter: but since they can't bank on the oil staying away, and they're scared that any hurricane could wreak havoc on the oyster bed, oyster men are working at a feverish pace. claude duplessis has been harvesting oysters for all of his adult life. he was among a group of residents who gathered at the st. thomas catholic church to talk about how the oil spill has been affecting business. >> if the oil comes in, they're destroyed, not just temporarily, but for a long, long time. >> reporter: really? >> yes, yes, sir. oil has a really adverse effect on the oyster reefs. the oyster and reproduction stage, the oysters put out a mick, we call is spat. and this spat swims around in the water until it find a clean, hard surface to attach itself to and it grows from there. now, if the oil coats of shell then the spat can't stick, and this can continue for years. >> reporter : byron encalade is president of the louisiana oysts, or association. he testified

the oil had come in.as pulled around the wetlands and i had seen some oil off the coast and off the short. >> as a coastal scientist, when you see the inundation of oil along the wetlands, what is your first thought? >>çó oil in the wetlands is nevr good. it can cause chemical and physical damage to the wetlands themselves. some of them have a certain amount of resilience to them. now that that well has not been tapped and the spill continues, there is potential multiple events. the impact is not really known. >> obviously, you have been involved in looking at wetlands. you have seen the inundation of oil. talk about this from the habitat for many of our migrating birds. this is the migrating season and birds are coming in from all over the world on the flyway coming in from louisiana before they head to south america. they stopped here and we have nesting birds. when you talk about the wetlands in terms of the fisheries and the young fish from trenton to oysters, those that are involved in our ecosystem,

in oil.what's interesting is a lot of that goes the way of electricity because they aren't moving parts of electricity so if you would electrify more and more cars, then a lot of the oils that are used for motor only, a lot of those would end up not being needed. but it's just like ethanol, as a good example. we have agricultural policies to produce corn. then we went to corn for fuel, which wasn't, i think, a very good idea if you think about it. but now we use corn in all parts of our diet, everything, both edible and nonedible things. so i think the economy is pretty smart so when you have a product and you don't want to waste something, people are innovative. we really haven't been innovative for a very long time. we use oil for a lot of things. guest: so where should -- host: so where should the government invest in alternative energy? guest: it's very difficult to pick winners. you really don't want to pick the winner. we picked the winner with corn-ethanol, and it was a terrible idea.

we ask each of the five major oil companies for their oil spilllresponse plans.on paper, they're very impressive. each document has more than 500 pages. if i might, i will hold up the document that is the contingency plan. but what they show is that exxon mobil, chevron, konica phillips and shell are no better prepared to deal with the major oil spill than the bp. the same companies wrote the five plans and described them as "cookie cutter plans." much of the text is identical. four of the plant discuss how to protect walruses. there are no walruses in the gulf of mexico. there are key provisions, for preventing a blowout like the one in the gulf, and for worst case scenarios. we found that none of the companies have an adequate plan. it is constructive and to compare at sun's plan with bp's plan. -- exxon's plant with bp's plan. bp will activate the oil spill response plan and assembled a team of technical experts to respond to the situation. here is what exxon mobile says. you can see the text on the screen. in the event the spills or cannot be controlled by th

as oil prices and oil company profits have increased dramatically over the last decade, so was our nation's dependence on foreign oil with the u.s. importing approximately 52% of the oil it consumed last year. while i believe that our policies must be broad enough to create energy from a variety of domestic sources, including domestic oil and natural gas, i also recognize the importance of awful investment in biofuels, nuclear, hydro power, wind, solar, and clean coal technology. on day 57 of this disaster with no end in sight, i am hopeful that the five companies testifying today can inform us of what we're wrong, how this tragedy could have been prevented, and how the american people can have assurance that this will never happen again. i believe the administration and our government must do more to hold these companies accountable for their drilling practices and in short the most advanced technologies and safety procedures are in place. once agaan, mr. chairman, thank you for holding the hearing and i look for today's testimony. >> we thank the gentleman. the chair recognizes the gentle

