Feds Should Not Abandon Oil Regulatory System, Says Former Interior Secretary

“For half a century the Gulf of Mexico has produced a third of our nation’s oil with an impressive safety record,” said former Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton to members of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Tuesday. Norton served as Department of the Interior Secretary under President George W. Bush. (0:20)

Listen

MMS Capabilities "Woefully Inadequate," Says Salazar

In a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Thursday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told legislators that the Minerals Management Service has only 62 inspectors to inspect nearly 4,000 oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, a number that Salazar calls "extraordinarily and woefully inadequate." Salazar explains that the MMS, now renamed, needs some 330 more inspectors and enforcers. (0:30)
Listen

Senate Democrat Says Heads Should Roll Following MMS Revelations

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) tells Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that Americans perceive the MMS as having a "shameful culture of corruption," which must be set right immediately. (0:30)
Listen

"The Minerals Management Service Is No More," Says Salazar

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar comments on the dissolution of the Minerals Management Service into three separate agencies, now called the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which will be overseen by Michael Bromwich and Assistant Secretary Wilma Louis. Salazar Explains that the new configuration, under new management, will be better equipped to handle corruption. (0:35)
Listen

Oil Rig Inspectors Have Huge Work Load, Need Help, Says MMS Official

Bob Abbey, acting head of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, tells members of a House Subcommittee that oil rig inspectors in the Gulf have been tasked with a great deal of work. (0:31)
Listen

Hard Work For Inspectors At The Gulf Of Mexico, Says Interior Department IG

Mary Kendall, the Interior Department's Acting Inspector General, stated during a hearing Thursday that MMS inspectors working in the Gulf of Mexico have hard work before them. (0:13)
Listen

Oil Rigs Need More Inspectors, Says MMS Official

Bob Abbey, head of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, said during a House hearing that there are several different steps that the department needs to take to prevent an oil spill like the on in the Gulf of Mexico from happening again. One of these would be additional inspectors aboard rigs. (0:40)
Listen

Spill Response Plans Need To Be Reviewed, Says MMS Official

Bob Abbey, head of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, said during a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing that the spill response plans need to be reviewed to give the public their confidence back. (0:31)
Listen

Gulf Spill Highlights Need To Develop Alternative Energies, Says Obama

President Barack Obama makes remarks in Fremont, California on Wednesday. (:36)
Listen