three minute, please. >> thank you, chairman stupak. it's been nearly two months since the explosion of the deep water horizon drilling rig resulting in the death s of 11 workers and injured additional workers. since then, we've witnessed the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history, that continues to pour an estimated 60,000 barrels of oil a day into the gulf of mexico. that has led to over 66,000 victims filing claims to receive compensation. through this subcommittee's work, several alarming decisions by bp have come to light to save money and time. it's unconscionable when companies pay more attention to their comforts and their profits than to their own workers' safety and to our environment. at our last hearing one witness from transocean testified that a duplicate blowout preventer system comforts rough $15 million not used on the deep water horizon rig. bp also utilized a risky option for steel tubing saving $7 million. bp did not circulate drilling mud or secure casing hangers between biopsies of different dime ters

. >> thank you, chairman stupak. it's been nearly two months since the explosion of the deep water horizon drilling rig resulting in the death s of 11 workers and injured additional workers. since then, we've witnessed the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history, that continues to pour an estimated 60,000 barrels of oil a day into the gulf of mexico. that has led to over 66,000 victims filing claims to receive compensation. through this subcommittee's work, several alarming decisions by bp have come to light to save money and time. it's unconscionable when companies pay more attention to their comforts andheir profits than to their own workers' safety and to our environment. at our last hearing one witness from transocean testified that a duplicate blowout preventer system comforts rough $15 million not used on the deep war horizon rig. bp also utilized a risky option for steel tubing saving $7 million. bp did not circulate drilling mud or secure casing hangers between biopsies of different dime terse an

stupak. there are questions that need to be asked, that are legget, because we don't want another oil spill of this magnitude or any magee tight in the gulf of mexico, and if this subcommittee can do things to make it much more difficult for an incident like this to occur in the future, then we will have done our work. i yield back. >> thank you. i will do my opening statement now. today is the 59th day of the bp oil spill that has devastated much of the gulf of mexico. 11 men lost their lives the day the deepwater horizon drilling rig exploded. and in the 59 days that have followed, countless people have lost their livelihood as the oil spill plutes the fishing grounds and plutes the states. this is the third hearing the oversight subcommittee has held and the fifth hearing overall in the energy and congress committee. our first committee discovered problems with the blowout preventor and several other factors. our second hearing was a field hearing that -- in new orleans where we heard from

stupak. >> thank you for you and mr. waxman for holding this hearing and for your leadership. on the oversight committee, we have been investigating the actions of bp. this provides the committee a chance to examine the practices of the other major oil companies. he could be so that bp is the one bad apppe in the bunch, but unfortunately they appear to have plenty of company. exxon and other "companies are just as unprepared to respond to major oil spill in the gulf as bp. i've been examining the oil spill response plan of exxonmobil, the largest oil company in the united states. this document is over 500 pages long. in many respects, is virtually indistinguishable from bp's response plan and the response plans of the other major companies. at this time, mr. chairman, i would ask unanimous coosent that this be been a part of the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you. there is one major difference between the exxonmobil plan and the other response plans. the section dealing with tte media. bp, shell, conocophillips, aad chevron have plans with short media relat

stupak cuholds.we are getting the facts out in as fast and transparent a fashion so that the american extent that it is possible to understand, what happened. there is no question that british petroleum oil company, the owner and chief operator of the reagan that had the accident -- of the rig that had the accident is responsible for the accident. it is the responsibility of our major oil companies do have adequate contingency plans when things go wrong. i am not trying to whitewash the private sector in terms of their responsibility for causing this problem, but i want to point out something that has not yet been pointed out. the five people most connerned about solving the problem are probably sitting before us today. exxon mobil, chevron, shell oil, bp america and conoco-philips have huge interest in getting it right and never being wrong again. if you add market caps to those five companies, they would not equal the market cap of some of the oil companies owned by sovereign nations such as saudi