>> since the oil spill cost of our -- since the oil spill? with five times. >> what are you hearing from the science -- from the fishermen? >> that is it really tough time for them. the people are canceling their trips. that could be long term. >> in terms of building that the wetlands, we know that it is possible down the line to build back wetlands but it will be a difficult and arduous process. we are told once oil reaches the rosa can, that it could be between five and seven days before that the carrier rates. a lot of the plant life that holds together the land of berms that are there. once that starts to die off, that has the possibility of turning into open water. talk about that process. we have seen that over the life of our wetlands. >> those wetlands are at the mouth of the mississippi and are already very stressed. this is on top of a lot of planned loss -- land loss and additional stress. >> is there a remedy out there? there has been a lot of talk about the possibility of going in there with their boats and cleaning up this oil

oil spill. it puts carbon dioxide into the air which goes into the atmosphere, which goes into the solution of the ocean and makes the ocean 30% more acidic than they are today. they will be solicited by that time i checked grandchild leads the planet, every single well is an oil spill. will be interested in knowing what these leaders are bringing to the table in an effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and an effort to find clean energy to prevent this type of environmental disaster. unfortunately, it will not be the numbers that we're looking for. >> the gentleman') time has expirrd. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. >> i will waive my opening statement. >> the chairman recognizes the gentleman from texas. >> i can look back a lot better than i can look for. when i look back, i look at two entities that all to be looked to. it is suggested that the federal government play of more prominent role. well, there are two things that you look at there. one is the financial s

the blue areas showed no oil. we know exactly where the oil is, what is there, and what it consists of. that is essentially how we generate things. then we go and work with the guys in the main room with the red jackets on. they are out there in the field organizing. one of the other things i should say, we have people from noaa and polaris who essentially were the architects of this process 20 years ago. you need to be experts at what you are doing. plus all the local folks, louisiana state representatives, who are critical in making sure that what we are doing is absolutely the right thing to do. we do it right and did not cause any other damage. if there are wildlife sites that are concerned, for example, if there are archaeological sites that need to be protected, we keep people away from them. so it is the right approach for the right place at the right time. those are the critical aspects of shoreline assessment. are you would be th!!with bp? >> my background is crisis management. i am based in the u.k. and

you are forcing the oil to come from deep water but we need oil. why not open up where we can drill safely instead of impacting us here? guest: thank you. there is a lot of shallow water drilling going on. folks across the country need to realize this is a dwindling resources. we will not be able to rely in the long term on the oil drilling. domestic or foreign. we have to make a transition to a clean energy economy. i would be very opposed to bringing those oil rigs closer to the state of florida. right now, under the 2006 gulf of mexico security act, florida gave up 10 million acres along the coast for drilling. in exchange, we have buffers on the west and east coast and along the panhandle. that is because we have chosen not to industrialize and our coastline. we rely on tourism, fishing. think about the small businesses in your community and welcome people from of of town. we do not have an income tax, we do not want an income tax because we have a lot of tourists coming to foot the bill. it would be a risky proposition to allow those oil rigs

the oil. right now as we speak, it is coming through our passes. and when i get back tomorrow morning, i will have one of those passes blocked up, and i have four left. i guarantee you, if i can push -- and i'm going to make it happen, i'm going to block the five passes, get out of there in 45 days, and i will stop with ---with a low pressure, i will protect five parishes. we are not waiting. two saturdays ago i got the fishermen at the dock, told everybody to get out of the way, and we put fishermen to work. we don't want to be on food stamps. we are not used to that. we want to go to work for our community. my senator from illinois, my deck hands, i still have a shrimp boat, two of them come from chicago. they made a good living and fed their families. one of them is still there working with our family. you are right. the see food -- seafood, what i see here is destroying the best seafood in the world. i gave them a credit card before. i fed some families. i make $513 a week as mayor. i've g

