guard personnel who are leading the response to this crisis. and they gave me an update on our efforts to stop the bp oil spill and mitigate the damages. by the way, i just want to point out i was told it was drizzling out here. is this louisiana drizzle right here? they gave me a sense of how this spill is moving. it is now about nine miles off the coast of southeastern louisiana. and, by the way, we had the governor of louisiana, bobby jindal, as well as parish presidents who are taking part in this meeting because we want to emphasize the importance of coordinating between local, state and federal officials throughout this process. now, i think the american people are now aware, certainly the folks down in the gulf are aware, that we're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental