newman, transocean was punching a hole? >> transocean was hired to provide the drilling rig in the people. >> are you aware that the project was over budget? >> 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,

did your husbands work for bp, or transocean. >> transocean. >> transocean. >> and since the accident, what have you heard from the company itself? have hey come to you and offered any type of assistance with putting your lives back together? >> actually, i sat across the president and c.e.o. of transocean. me. they have kept in close contact with me with anything to do out there. >> are they giving you financial assistance at this point? >> yes. we are still receiving a pay check. >> is that the same for you, ms. kemp? >> yes. the president and c.e.o. came to the house to express his personal condolences. like natalie i also had a representative from transocean who we keep in close contact and he and i speak on a regular daily basis, and yes, we are still receiving their payccecks as if they were out there working. >> so the ability to keep body while things are being sorted out, you have a cash flow that issavailable to you. >> yes. >> yes. + >> the reason i asked ask is because just proceeding the deepwater horizon tragedy there was another tragedy that occurred on land on april 5

newman of transocean here today. i look forward to hearing how he views their role in his ongoing efforts. darko o invited anar petroleum which owns a 25% stake in the gulf well. their names are also on the bill from the federal government. unfortunately, they declined to send witnesses today. i am disappointed that they chose not to attend. it is my hope to have all responsible parties that are tabled. we all they can find time in the near future to discuss these issues with us and with the american people. the hole we are trying to plug is some 5,000 feet under the surface of the water. the men and women whose livelihoods and communities have been disrupted by this disaster live in many cases it right down the street. we can do a better job of protecting not only the gulf but our entire nature from the impacts of this bill -- this spill. this bill has lasted 58 days. longer than it rained for noah in the book of genesis. that story taught us that we can find something at the end of this planet. i do not know if we

they are employees of transocean, another contractor. both of them made it very clear they wanted to deal with the families. we wanted to surprise a support -- to provide support to transocean. we have made it clear we would provide all that they would need for the families. >> let me ask another question. there were bp personnel on the rig. we read that oil workers on the rig were held in seclusion on the open water for up to two days after the april 20 explosion while attorneys attempted to convince them to sign legal documents stating that they were unharmed by the incident, and then claimed they were forbidden from having contact with loved ones during that time and were told they would not be able to go home until they signed the documents that were presented with. after being awake for 50 hours, stephen davis caved in and signed the papers. he said most of the others did as well. do you think this is an appropriate way to treat people that experienced that? since you had people on the rig, what was their feeling about that? what is

we lost 11 men on that rig, transocean and other companies lost 11 men on that rig. i don't feel apologies are in order. i have serious questions about this fund we heard about yesterday. i hope this committee will stay engaged in the oversight of that activity as well. it's still a disturbing to me that we've not had anyone from the federal regulatory side. we brought a ton of other people in here to question them. we need mr. salazar. we need the minerals and management people here who approved that exploration plan that bp submitted that was woefully inadequate. now i've got some questions i do need to ask. bp, unfortunately, is not the first time you've been in front of our committee and in 2006, although you were not ceo in september of that year, i pulled the transcript last night and looked through it again. big oil spill in alaska had to do with not proper maintenance on the pipelines. and when you came in you said you were going to focus like a laser beam on safety. and certainly that had to be welcomed news after texas city -- after the north slope accident

could you go back and explain why they made this claim and why transocean rejected it? >> i believe, chairman that, anadark's claim would be in response to the administration's moratorium on deep water drilling in the gulf of mexico and because those are ongoing discussions between transocean and anadarko, i would prefer to let those conversations car through to their conclusion before i, you know, before i comment too freely on the current state of those conversations. >> all right. another question for you and then i have one for miss fleming and then maybe a closing statement. let me just say, one question i want to ask before we leave is just to ask each of you. you have heard your colleagues and this panel give their testimony. you heard them respond to the dwheas have been aked asked of them. i'm going ask each of you to give an opening statement. i'm going ask each of you to give a closing statement. any additional comments you would like to bring particularly in response you have heard others say or not say. be thinking about that, please. meanwhile, for mr. new

