maritime transportation i want to welcome all of our members and congratulate ranking member. i can't tell you how thrilled i am that you have that position rick and i have a long time working relationship. we are going to be off to aúbúbb great start and will be a greatb session working together and i certainly look forward to working with all the members of the committee. the subcommittee on the coast guard maritime transportation is meeting guard commandant and national incident for the oil spill. the bp deepwater horizon spill was unprecedented in its size and duration. elected tremendous natural and economic disaster on its weight. the joint coast guard and part of interior investigation into the cause of the explosion and sinking of the deepwater horizon as well as the failure of the blowout preventer to contain the spill is still ongoing. the subcommittee will examine the findings of these officials investigation once it is complete. while we await findings of the investigation, the commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil spell as well as the report of the national incident commander has helped highlight significant questions regarding the best methods for the industry and the federal government to use to prevent and respond to future oil missiles to read this hearing provides the subcommittee with the opportunity to hear recommendations of the commission and the national incident commander on the changes needed to the federal law and regulation to help reduce the likelihood of a similar event happening in the future. i'm concerned with the findings of the commission and the national incident commander that officials tall levels of government work and familiar with the national contingency plan. our nation's 42-year-old blueprint for how to respond to oil skills. but i am particularly alarmed that the senior leaders of the department of homeland security were either unaware or simply misunderstood how the plan functions. i am troubled that the failure of the leadership to recognize and accept and follow the plans and that slowed the command and the control and the days after this bill undermined public confidence and the government and may have impeded their three sons. but this begs the larger issue of the subcommittee has been concerned but since the coaxed guard was transferred to the department of homeland security, and that is the department does not understand nor appreciate the traditional missions of the coast guard. something we've talked about, something we will worry about, and unfortunately something we see happening. while critically important for security accounts for only 20% of the coast guard does on a daily basis, the remaining 80% our traditional missions like oil spill response. these missions require the department leadership to understand that the need to commit adequate resources and attention as well as participate fully in preparedness activities. unfortunately, that wasn't the case with the bp deepwater horizon insipid. nearly 20 years ago the oil act of 1990 was created and was a national framework for preventing and responding to the oil spills in u.s. waters. since the passage of the act there have been significant changes in the offshore production storage and transportation of petroleum products and with these changes the requirements to respond to potential incidents have grown more complex. this bill demonstrates that we may need to reexamine the requirements under the current law to ensure they are applicable to the present day operations. finally, i would be remiss if i didn't take this opportunity to remember the 11 transocean members who were lost as a result of this tragedy and to express my sympathy to their families, friends and co-workers with that i would like to yieldñ to the ranking member mr. larson for any comments you may have. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and i as well excited to be a ranking member and working with you. we do have a good working relationship last several years in congress and look forward to working on them here in the coast guard maritime said commission with you. thanks. i want to thank for conducting a joint subcommittee hearing and welcome the opportunity to discuss the recommendations today. today the message is clear. undertaking deepwater drilling requires a deeper understanding of the risks that accompany the benefits of the deep water drilling. now that we have these recommendations in hand, congress should ask our policieú offered a rigorous safeguard workers, they benefit the economy and protect the environment. to many lives are at stake and to many jobs are at risk for the congress to feel to act. if we cannot cap the offshore resources in a way that protect lives and the environment there will be pressure to restrict the resources. the would be devastating to the maritime industry and the jobs that support the economy as a whole. we also need to have the federal agencies with adequate resources to prevent another tragedy such as this from happening again an respond, should we have to respond. i would welcome admiral ellen to the subcommittee and appreciate your willingness to serve as commandant of the coast guard as well as the commander of the response effort even fall in your retirement. i look for to you and your observations and recommendations. the deepwater horizon oil still is a human and environmental disaster of unprecedented proportions. as the representative islanders and how devastating oil skills would be to the coastal region. and i want to do everything we can possible to prevent oil spills from any source is occurring in liberia of the country or any other area of the country. e commission report today demonstrates we have a long way to go to prevent similar disasters from occurring again. unfortunately congress is proposing cuts and the muscle and bone of investments needed for growth and to protect our environment. if nothing else, the bp still shows the need for the more robust public capacity to respond quickly and safely to ú oil spells and that's reflected in the report. the public depends on the agencies to ensure the safety of deepwater drilling and the safety of the men and women who work on these platforms @ about the risk of the drilling we should put the pieces in place to ensure the highest level of safety. the report revealed many of us expected to learn about this bill. first the federal government oversight of the offshore and oil gas drilling was lax. it didn't do the job. second the federal agencies and the industry were inadequate to effectively stalled contract, contain and clean up the spill of the