Hill Heat

A public hearing for the joint investigation will be held May 11-12, 2010 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (CDT) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2829 Williams Blvd., Kenner, La.

The purpose of this joint investigation is to develop conclusions and recommendations as they relate to the Deepwater Horizon MODU explosion and loss of life on April 20, 2010. The facts collected at this hearing, along with the lead investigators’ conclusions and recommendations will be forwarded to Coast Guard Headquarters and MMS for approval. Once approved, the final investigative report will be made available to the public and the media. No analysis or conclusions will be presented during the hearing.

Witnesses

• Michael Saucier – MMS Regulatory and Inspection Programs
• Capt. Verne Gifford – 8th Coast Guard District Chief of Prevention
• Lt. Cmdr. Michael Odom – Liquefied Gas Carrier National Center of Expertise, National Technical Advisor
• Lt. Barbara Wilk – Investigating Officer, Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Morgan City
• Brian Bubar – Deputy Commissioner Maritime Affairs, Republic of Marshall Islands
• Capt. Thomas Heinan – Deputy Commissioner Maritime Affairs, Republic of Marshall Islands

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano will travel to Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday, May 11, to inspect ongoing operations to minimize the Deepwater BP Oil Spill’s impact on public health, the environment and the economy—part of the federal government’s continued oversight and emphasis on interagency coordination in response to the spill.

During her visit, Secretary Napolitano will join Alabama Governor Bob Riley to tour the Mobile Incident Command Center, meet with federal, state and local officials to discuss the response effort and participate in a media availability.

Mobile Incident Command Center
1 Water Street
Mobile, Ala.

Panel 1

• Lamar McKay, Chairman and President, BP America
• Steven L. Newman, President and CEO, Transocean Ltd.
• Tim Probert, President, Global Business Lines, and Chief Health, Safety and Environmental Officer, Halliburton

Panel 2

• Dr. Steve Bortone, Executive Director, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
• Garret Graves, Director, Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities, State of Louisiana
• Keith Overton CHA, Chairman of the Board, Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, TradeWinds Island Resorts
• Dr. Eric May, Distinguished Research Scientist, Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center, Department of Natural Sciences University of Maryland Eastern Shore
• Meg Caldwell JD, Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program; Executive Director, Center for Ocean Solutions, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University
• Lieutenant General Thomas G. McInerney United States Air Force (Ret.)

Review current issues related to offshore oil and gas development including the Department of the Interior’s recent five year planning announcements and the accident in the Gulf of Mexico involving the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon.

Rescheduled from May 6.

Witnesses

Panel 1

• Dr. F.E. Beck, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University
• Bud Danenberger, Former Chief, Offshore Regulatory Program, Minerals Management Service

Panel 2

• Lamar McKay, President and Chairman, BP America, Inc.
• Steven Newman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Transocean Limited
• Tim Probert, President, Global Business Lines; Chief Health, Safety and Environmental Officer, Halliburton

Panel 1

• Nancy Stoner, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Water, United States Environmental Protection Agency

• Jim Jones, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, United States Environmental Protection Agency

Panel 2

• Dr. Roger Payne, Founder and President, Ocean Alliance
• Dr. Carys Mitchelmore, Associate Professor, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
• Sam Waterston, Board of Directors, Oceana
• Dr. John T. Everett, President, Ocean Associates, Inc.

A public hearing for the joint investigation will be held May 11-12, 2010 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (CDT) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2829 Williams Blvd., Kenner, La.

The purpose of this joint investigation is to develop conclusions and recommendations as they relate to the Deepwater Horizon MODU explosion and loss of life on April 20, 2010. The facts collected at this hearing, along with the lead investigators’ conclusions and recommendations will be forwarded to Coast Guard Headquarters and MMS for approval. Once approved, the final investigative report will be made available to the public and the media. No analysis or conclusions will be presented during the hearing.

Witnesses

• Kevin Robb – Coast Guard Eighth District Search and Rescue Specialist
• Alwin Landry – Master M/V DAMON B. BANKSTON
• Anthony Gervaso – Engineer M/V DAMON B. BANKSTON
• Paul Erickson – Chief Mate M/V DAMON B. BANKSTON
• Frank Patton – MMS Permitting
• Eric Neal – MMS Inspector
• Bob Neal – MMS Inspector

Streaming on http://live.cnn.com

H.R. 2864 (Rep. Don Young (R-AK)): Amends the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998 to authorize appropriations to the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for FY2011-FY2012: (1) to acquire hydrographic data, provide hydrographic services, and conduct coastal change analyses necessary to ensure safe navigation, and to improve the management of coastal change in the Arctic; and (2) to acquire hydrographic data and provide hydrographic services in the Arctic necessary to delineate the U.S. extended continental shelf.

Also H.R.3805, the “Electronic Duck Stamp Extension Act of 2009”; and H.R.4973, “National Wildlife Refuge Volunteer Improvement Act of 2010.”

Even after months of personal attacks against climate scientists stemming from a manufactured scandal over stolen emails, the underlying science behind the need to stem the tide of heat-trapping emissions remains solid. To explain what we know about climate change, and why and how we know it, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will host top-level American climate scientists at a congressional hearing this Thursday, May 6, 2010.

The scientists will address the claims of deniers head-on. Thursday’s panel features a member of the investigative panel convened by the University of East Anglia and led by Lord Ron Oxburgh to review the stolen emails from that school’s Climactic Research Unit. The “Oxburgh Inquiry” exonerated the scientists who were attacked following the emails, saying they “saw no evidence of any deliberate scientific malpractice in any of the work.”

The hearing also includes three scientists involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, which have also been attacked by climate science deniers.

Witnesses

• Dr. Lisa Graumlich, Director, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, and member of the “Oxburgh Inquiry” panel
• Dr. Chris Field, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, and co-chair of “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” portion of new IPCC report due in 2014
• Dr. James McCarthy, Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University, past President and Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, co-chair of “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” portion of IPCC report published in 2001
• Dr. James Hurrell, Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research, contributor to IPCC reports
• Christopher Monckton, Chief Policy Adviser, Science and Public Policy Institute