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 federal money that was going for hurricane katrina. there is a sense that a federal money is often wasteful and abused. and they tried to put together a panel that had the authority to watch how the money was meant. that went to louisiana for hurricane katrina of being involved in corruption or fraud or anything else. all that was accounted for. that is sometimes unusual in a gove

keep oil from getting in -- as a legitimate means to deal with the oil spill to keep oil from getting in to the marshes of louisiana. i spoke with governor jindal and will continue to work with them moving forward. as you know, the upper edge of the perimeter of the spill -- as i have said before, this is a collection of spills, not one monolithic spill. it is approaching mississippi, alabama, and florida, with some reported on the islands. we have moved a large number of coast guard assets into the area. they have capability to do surveillance and also command and control. we hhve 250 coastguard skimmers with equipment on board the boats. we have patrol boats working to support the vessel of opportunity vessels we have enrolled to help us scout for oil passages off shore and conduct skimming operations. will continue to focus on the mississippi/alabama at issue. we continue to move boom into alabama. we are looking to deal with the entrance to mobile bay. with that, i would be glad to take your questions. you always go first, so go ahead. >> talking about top hat, you obviously try c

host: we are moving beyond the oil spill. burning the oil? guest: y cannot burn that much oil. booms -- there are not enough in e world for a spill this size. with regard to the split on the court, it is very interesting. the caller made an intesting point. however, in this case, roberts conservatives the o changed the wh law. e judicial activists in and changed to water to a year's worth of anglo-saxon oil, --ail out an changed 250 years worth of law to bailout and oil company. federalizing the spill does not mean federalizing bp. it means pushing bp asidend the and trying to fix problems. issue tre, though, is that government has no expertise all with regard to stopping the skin of the planet, and it appears bp doesn't either. host: would you hope to be in any litigation bp?nst guest: i don't know whether i'm e involved yet. who asks meend on of that the scope is.oyment spent 21 years reprenting fishermen and natives, i might find it to thatk intge business. -- might fd it backartbreaking to get business. regard to a state or federal agey, iight be interested. host: wouldo it

what happens as those waves get to the oil spill area? >> any waves from the hurricane will accelerate the weathering process. now, alex was very far away from the oil spill and it didn't have nearly the effect or contribution to the weathering process that it would have had had it been much closer. so i don't expect much of an impact in terms of that apekt of things sdploun i was just told our audience did not hear your first answer. we were having audio technical problems. the first question i put to you was the situation with the hurricane. where is it hitting and with what force? >> okay. alex is a category one hurricane. it's about three or four hours offshore of the coast of northeastern mexico. it is showing signs of strepg we expect it to be a category two hurricane by the time it reaches the coastline in just a few hours. >> brown: let me bring in mr. van heerden. what is the impact of the waves and the so-called weathering from the storm? it has a popotential benefit and also some adverse impact on the oil spill, correct? >> tha

there is no oil there. maybe between about -- maybe between the 25 of us in the last eighttdays we have picked up maybe a quarter of oil. apparently, bp does not believe that oil moved at night. shrimping is 24 hours a day seven days a week. they have left their families, and they are scared. they are scared to tell bp representatives that we need to go to where the oil is at. we want to save our own community. now, the task force behind the island is from venice, louisiana. there is a place where locals can work in the areas. the bottom line, the bp representatives of the road the boat with us, just picture you or your son or your grandson playing ping pong, and there are about 500 balls coming at you at once. that is what it looks like from the bay. there are 500 ping pong balls of oil coming, and only one shrimper out there. >> it sounds to me, based on what everything i am hearing, that the local folks note the area the best. you know the solution in the best. more of that command and control needs to h

l bp, the oil spilll, to this day we have not capped the dam oil -- damn oil. israel, nets and now hope the standing there beside himself with -- netanyahu is now standing there beside himself saying, where is the leader, where is the president? host: topping a list of concerns, that is what we are talking about. "the financial times" has the bp oil spill. an interview with tony hayward, saying they lacked the right tools. the headline "bp not prepared for spelled." also on the front page, you and votes for probe into attack on foot to love -- the u.n. votes for a probe into the attack on the flotilla. and of the volcker rules, banks can face strict proprietary trading band. -- boat volcker rules, banks can face strict proprietary trading ban. next is orange county, california. caller: i wanted to talk about illegal immigration. i am retired from the carpenter union. one thing i did, i went into the service at 17 and got out. because there were jobs available to us, i was able to find a job until i got into the carpenters. 17 years as an instructor with.- the h