that 1851 law that would limit transocean's liability to $26 million has been discussed.e any good reason to keep this on the books. should we repeal it? >> let me start by saying what i said before which is that i really can't respond what i said about the breach of contract claims. i don't think anybody has said this yet. open 90 does not apply that would be marry time law and marry time tort law solely. as to the limb tax of liability act, i mentioned in my statement it was passed in a very, very different historical context. it was passed to encourage shipping and commerce. you ask yourself is that law still sailing from a policy perspective. what happens is the ship owner starts to concur this proceeding in a federal court somewhere and everybody who has a claim has to then file that claim in that federal court. what then happens is they say we want to go back to state court for some issues and they epter into stimulations and they go back to state court and come back to federal court. it is expensive, time-consumer and slow proses. >> i am sure that is not good to h

they are employees of transocean and other contractors. they made it very clear that they wanted to do with the cameras. we have provided support to both transocean and the other. we have made it clear that we will provide all and every need to the families. >> let me ask another question. there were bp personal on the rig. we read that oil workers from the rig held in seclusion on the open water for up to two days after the april 20 explosion while attorneys attempted to convince them to sign the documents stating they were unharmed by the handsome. the men claim that they were forbidden from having any contact with concerned loved ones during that time, and were told there would not be able to go home until they signed the documents that were presented with. after being awake for 50 difficult hours, stephen caved in and sign the papers, and most others did as well. do you think this is inappropriate way to treat people who have experienced bad? and since your executives, you had people on the rig, what was their feeling, and what is your

i did not get a bit of information that date from yourself, transocean, halliburton, and others. i learned a lot more from the ladies talking about the phone calls that they had with their husbands, phone calls, when they came home for visits. there seemed to be a lot of concern about things that are happening on the rig. have any of you work on a rig? >> not a deep water rig, but i have worked on rigs during my career. >> it is that unusual? i go home and complain about mr. markey a lot. [laughter] it is that usual to have that level of anxiety that these people were sharing with their wives about the safety conditions on those offshore rigs? >> congressman, i have not looked at their testimony in detail, so i cannot comment directly to that. there were clearly things going on at this well in the days and hours prior to the loss of control. we are interested to understand and it is not completed this point. i cannot really say. well control is part of drilling. you're trying to drill into the forces of mother nature and hold that back in a controlled fashion until you can secure

i do not think that transocean or bp ought to be paying a dividend. one should be available for what will be large costs necessary to be covered by both companies. host: here is a deadline. here is this question from the viewer -- what does the center feel about the continued blasting of bp by the president and democrats, and the effect on stock plans? guest: i do not think it is blasting to describe the responsible party year. this is bp's well. you might want to use their front page of "the washington post" it began -- it is not only lawmakers accusing them of that. there are other stores. shortcuts taken, regulations not follow. all this will come not from the criminal investigation. i wish that none of this had happened. if we're not involved, let me give you an example froo the exxon valdez situation -- they said it would cover the costs, but they fought for 20 years, and many of the people they owed were dead by then. host: here is another caller. caller: thank you, senator byron dorgan for taking my call today. another you represent the great s

that the judge in this case, according to public records, owned stocks in transition in 2008 -- transocean in 2008. pat on the line for independents, good morning. caller: first of all, a general goes through a lot. there's a lot your accountable for. you are under a microscope. everything you say or do is recorded and looked at. i think general mcchrystal has done an incredible job out there. sometimes people make mistakes. there are things he should not have said. unfortunately, when you are a general, it's hard to move past that. i've spent three years in iraq and two in afghanistan. i am well qualified to say that. there are times when you are scared out there. when an order comes down from the president, it is taken care of. we do what we have to do to make it happen. host: should general mcchrystal stay on the job? caller: absolutely. host::despite this tradition of respecting chain of command? caller: again, everybody makes mistakes. host: some have pointed of that this is the second time general mcchrystal has shown poor judgment in respect to the chain of command? caller: he shoul

