Bill Nelson

Not yet. But I expect to, because we need to preposition a surge capability that, when they would have to move out of the way of the storm, and before they could get back attached, all that extra oil going into the Gulf, we need extra…

I am sad to report to you that as of this moment, one of the remote operating vehicles has bumped into that top hat process that was funneling the oil off of the big structure, the blowout preventer from the pipe, the riser pipe, with the…

Congress is ready to crackdown on the government's buddy-buddy relationship with the oil industry.

As we grapple with the results of loosely regulated drilling, we must look ahead to make sure a catastrophe like the Deepwater Horizon spill never happens again.

It's shown the public how little control our drilling regulators exercised over Big Oil.

Do we think the Russians will do likewise over 7 years?

General Chilton, as you de-MIRV the launchers where they're carrying only one warhead, how does this START enhance the stability of the nuclear balance?

But they have to, under the terms of the treaty, accomplish it by year 7?

So you feel reasonably confident that you have the facilities and the skills in order to handle this reduction?

In the NPR, a whole bunch of warheads in the queue for dismantlement, and that number will increase under the START reductions.

It's a 10-year treaty and in 7 years you're going to be doing the drawdown?

I do not care who is in charge. I want somebody with some authority, and it cannot be BP.

The Coast Guard has part of control of the operation, but BP has a part of the control of the operation, and therein the two do not talk.

The present system is not working. The information is not flowing. The decisions are not timely.

You cannot leave BP in control of this because they are not going to get it done.

We told them from day one, 'You will not clean it up out of the marsh.' They said it will never get there. Well, it is there.

And that is part of the problem, that we are not responding because somebody does not know what is happening.

In any major disaster such as this and command and control, what I would suggest that you should have is what is standard operating procedure in any major military type chain of command, which is you have a map, you have a specific…

How would you respond to Senator Landrieu's statement that the vessel of opportunity is employed in a place where the oil is not?

Nobody is in charge.

Right now, it took the President of the United States to come down to approve a Jack Up Boat to put in the mouth of the river.

Oil is now entering Florida waters.

We have people in charge that do not know what they are doing.

The value that the Chairman and the Ranking Member have brought to the table today is to get you all to understand the lack of communication.

What we have heard from the local officials here today, that the information flow is not there in which a commander can make that decision.