price shocks, oil embargoes , oil spills, and the like, and every time , the same conversation comesup, which is we need to move to these failed technologies of alternative fuels, ethanol, electric cars, which about b by the way--. >> brown: you call them "failed technologies." >> the "l.a. times" in 1910 was saying electric cars were just around the corner. these technologies fail time and time again for a very good reason-- it's hard to replace oil and fossil fuels. everything is not metal, glarks or wood is probably made with plastic, and that comes from oil. so to say i want to get away from oil, i want to do these kind of simple, failed technologies, it takes our eye off the real ball which is how do we make this safer? >> we're going to be using the fossil fuels. how do we make the extraction , production, distribution, safer and protect the environment better without deluding ourselves that there will be a new fuel. >> brown: that really reframes the entire conversation. but you don't want to go there, right? you still want to look at the issue of energy and oil dependence. >>

oil is biodegradable, particularly this oil.and so if we manage the microbiology, we manage the approaches to cleanup, i think it's very possible that we'll turn this around quicker rather than longer. >> ifill: what do you mean by particularly this oil. what is it about this kind of oil? >> well, in oil fields we've worked on in the past, we've worked with heavier grades of crude oil. lots of heavy ends, we call it asphalt. this particular oil does not have as much asphaltanic material in it. so that means as a whole most of the oil as it comes to shore, almost all fractions of it can be degraded and that's very important. >> ifill: aaron viles i'm curious if you agree about that with the nature of the kind of oil and how do they begin to clean up a spill like this, how should they be cleaning it up. >> the problem is it is stretching over such a broad expanse. we have so many different habitats being exposed. clearly louisiana's marsh is a tricky area to clean. you can't get into that area. you shouldn't be walking around thro

oil company.did you think of the speech? >> i commend him. the president made it clear we have no energy plan. but we haven't had an energy plan for 40 years. so, let's get an energy plan. you know, i am for the wind and the solar. but that's -- that's not going to solve much for you. that is for power generation. and your problem is transportation fuel. is where you're coming from. and 70% of all the oil we import every day is for transportation fuel. if you remember the president said when he got the nomination that in ten years we would not import any oil from -- he said from the mideast. and i -- i believe he -- that's, you know he told us he would do that. but i have seen no plan to accomplish that. >> larry: he has tried, hasn't he? >> has he tried? >> larry: hasn't he tried? >> well, i don't know where has he tried? >> larry: he's got a house bill. >> something is very interesting, yesterday, that, that the national association of mayors came out and endorsed both of those bills 1835 and 14

>> grand isle is getting oil on the beach. right past grand isle is a port that is getting oil.nd 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 river by the southwest pass. they are getting some sheen into the inner marsh in the bay up to what they call myrtle grove. you see a lot of that white is no longer there. it has been eaten away. we talk about coastal erosion. we are getting erosion of a lot of the wetlands and marshes. they are putting booms out in the enterior marsh trying to protect the estuaries where shrimp and fish lay their examples. and into terror are bonn -- i mean into st. bernard and plaque

and in that type of oil that is being spilled his of light sweet crude oil which is very highly toxic and has long term contamination effects. and on top of it, you have unprecedented magnitude of oil and the fact that it is still not been contained. all these factors will interplay and will ultimately impact and lead to the final cost of this bill, which again, it is going to take a long time to get there. >> how much do you think was built in the valdez accident? >> my understanding is 11 million gallons. in does that sound right, mr. bennett? >> that sounds right. >> how much money was ultimately paid out? >> we have a better handle on that -- about $2.2 billion for cleanup costs. i am not sure what it claims amount is. mr. bennett may have a better handle, and i don't think it is fully settled, quite frankly. >> exxon has reported $5.3 billion on the response and claims in damages. and we would not know the details, since they pay the bill and did not submit a claim for any kind of limit, all we know is what the report. -- what they report. treating you said 11 million gallons and