law that would limit transocean's liability to $26 million, as has been discussed. should we repeal it and how do you respond to some of the things that mr. coleman said? >> let me start by saying what i said before is i can't say things about the breach of contract claims. i was speaking more from the constitutional sense. let me also add when you talk about claims, and i don't think anybody said this yet, and it's really important, open 90 does not apply to personal injury and wrongful death claims. open 90 does not apply to personal injury and wrongful death claims. that would be maritime law and maritime tort law solely. as to the limitation of liability act, i mentioned in my statement it was passed in a very, very different historical context. it was passed in 1851 to encourage investment in maritime shipping and commerce. the corporate form hadn't developed. bankruptcy law had not developed. so you ask yourself today, is that law still salient from a policy perspective? and what happens is the ship owners starts a concursive proceeding in a federal court some

bp, plus transocean which is operating the rig, plus halliburton which is operating some of the equipmentthe rig, plus the operators on the rig some seem to have not acted properly. that's not an issue. i don't question that and liability will be enormous. whether or not stephanie miller knows there is criminal liability. i have my doults abobts about t. we should be abiding by the constitution. why didn't the president call congress into session, getting a law pass deed manned demanding w fund. nowhere in the constitution does it give the president the power to strong arm -- >> larry: can the president demand something? >> he can demand anything he wants. he can demand anything he wants. >> larry: could have refused? >> because public relations climate makes it impossible to refuse. he can shake them down. >> that's called capitalism. >> no, that's not capitalism. that's not capitalism. absolutely not capitalism. >> that is a big bully. >> larry: one at a time or no one is heard. mark? >> hayward did not get religion this morning or yesterday. companies don't act out of feeling, they act

a lady from transocean at least was nice enough to come and speak to me and very sincerely express hercondolences. but bp, i expect, is fairly unhappy with what we're trying to do in congress, and that is to change the death on the high seas act and make them answerable with punitive dama damages. >> larry: former crack addict, six-time former prison inmate got out, got clean, created a program to help female offenders do the same. watch. >> we all leave prison saying, i'm going to get my life on track. and you end up getting off a bus downtown los angeles, skid row. many times, you don't even make it out of the skid row area before you're caught up into that cycle again. my name is susan burton. after my son died, i used drugs. i went to prison six times. finally, i found rehab and i thought i can help women come home from prison. i picked them up, bring them back to the house. >> she offered you a warm bed, food. like a real family. she made me want to change my life. >> you proud of my, miss burton? >> sure. you came a long way. >> this is life. that's what it's all about. >> larry:

the only way to get the information we all need from b.p., transocean, halliburton and other private entities is for the commission to have the power to compel its disclosure. the commission just won't be able to do its work without complete access to the information it needs. so passing this bill is the appropriate and the responsible thing to do. it's also consistent with federal commission and investigations that followed previous disaster, such as that on three-mile island. madam speaker, the people of the gulf of mexico and the nation deserve an speculation for all the circumstances and the decisions that led up to this disaster. only a comprehensive independent review with subpoena power will ensure the necessary lessons be learned, practices changed and future disasters averted. so i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation. subpoena power is critical to hold all the parties accountable, protect taxpayers and successfully clean up the disaster in the gulf. and i yield back to the chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california yi

halliburton and transocean were out there. they have yet to be determined as far as wrongful conduct or liability. we're looking at all that now. with regard to this fund, whatever it is, it's got to have an escape clause so that if the damages escalate beyond that point, remember, that's about one year's earnings, one year's annual profit for bp. that's the relatively of what we're talking about. they earn $17 billion last year. might do a little better than that this year. we're talking about a year's worth of profit. but we're talking about a generation's worth of damages, maybe a legacy that will invade the next generation. we're talking about monumental potential damages. am i comfortable with any type of cap? absolutely not. >> suarez: professor farber, this is a situation with a very large number of claimants, so far an undetermined amount of damage. in many cases like this, the litigation is... has taken so long that original company doesn't even exist any more by the time all the lawsuits are wrapped. do you have to c