magnitude. there, we learned that the jones act that protects and supports the domestic maritime industry was not a hindrance to the federal government response of the environmental calamity and we will hear this leader and i know that the commission report and admiral allen will concur. i proposed last year along with many other subcommittees may 19 hearing on the split the country take a step back to ensure that any future offshore drilling in the gulf of mexico lives up to claims of safety and reliability to get anything, the commission's report only confirms my -- reaffirms my commissions but i look forward to evaluating the commission's recommendations in the expect our witnesses this morning will provide additional insight on these points. congress responded with the oil pollution act. now 22 years later the bp still demonstrates the need to amend and strengthen that act. @ i stand ready to work with the german lobiondo and with our ranking ú democratic member congressman rahall and with mr. bishop and the other members of the committee in shaping legislation to strengthen the nation's oil spill response and prevention law. mr. chairman, the deepwater horizon still exposed the risks and cost of energy production and alter continental shelf. @ we have before us an opportunity to make unnecessary course correction in our production of offshore energy. i urge we not let the current debate on the federal government or the regulations toward us ú from making the necessary investments to ensure the offshore drilling can be done safely, efficiently and with minimal harm to our environment and to the workers who work on the platforms in the gulf. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. larsen. i would now like to yield to the chairman gibbs of the water resources subcommittee and environment for his statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and i look forward to working on the transportation committee and also the chair of the water resource environment as we work to improve our infrastructure and also oversight in this agency to work on the infrastructure in dealing with water. there are two federal laws that relate to oil spill is like the one in the gulf mexico last year. the oil pollution act and the clean water act. the oil pollution act of 1990 was largely enacted in response to the exxon valdez spill oil spill and improved the nation's ability to prevent and respond to the oil spills. under opa, the coast guard takes the lead in organizing federal oil skill responses and prevention efforts and tidal waters, while the epa is responsible for coordinating efforts in the long title and inland waters. opa authorized the use of the oil spill liability trust fund, which is capitalized by a per barrel tax paid by the oil industry and penalties paid by the responsible parties. that trust fund is used to pay for the cost of responding to and removing oil spills. the second flaw is the clean water act, which is the principal federal statute for protecting navigable waters and shorelines from pollution. specifically, section 311 of the clean water act addresses pollution from oil and hazardous substances releases providing the epa and the coast guard of 40 to establish a program for preventing presenting for and responding to the speed and spills occur in the navigable waters of the united states. the act clearly establishes the responsibility of the federal government, states and maritime transportation industry and i carry out cleanup restoration and rehabilitation of the natural resources that were damaged as a result of the oil spill. weigel the pp oil skill was a monumental disaster and caused the tragic loss of 11 dedicated oil field workers we must ensure we do not use this as a catalyst to halt or hinder domestic energy production. rather, the nation requires a safe, secure domestic supply of energy product now more than ever. the national commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil still has studied this recent oil spa and made several recommendations regarding the federal response. many of the proposals by the commission or worth careful review and consideration as we move forward. thank you, mr. chairman. i look for to the testimony of witnesses. >> thank you, mr. gibbs. i would like to yield to ranking member bishop for his statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this important hearing to review the recommendations of the commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill and offshore drilling. mr. chairman, in the last congress this committee held a series of hearings in the aftermath of the bp deepwater harbor is a disaster to investigate what went on. what actions are being undertaken by bp and other responsible parties to stop the ongoing flow of oil and restore the lives and livelihood of those impacted by this bill and what measures were necessary to restore the gulf coast ecosystem. these hearings also focus on what efforts need to be undertaken by the federal agencies and the congress to ensure a similar preventable disaster could not occur in the future. last year members of the subcommittee on the water resources and the coast guard were called to similar joint hearing on the subcommittee's of the subcommittees on the tenth anniversary of the oil pollution act of 1990 and the warnings given by federal agencies and other stakeholders that our nation was rapidly becoming a prepared to address future oil skills. specifically, witnesses testified about the than growing concern that the technologies to extract, process and transport oil will well outpacing the development of technology to quickly and safely control and clean up potential oil spills. over the intervening years, our subcommittees also received testimony from representatives of the coast guard that currently liability limits for both vessels and facilities such as the deepwater horizon were falling desperately behind the levels necessary to adequately address a worst-case release of oil. unfortunately, this committee didn't heed the warnings given to it over a decade ago, and this nation grew complacent the future oil disaster was unlikely to occur again. fast-forward ten years, and unfortunately our complacency proved wrong. in the summer of 2010, our nation was again faced with a massive oil spill, although this time the relief wasn't from the ground of a ship, but from a seemingly limitless release of oil directly from the sea floor. again the questions arose on how this could have happened, why it was taking so long to stop the flow of oil, and whether this tragedy that resulted in 11 lives lost and impact countless families