damages that flow from the oil spill. they're responsible for compensating those that are damaged from the oil l, and the president has been very clear and very direct as all his team has been that we will hold bp accountable. >> are you through -- >> i have more questioning but i'll stop to honorhe time again, thank you for the way you'veonducted youelf today. i appreciate that very much. >> senator stabenow? >> thank you, mr. chairman and weome, secretary salaz. it's always wonderful to see you, although these all wish we were not having to be involved in and to all of you, thank you for your service. this a horrendous situation. and i appreciate the efforts that y are taking and have takesince the beginning of your term to focus on reforming what has clearly been an process. i think it's important that we learn lessons from history, from the past, otherwise, we are condemned to repeat them. that's certainly a very famous phrase, and i think it's very, very true today in terms of the way we approach the public interest

bp has agreed to compensate oil workers affected by the oil workers moratorium. >> and in the coming days and weeks these efforts should capture up to 90% of the oil that is leaking out of the well. now, that's not good enough, so we will continue to press bp and draw on our best minds and resources to capture the rest of the oil until the company finishes drilling a relief well later in the summers that expected to stop the leak completely. the second topic revolved around the issue of claims. as i traveled across the gulf, i heard growing frustration over the pace at which claims have been paid. and i also heard concerns about whether bp will make resources available to cover legitimate claims resulting from this disaster. so this discussion today was essential. currently, under federal law, there is a 75 million dollar cap on how much oil companies could under certain circumstances be required to pay for economic damages resulting from a spill such as this. that amount obviously would be insufficient. that's why i am pleased to announced that bp has agreed to set aside $20 billion

the flow of oil must be stopped. every day anywhere from 35,000 to 60,000 barrels are spilling into the gulf and only 15,000 barrels a day a being  captured. the environmental effects on the oil spill are harming shorelines and coastal wetlands, fisheries an fishery habitats as well as sea mammals aed turtles. what's worse, we will not fully know the ecological ramifications of the oil spill until years down the road. further more, businesses suffering great losses including job and revenues dependent on tourism are being threatened. the noaa announced a revised fishing closure in the oil affected portion of the gulf of mexico accounting for 33% of the gulf of mexico's exclusive economic zone. as oil continues to flow this yeah is sure tone large further exasperating the economic damage. a recent economic impact study by the american sport fishing association indicated that the enfire gulf were closed to recreational fishing from may through august. leaving $win.win billion of revenue which supports $2.5 billion in

29 gallons of oil are being released for second.or that 733 milllon gallons have been spilled to date." the also note on the front page of the newspaper that he will ask the spilled panel to speak -- to speed up the investigation because the moratorium on deepwater drilling will last for six months. the president also address that last night. omaha, neb., republican line. what do you think? caller: i did not like the speech. i do not think it went into an of detail as far as what will be in place so that bp can pay off those people. what they need to get. and president bush, he was very late in katrina. but the minute he got the 82nd airborneein there, i felt better about it. i felt that there was command and structure there. i do not feel that that is the case here. this is not about democrat, republican, conservative or liberal. this is about human suffering in america. the media, you have to talk to the president for those people. host: you can talk to him in washington through this show. caller: great. i will say at one time. mr

the issue is that you do not have a lot of oil coming out of the oil well. there may be natural gas coming out instead. this is a risk-management process, to build with the objective. i have two concerns. the administration will need extra time to implement these protocols, but on the other hand, i am in the process of losing thousands of jobs in indiana. well allowing companies to drill partially, without allowing them to tap into the oil reservoir, will this create tremendous risks? the reason i am looking into this solution is because, it will allow the administration time -- we will try to keep the oil rig into not throwing anything out. >> i have spoken to sen. about what is taking place and the industry has made department of the interior has made recommendations, it is important that they be adequately staffed, to the revised permitting that is being put in place. >> the time has expired and the gentle lady from taxes is recognized. >> thank you for your courtesy. so many of us have indicated that we have come from the region where so many constituent

c-4 oil. it will be important that based on facts, based on experts, based on a thorough examination of what went wrong and where things have gone right, but also where things have gone wrong, ttat we update the laws to make sure that the people in the gulf, hotel owners, families who are dependent for their lives on the gulf that they are made whole and that we are in a much better position to respond to any such crisis in the future. that was a prominent part of the discussion and i was pleased to see bipartisan agreement that we have to deal that -- with that in aggreesi an aggressive and fa bleeding white. we have an economy that is on the man but there are people who are out of work. -- on the mend but there are people who are out of work. a major part of our discussion was how could we continue to build on the progress that has been made in the economy? how can we make sure that has an impact on the job growth and a today improvements the people are saying in their own lives? a couple of