. >> ifill: earlier today at an oil conference in london, transocean, the owner of the sunken rig, criticized the obama administration's approach. ceo steven newman told reporters there are things the administration could implement today that would allow the industry to go back to work tomorrow without an arbitrary six month time limit. b.p. also came in for criticism. protesters twice interrupted a speech by b.p. chief of staff steve westwell who was standing in for ceo tony hayward. other oil executives at the conference warned that the deep water drilling ban was ... would cripple world energy supplies. the court decision did not end the debate. for more on what's driving it, we turn to rayola dougher, the senior economic advisor at the american petroleum institute which opposed the moratorium. and kiernan suckling, the executive director of the center for biological diverse diversity, an environmental protection group that supported it. what did you think of the judge's decision today? >> we welcome the decision. i'm sure that the folks along the gulf who stood to lose their jobs are pret

we lost 11 men on that rig, transocean and other companies lost 11 men on that rig. i don't feel apologies are in order. i have serious questions about this fund we heard about yesterday. i hope this committee will stay engaged in the oversight of that activity as well. it's still a disturbing to me that we've not had anyone from the federal regulatory side. we brought a ton of other people in here to question them. we need mr. salazar. we need the minerals and management people here who approved that exploration plan that bp submitted that was woefully inadequate. now i've got some questions i do need to ask. bp, unfortunately, is not the first time you've been in front of our committee and in 2006, although you were not ceo in september of that year, i pulled the transcript last night and looked through it again. big oil spill in alaska had to do with not proper maintenance on the pipelines. and when you came in you said you were going to focus like a laser beam on safety. and certainly that had to be welcomed news after texas city -- after the north slope accident

by the way, deepwater horizon -- the parent company transocean -- is a swiss company. one thing that i am hopeful that will come on of this is we will reserve the privilege of taking minerals out of the ground using american-owned, american-made vessels. host: in the "financial times" -- we are talking to gene taylor of mississippi about the oil spill --i am having trouble finding the right word. next phone call from massachusetts. brian, independent line. caller: good morning. i hear you talking about responsibility, market-based economies, but you seem to be cutting short the fact that government has the responsibility for what happened down there. i remember when gasoline shot up to $4 a gallon and everyone was screaming about all the money that we've been giving to oil companies for technology improvements, keeping the price of ggs down. i wonder where all that money went? i heard a previous caller talked about the north sea blowup prevent terror that they used in norway. -- the blowout preventers that they used in norway. they would have been much better in helpin

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 terse and critical signals were brushed aside. when standard methods were not followed to center the steel pipe in the drill hole, one of bp's operations drilling engineers remarked in an e-mail, quote, who cares? it's done. end of story. but these cut corners have been anything but the end of the story. as theeworkers and volunteers from around the country help clean up the oil from the disaster, many are becoming ill. between april 22 and june 10, 8 485 of bp's own employees have been ill. and the money has long been lost as they already paid $81 million in claims. mr. hayward, like many americans, i feel physically sick when sii see the clips of e oil gushing in the gulf. witnessing the devastation of our waters and our coast. and the wildlife. thinking about the li

and no matter how much we may legitimately be, transocean, halliburton responsible? we may need the federal response from taxpayers? >> the responsible parties of the well will pay that amount. we have in sending legislation to improve a number of the regulatory structures are run the relationship between oil and the government, one of the things that we have s the lifting of the economic liability cap to an unlimited level that we feel comfortable, given the enormity of this disaster that we're looking at right now. in terms -- >> in florida, parts of the mid- atlantic -- >> i did not know the degree to which the full damage assessments has been worked out to that level best on when current -- wind and current. we've been taking the flow rate figures that the group came out with last week, the understanding the flow 15,000 barrels after the riser is cut, what you can begin to do is to figure out the math and figure out the massive amount of oil but will be in the gulf and could spread. those are sobering figures and you can understand as the president said today, we