stupak and mr. waxman are doing an excellent job working with dr. burr negligence and myself in conducting i think a fair fair oversight investigation. boar going to get into a number of tse issues. i'm speaking totally for myself, i'm not speaking for the republican party, i'mot speaking for anybody in the house of representatives but myself. but i'm ashamed of what happened in the white house yesterday. i think it is a tragedy ithe firks proportion that i would characterize as a shakedown, in this ce a $20 billion shakedown, with the attorney neral of the united states who is conducting a criminal investigation and has every right to do that to protect the american people. participating in what amounts to a $20 million slush fund which i think set aster ribl precedent for the future. if i called you into my office. avshtd and i had the subcommittee chairman mr. stupak with me who was legitimately subjecting an oversight investigation on your compa and said if you put so many millions of dollars in a project in my constitutional district i could go

stupak. >> mr. waxman and i sent a letter yester day, and you coold respond a little bit to it. we found some areas where we think bp should have done things differently to get control of this well. you use the word "nightmare well" and one of the e-mails that we put in our report. i was struck that in your testimony, based on the industry's extensive experience, you state that what we do know is when you properly design wells in the range of risk anticipated, build and layers of redundancy, properly inspect and maintain equipment, kennuck test, and drill on best practices, that incident that we are witnessing in the gulf of mexico today should not occur. i mention that because the saying -- the exact same words are there in your testimony, but it is attributtd to the vice-president of exxonmobil global affairs. in your 500 page response, you stay on script. i have to compliment you. you are all on script and you are using the same words. that was the problem with the well that mr. waxman pointed out in his testimony. if it was not bp but one of you, one of your companies, if th

. >> yesterday, chairman stupak and i sent a letter to tell me his word -- to tell me his word -- tony hayward that describes a series of decisions that bp made it that seemed to increase the risk of catastrophic blow out. i would like to ask each of you whether you think mistakes were made by bp. >> in reviewing the letter that you both cent, it appears clear to me that a number of design standards were not followed. >> if i could come quickly, you phink that they made mistakes. the answer you would give it yes.d be west depic >> we would not have drilled a well the way they did. >> we have just had a chance to look at your letter. our experts are taking a look at it. i have read it myself. from what i have seen, it is consistent with what the task force found. we have an opportunity to raise the bar, if you will, on standards in the industry, and it appears from your letter that not all standards that we would recommend or that we would employ were in place. >> do any of you disagree with the statement that bp made mistakes? >> is not a disagreement, it is just a confirmation that we

will first make a -- before we go to the witnesses i will first make a unanimous consent chairman stupak and representatives blackburn, castor to get weiner and question witnesses following questions by members of the subcommittee. without ok generation, the chair -- without objection the chair hears no objections of the subcommittee so it is so ordered. it is the policy to swear you in before you testify, so i would ask each of you to please rise and raise your right hand. do you each solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? let the record reflect that each of the witnesses responded in the affirmative. now we turn to our first witness, in rex tillison, the chairman and chief executive officer of the exxonmobil corporation. he is also a member of the business roundtable and the american petroleum institute. we welcome you, mr. chillison. >> thank you, chairman markey. ranking member upton, members of the subcommittee. the many issues on the energy agenda, none is more pressing than the accident and the spill unfolding in the gulf of mexico. as someon

. >> yesterday chairman stupak and i sent a letter to yeny heyward, the c.e.o. of b.p. and it had questions about the design and decisions made by b.p. at the well. the letter describes a series of decisions b.p. made that seemed to reduce the risk of catastrophic blow out. i'd like to ask each of you whether you think mistakes were made by b.p.? >> in reviewing the letter that you both send, it appears clear to me that a number of design standards were -- i would consider to be the industry norm were not followed. >> let me go through this, if i could quickly. you think they made mistake? the answer you would give would be yes. >> we would not have drilled the well the way they do. >> how about you, mr. watson? >> just had a chance to take a look at your letter, it's quite lengthy with a number of details comments, our experts are looking at it. i've read it myself and it's consistent with what the joint industry task force found in that we have the opportunity to raise the bar, if you will, on standards in the industry and it certainly appeaas from your letter that no

