On April 20 of this year the BP Deepwater Horizon exploded and began this Nation's greatest manmade environmental disaster.

Let's be clear. Even as we take every step possible to clean up this spill and protect the environment and wildlife, we simply cannot wait for the next oil disaster to occur.

The tragedy in the Gulf has confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that offshore drilling has inherent dangers.

So we can't leave our fate in the hands of big oil. And that is why I am going to continue to insist that we place a permanent ban on offshore drilling off the Atlantic Coast.

To get this right you have to have an accurate assessment going in.

Are you concerned by the reports that BP is hiring a significant amount of academic talent under nondisclosure agreements?

I would ask that this Committee be kept informed as those decisions are being made.

I think you have a particularly important role in the view of protecting the public interest.

It is important that you have your own independent funding sources in order to be able to do an accurate assessment.

Do we have adequate resources to do this assessment?

On behalf of this Committee, do we have your assurance that if the independence and objectivity is not at the standard you think is right to protect the public, that this Committee will be notified so that we are aware of the concerns that…

One of the reasons I want transparency is that I just want an honest assessment of the damages that have been done and do our best to get a restoration plan that protects the natural resources for the public as best as we can.

Clearly the damage that was done, and in Exxon Valdez I think the damages far exceeded $75 million to the natural resources.

I don't know what BP Oil's position is going to be a couple of years from now.

It is important that you have done as thorough a job as possible in looking at the scope of damages.

But in response to Senator Whitehouse's point about the responsible party being brought into the process, doesn't that almost per se bring into question the objectivity of the work?

Well, certainly the objectivity here is of concern, and that is why I think we made it clear on the record that we want to be notified by our Government agency trustees if they feel that the independence has been compromised.

And we will be monitoring that very, very closely.