The Coast Guard should be making that decision, in the final analysis, based on what's in the best interest of the Nation.

It just seems we must move heaven and earth, literally, to get this done in a way that is commiserate with the level of this destruction.

the corporate interests are not necessarily the public's interest.

And there are five that are currently being tested. None have been fully implemented at this point.

I think that, again, it sounds like a massive bureaucracy and not at the level that's commensurate with the catastrophe at hand, frankly.

It is remarkable that in 20 years since Exxon Valdez that we have not been able to put certain technologies or carry out testing of chemicals.

This really is a crisis of epic proportion for this country. So what's at stake is the public interest now.

Well, it was a huge issue at the time: trying to determine the true flow rate. That could have made a huge difference in our response, could it not?

It is a terrible oversight that we wouldn't have had all this tested in the interim in response to the plan.

It's kind of like working behind a guy who's hanging drywall, but you're handing him a sledgehammer.

And was one developed since Exxon Valdez in that sense of with the use of chemical dispersants?

We've been told for months now that all available assets have been brought to bear on this crisis. Is that true?

I rise in remembrance of a deeply tragic anniversary for the Cypriot-American community, their friends and relatives in Cyprus, and for people everywhere who believe in timeless values such as liberty and human dignity. Thirty-six years…

Well, at one point prior to our last hearing there was an article in the paper that somebody from NOAA was even dismissing the idea that we needed to know the true flow rate.

Thank you, Chair Cantwell, and thank you, most importantly, for holding this hearing today on, without a doubt, the worst oil spill in the history of our country.

When you think about the lethargic response to this by the Federal Government, it is stunning, frankly.

Yes, I understand your frustration. We've heard from others in that regard, and it's unfortunate that there hasn't been, as I said earlier, a level of urgency moving this process along.

It's regrettable. I mean, someone is obviously making decisions that aren't in the best interests of fulfilling, I think, an urgent need here.

I just don't sense an element of urgency in this process.

As the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, I see it as our primary responsibility to ensure we close the loopholes that allowed this travesty to occur in the first place.

I rise today, along with Senator Kerry, to introduce comprehensive spectrum reform legislation to modernize our Nation's radio spectrum planning, management, and coordination activities. Taking this corrective action will allow us to meet…

I just hope that you won't dismiss it out of hand.

I think it's also a manifestation of many of the problems that continue to exist.

I think that would be critical and a useful tool to ferret out a lot of the inefficiencies.

I think that one of the issues that has evolved from all of this in creating this vast department is being able to look across the spectrum.