This, to me, defies commonsense, and it cannot be allowed to continue.

I know it can take decades to fully recover from an oil spill of this magnitude.

even as BP released its 5-year report hailing its efforts to clean up its own mess, others were shining a light on all the damage that remains unrepaired and undiscovered.

I think the Department of the Interior made the right choice--and the only choice--in that situation.

the Deepwater Horizon spill caused billions of dollars of damage to the Gulf Coast economy.

Continual focus on deepwater drilling safety is absolutely essential.

we have already talked about the Deepwater Horizon spill, one of the worst environmental disasters in our history.

Shallow is simply not a synonym for safe.

I have a very strong and personal interest in offshore drilling safety.

When you have an accident, when there is a spill, the issue comes to the forefront, people respond, and then, in a few years, complacency tends to return.

One of the issues that I do not want to lose sight of in this discussion today is the importance of safety in both deepwater and shallow water drilling.