. >> lehrer: the man chairing the hearing, democrat bart stupak of michigan, hammered away at allegations that b.p. took short cuts on the deepwater well. >> are you trying to tell me you have not reached a conclusion that b.p. really cut corners here? >> i think it's too early to reach conclusions with respect, mr. chairman. the investigations are ongoing. >> do you expect to be c.e.o. of b.p. much longer? >> i'm... at the moment i'm focused on the response. i think everyone here believes that the highest priority is to stop the leak. >> lehrer: internal b.p. documents showed the deepwater horizon drilling operation was fraught with problems. one company engineer called it a "nightmare well." republican michael burgess of texas picked up on that point today. >> were you privy, then, to any other information, the difficulties they had had, the multiple gas kicks, lose tools down the hole, the length of time they'd been over the hole, the decisions to move quickly because we'd spend too much time over this well? >> i had no prior knowledge. >> who would have had that information? >> certai

>> i received a copy of a letter written by congressman waxman and congressman stupak that did make reference to a concern about the financial status of the project, yes. >> so it was over budget. >> that was the inference and chairman waxman') letter. >> i am not asking about that. >> this is a bp budget so i cannot comment on what the original budget was the and i have no idea where they were with respect to the process. >> of a different issue for bp. mr. willis, can you tell me -- there's all sorts of stuff that needs to be cleared up. for example, this would not point a finger at you guys -- well, it kind of wood but not in a bad way. there are inspectors out there, and you could pay attention to this, mr. newman, and maybe even mr. bennett, but there were inspectors out there that told -- they were on fishing trips, and going to lsu games, college football games, that were not doing their jobs. can you shed any light on that. >> senator tester, and the claims guy. >> i understand that. mr. newman, can you shed any light on that? were they doing their jobs? >> from transocean's perspecti

idea that bp is going to get out of this without being hit financially [unintelligible] i liked art stupak comment -- i like barton's comment. instead of the president using the viggo process to determine what bp -- using the legal process to determine what bp will 0owe, i think that needs to be determined in the future. i think they did the same thing with gm. host: sutterville hill, alabama, independent line, mary, go ahead. caller: i am very upset. i just have four quick points. the administration should apologize for not responding for nine days. alan salazar should resign. and that $20 billion, and that is over four years. that is $5 billion per year. they should listen to the locals who know the waterways and the estuaries and the wildlife and not hinder people who are trying to clean it up like bobby jindal in it louisiana. it is killing what is left of live in the gulf. -- left alive in the gulf. i wish people would stop and look at what is going on down here. it is not just killing the animals. it is killing our way of life. and mr. president, you played golf ball ever won and was

. >> have either red or been given a summary of the letter that chairman waxman and chairman stupak sent earlier in the week that lists the five or six outstanding -- what they consider to be the anomalies in this well and the safety concerns? are you familiar with that? >> i am familiar with that letter. >> do you agree in general with the concerns that are raised theire about the lack of a safety, are being employed -- a safety collared being employed that could stop the oil and gas minting and is getting at the well that someone recommended 21 or 22, and bp made a decision to only use six. now you know what does happen, do you share some of the concerns that that letter raises? >> i share the concerns about a number of contributing factors that may have created this incident that focused on the cement, on the casing, on the integrity tests, on the well control procedures, and the complete failure of the blowout preventer. they are all areas that i believe we need to understand fully before we draw conclusions about how this accident occurred. >> my final question is, is ibad on what y

