Olympia Snowe

That ought to be put into law, which I would tend to agree with.

So, I think it is important to submit to the Committee exactly what responses, if any, you received from the Minerals Management Service.

But, that is also possible in developing a plan and having a response that's viable, in a worst-case scenario, both in the amount, in terms of the exigencies; and, of course, it must have indicated in the plan how far they're going to go.

What I find confounding about this entire crisis is the fact that these are, sort of, fundamentals that should have already been established.

Well, for example, the use of a containment dome was listed as part of their strategy in the exploration plan for response to a failure of a blowout preventer, would you have approved a response plan for a vessel that did not acknowledge…

Relegating them to the back bench is an egregious mistake that could have helped avert this devastation.

It's astonishing that these two key agencies, the most knowledgeable, and with the most expertise in a variety of areas, including marine biology, and environmental sensitivities--have not had a mandatory statutory role in the permitting…

This catastrophe that claimed eleven lives and could devastate an entire ecosystem for decades has been characterized by an abundance of failure and an ineffectiveness of truly staggering proportions.

Dr. Lubchenco had stated that that MMS had underestimated the environmental impacts, had cherry-picked the data to understate the risks as well, and blatantly ignored 12 million gallons of oil that was spilled during Hurricanes Katrina and…

I cannot put into words my horror at the extent of this tragedy that could change the fundamental makeup of Gulf Coast communities for generations.

Absolutely, the taxpayers should not be on the hook for assuming the financial responsibilities of this clean-up and to mitigate this serious crisis.

This process has relegated these two agencies, and in my opinion, to the back bench--an egregious mistake that could have ultimately averted this catastrophe.

Because I think we need to understand the relationship that exists between the agencies. I know it's not in statute, which I think we have to correct, frankly.

The determination of the size of the spill can make a material difference, in terms of mitigation, could it not?

I wish to express my appreciation to the chairman for working so constructively to develop this amendment, to build a consensus, and to give a strong measure of assurance to the small business community about the intent of this legislation…

It is important for us to get it right as we continue to spend the billions of dollars that are already embedded in the stimulus plan

Well, do you think that it is going to be important for all industries to be working together to determine how best to allocate or to use it because there are so many users of the spectrum with specific reference to Federal agencies, for…

I would be interested in having a timeline about when this should all be happening.

There is a widening gap... the U.S. trade gap is widening in advanced technologies.

I commend all of you for working this way in unison, because that is what it will require.

One essential way of doing that is through broadband deployment.

I look forward to discussing the efficacy of these measures and am eager to explore other ways the Federal Government can encourage private investment and allow wireless and wireline companies to compete fairly in the broadband market…

So what can we do about that? I mean, that is a huge gap and a missed opportunity.

I still think that small business is being underutilized in this economic recovery.

We have to be concerned about what is happening in our rural economies all across this country.