requiring oil companies to drill relief wells simultaneously in the production of oil? would it have helped if bp had had the relief well even before the spill took place? >> i have not had the discussion. i think that would be a legitimate point to raise and be put before the commission. it would fall over, i think, sam, the regulatory framework the commission will evaluate in order to determine the best way to operate this in a fail-safe atmosphere going forward. thanks, guys. . [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> tonight on c-span 2. >> progress in its army in today in washington to look at the political climate and midterm elections. live coverage starts shortly. we were supposed to get underway at 11:00 and we will have that live when it starts. president obama makes his first high-school graduation speech in southwest michigan designee. he will speak to kalamazoo central high school students. hundreds of people have tickets but it is not public. we will have live coverage here on cspan

keep oil from getting in -- as a legitimate means to deal with the oil spill to keep oil from getting in to the marshes of louisiana. i spoke with governor jindal and will continue to work with them moving forward. as you know, the upper edge of the perimeter of the spill -- as i have said before, this is a collection of spills, not one monolithic spill. it is approaching mississippi, alabama, and florida, with some reported on the islands. we have moved a large number of coast guard assets into the area. they have capability to do surveillance and also command and control. we have 250 coastguard skimmers with equipment on board the boats. we have patrol boats working to support the vessel of opportunity vessels we have enrolled to help us scout for oil passages off shore and conduct skimming operations. will continue to focus on the mississippi/alabama at issue. we continue to move boom into alabama. we are looking to deal with the entrance to mobile bay. with that, i would be glad to take your questions. you always go first, so go ahead. >> talking about top hat, you obviously try c

that's just for the oil.tal of 101 billion barrels in the offshore if these are made reasonably available to the american people for production. one of the things i'd like to emphasize is this oil belongs to the american people. the bounty and the value of this oil cannot be made and accessed for the benefit of the american people if it's not made available. and that alone is sufficient, just in the offshore, sufficient to take care of all the imported oil needs at the current rates of the united states for about 25 years. so that's not an inconsequential amount of oil. it would take care of all of us, like i said, including displacing all the canadian oil. similarly we have similar numbers for natural gas. enough natural gas in the outer continental shelf to at least take care of all the natural gas needs for the nation at the current rate for more than 20 years. one might ask, somewhat the value of these reserves and resources for the american people, and, frankly, if you use standard pricing, based on just

>> since the oil spill cost of our -- since the oil spill?h five times. >> what are you hearing from the science -- from the fishermen? >> that is it really tough time for them. the people are canceling tir trips. that could be long term. >> in terms of building that the wetlands, we know that it is possible down the line to build back wetlands but it wi be a difficult and arduous proce. we are told once oil reaches the rosa can, that it could be between five and seven days before that the carrier rates. a lot of the plant life that holds together the land of berms that are there. once that starts to die off, that has the possibility of turning into openater. talk about that process. we have seen that over the life of our wetlands. >> those wetlands are at the mouth of the mississippi and are already very stressed. this is on top of a lot of planned loss -- land loss and additional stress. >> is there a remedy out there? ther has been a lot of talk about the possibility of going in there with their boats and cleaning up this oil once it hits

rise in oil explosion and the consequent oil spill on the gulf of mexico. from london, this is about one- half hour. >> statement secretary of state. >> thank you, mr. deputy speaker. i welcome you to your position. the house will wish to join me in expressing our deepest sympathy for those three very injured in the explosion in the gulf of mexico. and for all individuals and communities affected by spilling oil or fearing that thhy will be affected over the days and weeks to come. our thoughts must be first with them. on the 20th of april, an explosion and subsequent fire on a drilling rig operated by trans ocean under contract to bp in the gulf of mexico effectively killed 13 workers. it sank. substantial quantities of oil were leaking into the ocean. the blowout preventer, which should have sealed the leak, failed. the causes of the accident and now -- of the accident are now subject to a u.s. presidential commission of inquiry and to civil and criminal investigation. there has never been such a large fleet of oil so deep in the ssa. attention of the --

