Tom Carper

If this legislation is adopted--my hope is that it will--it would establish for the first time a national park in the State of Delaware.

Mr. Chairman, thank you so much.

Last week, you announced your intention to restructure MMS in order to establish a separate and independent safety environmental enforcement entity for oil drilling.

As a Vietnam veteran, I remember all too well the exposure not just to folks in Vietnam, but to our military personnel, the exposure to Agent Orange and the unanticipated consequence of health damages really to both groups.

The impacts of this oil spill on our ocean and our ecosystem may well be devastating.

They are not going to access the oil spill fund, nor will they take advantage of the $75 million liability cap.

I think there has been a proposal to lift that $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

It is always nice to see you. Thank you for coming today.

I support the Administration's decision to pause any new offshore drilling efforts until the Administration and Congress can investigate this incident fully.

Unfortunately, the devastating spill in the Gulf has raised serious questions in my mind about our ability to safely drill offshore.

My heart goes out to the folks impacted by this accident in the Gulf--to the families of the workers that were injured or died and to the fishermen that may lose everything.

We are going to pay all claims that are legitimate.

Today I am asking the General Accountability Office to examine how the Federal Government is protecting against fraudulent claims to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

It is my understanding, however, that under current law that any amount that BP spends over that $75 million is eligible for reimbursement from the Federal Government's Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

I think in your testimony you said that BP is committed to paying legitimate claims.

The Congress used to operate with a lot less openness and transparency than we do today.

So my hope is that we find ways to use less energy, and that we will find a way to put a price on carbon.

This is one of those recoveries which has the very real potential of being led by manufacturing.

We can revive manufacturing in the United States.

Americans regard ourselves as the early pioneers. We are the early pioneers of nuclear technology.

So, yes, there certainly are jobs to be created in building new nuclear plants, but it is important to focus on the net impacts, not the gross impacts.

If we let that happen, shame on us.

We are excited about the prospect of the clean energy that it will create.

Our priority for this year has been really three-fold. The first most important priority has been jobs. The second has been jobs. And the third has been jobs.

That just isn't right.