Bill Nelson

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I, too, am way overdue for another meeting, so I am going to slip out as well.

We have to find somebody to put in charge that has the guts and the will to make decisions.

I would hope that someone would be listening to the pleas of these local officials and the pleas of the local officials through their Senators to change this command structure.

What is the problem? The problem is command and control.

The finest command-and-control capability in the world is the U.S. military.

They're certainly not in charge when the communication is not going to our emergency operations center in Pensacola, when oil is coming into Florida waters. They're certainly not in control when I ask a week ago, how many boats are out…

You know, that's exactly right. If we need to know for trying to clean up the gulf and protect marine life, how much oil is in there, then we need the clear pictures, and we need all the streaming video in order to let the scientists…

Yes, and you already have taxpayer participation with regard to the trust fund.

This comes down to whether or not you want to lessen the likelihood that you have these kinds of spills in the future.

Can the Senator from New Jersey believe the fact that we hear people being apologist for BP? It is clear we hope and pray this ``kill'' of the well that is going to be attempted in the morning is going to be successful. But on all the…

My question additionally to the Senator from New Jersey would be, given the fact of the pictures we now see of the devastation occurring in some of the marshlands in Louisiana, along with the shots of the few beaches that are now covered…

If I may ask the Senator from New Jersey a question, can the Senator believe once we got up the live feed, 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, that once experts, specialists, professors, were able to see what, in fact, had…

If this thing is not fixed today, I think the president doesn't have any choice. He better go in, completely take over, perhaps with the military in charge.

If they don't, I think the president has no choice but to do what Senator Nelson was arguing today, and that was to put the government in charge, with bringing in the military to help coordinate that.

Our global economy is increasingly based on science and technology. To maintain U.S. economic competitiveness and leadership in innovation, we need to also have leadership in STEM education.

Isn't it interesting how all the different companies are pointing at each other now? And the real question is, Is it going to be the taxpayer who will pay for this or will the responsible parties? Why should someone say no to raising the…

If they are your employees, why have you just 'have heard'? Why don't you 'know,' by somebody telling you that they'd flipped the switch?

Surprised that a regulator, that is supposed to be not only collecting royalties, but also charged with the safety of this kind of equipment that we're talking about, that failed, had such a cozy relationship that they're going off and…

You're the CEO. Are you responsible for the executive management of your company?

I just want to follow--Mr. Newman, you were referring--first of all, you are a part of Transocean. Is that right?

For the operation of flipping the switch.

And is he employed by----

Right. So, when oil is released at that depth, of 5,000 feet, and it is fresh oil, and it is together--it's not dispersed----

If that is severely damaged, or that coral reef is killed, how in the world are you going to pay for that economic loss?

This Senator wants to know what happened, as well, so it'll never happen again, because the consequences of this failure could be betting the store for my state