stupak: starting this book tax-free rebate ecks of $250 will be nt to seniors who have already hit the part d doughnut hole. this $250 rebate is a key improvement to medicare and the first medicare benefit of the new health care reform law to ta effect. the rebates are being sent three months ahead of schule and the first round of checks will reach nearly 80,000 seniors who are already in the doughnut hole. following this inial round o rebate checks, addition checks will be sent to seniors ashey hit the doughnut hole. it is estimated that four million seniors across the country will receive a250 rebate check this year. this is just the first phase of relief for seniors from prescription drug costs. next year seniors in the doughnut hol will see a 15% discount on brand name drugs. while the medicare part d prcription drug program has helped millions of seniors obtainrescription drug coverage, senis would fall into the doughnut hole and receivno financial assistance with tir prescription drugs aroften forced to put their health in danger by splitting pills or skipping treatments all toge

>> i received a copy of the letter written by congressman waxman and stupak that made reference to the financial status of the project, yes. >> so it was overbudget? >> that was the inference in senator waxman's letter. >> the budget -- did the b.p. budget -- so i can't comment what the original budget was and i have no idea where they were with respect to that. >> ok. that is a different issue for b.p. could you tell me, i mean, there is all sorts of stuff out here that needs to be cleared up. for example, this by the way, wouldn't point a finger at you guys. well, it kind of would but not in a real, real bad way. there are inspectors out there. maybe this -- pay attention to this, too, mr. newman. there were inspectors. maybe mr. bennetts. i don't know. there were inspectors out there that have been told that were on fishing trips going l.s.u. games, college football games that were not doing their job. can you shed any light on that? >> i'm the claims guy. >> that's ok. i understand. >> mr. newman? can you shed any light on that? if you're drilling the well you know whether the peop

so thank you chairman stupak and ranking member burgess for having this oversight hearing where its impact is being felt. first of all, my condolences to the families of the men whose lives were lost. thank you for having the courage to testify and for that of the other families that you represent, and the important position you are taking on the future of off-shore drilling in sbite -- spite of your loss, as well as the high-sea dedication act, which is an insult o the workers when they sacrifice and leave home for weeks at a time. we wish a speedy recovery to those injured, and to those whose live hood has been dis-- livihood has been disrupted or damaged. we commit to working with president obama to do everything we can to bring your ommunities and your lives back to as close to normal as possible as soon as possible. at every briefing and those of national ressurces i have asked bp and the coast guard for assurance that everything that needed to be done was being don+ to ensure long-term health impact, including using and providing protective gear. it seems the assurances we received w

>> have you either red or at least been given a summary of the letter that chairman and chairman stupak sent earlier in the week that list the five outstanding, what the staff considered to be anomalies in this well, and safety concerns? >> i am familiar with the letter. >> ok. do you generally agree with the concerns raised their about the lack -- raised there about the lack of a safety collar being employed, the number of devices that could have stopped the oil and gas escaping from the well? someone recommended 21 or 22 and bp decided to use only six. now do share some of the concerns that letter raises? >> i think i share the concern about the number of contributing factors that have created this incident. they are focused on the cement casing, integrity tests, well control procedures, and on the complete failure of the blowout preventer. they are all areas of believe we all need to understand fully before we draw conclusions about how this accident occurred. >> my final question is based on what you now know, do you agree with the general conclusion expressed yesterday that this wa

stupak has emphasized that. this is something with which we have been overwhelmed. so part of that plan, i think we form an emergency response team. hopefully this will never happen again, but it would be nice to have if we are in that venue. >> we have a refinery locally in my area, i'm very proud of it. he says what risk do we face on land-based facilities as well? i think the story that's not told, and joe barton mentioned this a couple times, but you are in the deepwater because that's where major oil finds are, and i have marge natural oil production in southern illinois and it is about a barrel a day. we still produce. we are the 10th leading state. it's not very much, and we're proud of what we get out of the ground. since i've been to the refinery there, numerous times, one thing that is important, if we're talking about all the above energying strategy, -- energy strategy, and i'll talk climb ate debate another day, but we can agree on north america energy independence. what you are doing is bringing tar samples down through a pipeline that can be refined i