along the gulf coast should have been prevented. mr. chairman in the days following the deepwater horizon disaster this committee took aggressive action to understand what happened and what changes were needed to take to prevent a similar disaster in the future to read this committee drafted and moved legislation to address many of the shortcomings identified in the aftermath of the deepwater horizon disaster. this legislation reported from this committee by a voice vote was later combined with proposals from our colleagues on the natural resources committee under the than leadership of the new ranking member mr. rahall and was passed by the house in early summer. unfortunately, no further action was taken on that bill. however, it was the beginning of the new congress, we had the opportunity to start anew. today, mr. chairman, we will hear testimony from representatives from president obama's national commission. in my opinion, we shouldn't be surprised by the findings of the commission to the likely causes of the deepwater horizon disaster or the systemic failures of the oil industry that contributed to this incident. many of these findings are consistent with what we heard during hearings before this committee in the last congress. similarly, many of the statutory and administrative changes recommended by the commission are consistent with those included in both this committee's bill and the consolidated land, energy and clich resources act of 2010, were the clear act that was approved by the house last year. mr. chairman, in my view, the prudent choice is for this committee to once again move legislation to address the warnings raised by this commission and other stakeholders on the very real threat of future oil still disasters. while some of the recommendations of the commission can be addressed administratively, we all know that several critical issues, such as the currently inadequate liability and financial responsibility limit and issues related to maritime safety can only be addressed by the congress. preventing the next exxon valdez or deepwater horizon is far too important to allow complacency to take over again. as noted by one of the witnesses last congress, we cannot lack the months that have passed without a massive oil still give us a false sense of security that everything is fine. we must recognize the vulnerabilities remain and take decisive action to address the recommendations made by this commission this year. thank you mr. chairman. i yelled back. >> thank you mr. bishop. i would like to recognize mr. rahall, the ranking member of the full committee. >> thank you. i commend you and ranking member larsen for conducting this hearing today. we will hear from the presidential commission examining the deepwater disaster and the retired admiral thad allen regarding additions for ensuring the offshore gas development in the u.s. is far safer now and in the future and that the devastation of the deepwater horizon is not repeated. certainly want to commend our witnesses, you and in particular admiral allen and the commission called people for presenting our government at all levels for the around the clock work they did and for the country and for trying to ensure the safety and return to the wellbeing of so many of our citizens. while the round-the-clock television of zero oil spewing into the gulf long since faded to black the urgency we felt to take the steps necessary to minimize the likelihood that it happen again should not fade with the coverage. this truly cannot become a case of out of sight out of mind. we cannot forget the 11 good man but lost their lives and families that lost their income when the fishing grounds were shut down and tourists canceled their visits to the gulf. we cannot forget the environmental and economic impacts of this bill but will last long after the oil can be seen floating on the surface of the sea. yet, in the weeks since the commission released its broad range of recommendations to the reforms and business practices, regulatory oversight and broad policy concerns, we've heard an outcry of the nation from those who claim that it is too soon to take action. that we must wait until every aspect of every investigation has been completed, that we do not need to wait to know that we were not prepared for this type of blowout, that our ability to clean up oil spills is woefully inadequate, that regulators were too cozy with the industry and that a $70 million cap on liability is too small. that is why in my for our capacity of natural resources' chairman to which mr. bishop has referred, i did lead the house and writing to passage the clean air act last summer that legislation but have provided for a major overhaul of offshore jeweling operations and regulations. decreasing the chances that another blowout what happened in the future and making sure we could do a better job of containing one this it did. many of my friends who voted against the bill argued we shouldn't act until the presidential commission had completed its work. well, the recommendations are now before us. and again and again, they urge us to do the exact same things we did in the clear act. recently been introduced a new bill to implement all the commission recommendations, but again, we are told by some that we need to wait. but we cannot wait. the commission itself said, and i quote, an action runs the risk of real cost and more lost lives and brought damage to the regional economy and its long-term viability and further tens of billions of dollars of avoidable cleanup costs, and of quote. we should not wait to reform the ranks of inspectors who are supposed to be keeping an eye on the and not playing around with industry operators in the gulf. we cannot wait to reform the walls of the government continent, response and clean up spills or to improve the technologies that these activities rely upon. nor should we wait to improve safety and environmental protection provisions that will ensure the long-term sustainability of this industry as well as the other industries could coexist in the gulf and other areas of the country where offshore energy development continues. we have a responsibility. we have a responsibility to the families of those that lost loved ones in the gulf, lost business is in the aftermath of this disaster and to the american people. we need to act on these recommendations. restore the economy and the ecosystems of the goals and make sure that offshore drilling is done in an efficient and safe manner. no one should have to risk their lives to earn a livelihood. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. rahall. we are go