slicks of oil.n fact, the oil as it keeps moving that what which is in the surface water, that oil starts to, as i mentioned, kind of break up and become what we call streamers or... and then ultimately these tar balls. so i think it is quite likely that some small percentage of the oil will get out into the atlantic. if the oil flow stops... k-p stopped down, i think it will be less and less oil going out there. >> woodruff: well, we will have many more days to think about that, but it's helpful to take a look at it right now -l nancy kinner, we thank you, and donald van nieuwenhuise, we thank you both for talking with us. >> thanks very much. >> thank you. >> lehrer: still to come on the "newshour": an education update; the shortage of healthy foods in mississippi; a china debrief from ray suarez; the campaign against hepatitis-b., and paul mccartney at the white house. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman in our newsroom. >> holman: there were services in turkey today, for th

it is an oil company.ntil now, this has not hit obama as administration as badly as katrina hit bush. host: with president bush and his response to katrina, the public's response was solidified soon afterwards, even though he did make trips to louisiana in the weeks following. is it important that a president's first 24-48 hours, the time the public remembers? guest: it can be. hours has not48 been judged harshly. if i could say a word of defense of a former president, on the facts of the matter, the reason he did not land his plane and go was because there was so chaos going on and that adding the incredible security considerations of a presidential visit would not have been a good thing as a matter of fact. his white house needed to think the way up to demonstrate more concern and looking out of a plane window. host: we have some footage of president bush giving a speech in new orleans. >> to every person who has served and sacrificed in this emergency, i offer the gratitude of our country. tonight, i al

it oversees the oil spill liability trust fund and tracks the cost of the oil spill. he has served in the coast guard for over 20 years. prior to his appointment as director, he cherished -- served as the chief of the financial division. our final witness is susan fleming, director of the infrastructure team at the government accountability office. she formerly served as a financial analyst for a general electric. your statements will be made part of the record. try to stay close to five minutes. if you run over that, that is ok. if you run a lot over that, it is not ok. will you leave us off? >> thank you para >> thank you. >> i am daryle willis, vice president of resources for bp america. on april 29 i accepted the role of overseeing the claims process, which was established after the fire on the deepwater oil rig. i am here to share information about the claims process. this incident, which killed 11 workers and injured 17 others, has profoundly touched all of us. there has been shocked that such an accident could have happened and sorrow for the lives lost and the

it is kind of like an oil budget. how much have we skimmed and burned and how much is coming out. >> yesterday you talked about the cleanup blasting into the fall. can you elaborate? you cannot expected to be cleaned up in the fall. >> we need to be realistic and honest and transparent. when the relief well as finished, will will have flowed to the service in some manner. we will not get 100% containment. there will be oil on the service the day the will is capped. that will have to be dealt with and it will be long-term environmental issues associated with where the oil has come ashore. we will have to conduct a natural resource damage assessments to weaken understand what the long term issues associated with that and what b.p. should be held accountable for. we will be dealing with the oil and the effect will after the well is capped. >> how long approximately? >> it depends on how much oil is up there. there needs to be an expectation we're working for to six weeks after the will is capped on the oil that is presen

we will bring that up tosuck oil -- suck oil our of them. all to many, we don't want a fixed riser pipe. -- ultimately. and what we are constructing from the next containment strategy is a rise in a piper anchored to the bottom of the ocean. we have a flexible cable thht goes over the wellhead through a mock permanent cap. they will process and offload tankers. days will be larger vessels -- these will be larger vessels. that is the same capability on the drill rigs. they need that because they will continually transferred to the tanker as a source of storage. they cannot move very far. that is why these are brought from the north sea. that is not the usual form of transfer. >> i'm sorry, one more. clear leader is a drillship, correct? >> yes, it's very similar to discover enterprise. >> will the clear leader stay on site? last thing i'm confused about is we have this [inaudible] it will no longer be used at that point? it will either of the drillships be used? >> at some point we will make a transition. it will be pretty crowded of there. w