Mary Landrieu

S. 3346 would amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act by enhancing penalties.

I would be the absolute first to introduce legislation to correct what would clearly be a flawed system.

We visited Louisiana to inspect the disaster caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

I think that our fundamental starting point is that the polluter should pay.

I commend Senator Menendez's leadership on this issue.

I can assure you that what I saw yesterday certainly has reinforced my commitment to help make things right for all those, whose lives and their livelihoods are being so vastly affected by this disaster.

I think, we have all stated around this table here, in this committee room, with the CEO of BP in front of us, that we must hold, and we will hold, BP accountable.

I'm sympathetic to the concerns of our fishing community.

We have to get in place, for miners, safety measures that they can rely on.

It's a culture of safety, and when you have hazardous conditions like that, of making sure that everyone understands that safety must come first.

But, the laws are written by Congress here. Those laws are supposed to be obeyed by this industry. Those laws are supposed to be enforced by MSHA.

Sometimes, caring is not enough. I know you care. I don't doubt that for a minute.

Why didn't Don Blankenship shut this coal mine down? We don't have to question his authority. He runs this place.

We just can't keep doing this. I mean, I've only been here 25 years. And it just seems like, about every 5 years, we've got something--we've got to come back here, miners have died.

I think that the fact that other Massey Energy mines have been inspected, since this explosion and before this explosion, in close proximity of that time, and been determined to be unsafe--and, quite frankly, one of the upper leaders of…

The small businesses affected by Hurricane Katrina need loan relief to stay in business and create more jobs.

I am proud to have helped to lead the efforts of some reforms that have been put into place to date.

I would like to call this Oversight Committee of the Small Business Committee together for the purposes of our ongoing work in the oversight of the Disaster Assistance Program.

I was absolutely startled by the discrepancy of this.

Is it riskier to import 100 percent of our oil, because we're importing close to 70 percent, or is it less risky to try to drill more safely at home?

The right to produce is not the right to pollute.

I am going to request acceleration of revenue-sharing today.

I want to start the way I've started every time you've appeared before this committee, to tell you how proud I am of you, how pleased I am the President appointed you to this position, because your character and integrity are unquestioned…

The people of Louisiana that support this industry, support this initiative off of our coast, we most certainly want it to be safe and more secure.

You have taken the measured and right approach, in my opinion, to stop all permitting until a significant investigation can take place, and then find a way to move forward.