oil and gas industry both at home and abroad, as well as from relevant companies -- including bp, transoceanlliburton, and others. i just said in our meeting, in doing this work, they have my full support to follow the facts wherever they may lead -- without fear or favor. and i'm directing them to report back in six months with options for how we can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills that result from offshore drilling. as a result of this disaster, lives have been lost. businesses have been decimated. communities that had already known great hardship now face the specter of sudden and painful economic dislocations. untold damage is being done to the environment -- damage that could last for decades. we owe all those who've been harmed, as well as future generations, a full and vigorous accounting of the events that led to what has now become the worst oil spill in u.s. history. only then can we be assured that deepwater drilling can take place safely. only then can we accept further development of these resources as we transition to a clean energy economy. only then can w

organizations, and from experts in the oil and gas industry both at home and abroad, including bp, transocean, halliburton, and others. in doing this work, they have my full support to follow the facts wherever they may lead without fear or favor. i directing them -- i am directing them to report back in six months with options for how we can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills that result from offshore drilling. as a result of this disaster, lives have been lost. businesses have been decimated. communities that have already known great hardship now face the specter of sudden and painful economic dislocations. untold damage is deep -- being done to the environment that last for decades. we all off -- we owe all those who have been haamed as well as future generations all full and vigorous accounting of the events that led to what has now become the worst oil spill in u.s. history. only then can we be assured that deepwater drilling can take place safely. only then can we accept further development of these resources as we transition to a clean energy economy. olly then can we

buone of t things that struck me when we had the principals from bp, halliburton and transocean here before this committee was their response when i asked them what they were doing to address research on deepwater spills and cleanup and the answer from three was zero. they are committing no resources to doing anything about how deal wit these kinds of situations in the future. and as i'm sure you all know, ri we're spending about 50 million a year as the federal government to fund r&d for exploration and production of oil and gas and alter deep waters but we're not spending nearly that amount to address cleanup and containment and what happens when we get into the kind o that we're in right now. we're fortunate at the univerty of new hampshire to have the coastal response research center which is one of the premiere centers in the country that's looking at these issues and in talking to their director, dr. nancy kinner, one of the points she made to me is that rht now what we really lack is any funding either in the industry or from the federal government to address this kind of rese

but one of things that struck me when we had the principals from bp, halliburton and transocean here this committee was their response when i asked them what they were doing to addressesearch on deepwater spills and cleanup and the answer from three was zero. they are committing no resources to doi anything about how deal with these kinds of situations in the future. and as i'm sure you all know, righe're spending about 50 million a year ashe federal government to fund r&d for exploration and production of oil and gas and alter deep waters but we're not spendin nearly that amount to address cleanup and containment and what happens when we get into the kind o that we're in right now. we're fortunate at the university of new hampshire to have the coastal response research center which is one of the premiere centers in the country that's looking at these issues and in talking to their director, dr. nancy kinner, one of the points she made to me is that right now what we really lack is any funding either in the industry or from the federal government to address this kind of research, so

would it be transocean? would be it bp? would it be the owner of the platform or the driller? >> we, as the owner of the well, or the operation, would make that decision, and depending on what the severity of the issue was and what was the mistake, it would be made by a line manager somewhere in the drilling organization, but there has been at least one instance that came all the way to mie my level. >> let me ask you a question. in your testimony you talked about natural gas and the use of natural gas as one of those bridge fuels to the future. yet, we can -- of course we can extract a lot of natural gas on land where it is not an issue with drilling down in the gulf, but we also have issues of where that drilling is occurring, because it is occurring closer and closer to civil zation, and sometimes right on top of civil zation. mr. tillerson mentioned the loss of the public trust with the energy industry. what are you doing to create the best practices so that people on land who are nearby to the gas drilling operations can have the comfort that their safety is protected, th