It certainly undermines the effectiveness of the statute when this sort of practice occurs.

greater transparency is critical.

I think the answer is no, but where do you draw the line?

I want to follow up on Senator Kyl's point because I agree with him.

Is there a difference here in regard to those who sign a non-disclosure agreement with the Government and those individuals who do not sign a non- disclosure?

there has to be a transparent process for declassifying that information if it is going to be made available to the public.

The purpose of this hearing was for us to gather information, to get better informed, and to start a record in this Committee as to the challenges we have.

I think as Mr. Smith said, changing the definition is one I think we all would agree needs to be done.

Yet MMS accident reports state that blowout preventers have failed or otherwise played a role in at least 14 accidents.

In the event of such accidental release, water quality would be temporarily affected by dissolved components and small droplets.

Are they failsafe?

I do not know how you could accurately portray to the regulatory agency the minimal risks in the event of a blowout.

It is important that accurate information is made available about the potential risk, about the potential environmental damages, and the capacity to respond to that.

We need an energy policy in this country that makes us secure, deals with economic job growth and deals with our environment.

Clearly, our first priority right now is to clean up and mitigate the damage that has already been caused and to find out what happened in the Gulf of Mexico and to learn from this.

Because my point and the question I would at least put for the record is that the oyster issue is a very sensitive issue for all of us because we are doing everything we can to get the oyster back.

What I find surprising is that the Gulf of Mexico spill if it lasts for another month, it will surpass Exxon Valdez.

The more you realize the depth of information we have and we don't have about the risk factors in the oceans, it really does point out two facts.