BP CEO Tony Hayward Denies BP Recklessness — Transcript

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1. 0:00to BP lawmakers accused BP CEO Tony
2. 0:03Hayward of stonewalling on Thursday
3. 0:05after hours of tough questioning about
4. 0:07the oil spill his company calls that has
5. 0:09spiraled into the worst environmental
6. 0:11disaster in US history Hayward was
7. 0:14testifying before the house Energy and
8. 0:16Commerce Committee in seven hours of
9. 0:18hearings he faced a barrage of questions
10. 0:20about BP's cost cutting measures and how
11. 0:23early he was informed about problems
12. 0:25with the well that blew 60 days ago on
13. 0:27April 20th he would repeated ly denied
14. 0:30any personal responsibility for the
15. 0:32decisions that led to the explosion of
16. 0:33the well the sinking of BP's deep
17. 0:35waterer Horizon rig the deaths of 11
18. 0:38workers and the ongoing environmental
19. 0:40catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico his
20. 0:42appearance before Congress was his first
21. 0:44since the explosion several lawmakers
22. 0:47said they were frustrated by his answers
23. 0:49and accused him of being evasive under
24. 0:51harsh questioning he would urge them to
25. 0:53await the outcome of an investigation
26. 0:55into the spill Georgia Republican Phil
27. 0:57gri grilled him on the issue
28. 1:01there are clearly some issues that our
29. 1:02investigation has
30. 1:05identified and when the investigation is
31. 1:08complete we will draw the right
32. 1:11conclusions if there is any point well
33. 1:13with all due respect you've had 59 days
34. 1:16and uh you're not exactly moving with
35. 1:18fiva pitch here do you believe BP was
36. 1:21drilling the well following the best
37. 1:23safety practices you were focus on
38. 1:25reinvigorating when you were promoted to
39. 1:27the position of CEO a couple of years
40. 1:29ago I have no reason to conclude that
41. 1:31wasn't the case if I found at any point
42. 1:34that anyone in BP put cost ahead of
43. 1:38safety I would take
44. 1:41action while Tony Hayward faced tough
45. 1:43questions from Republicans and Democrats
46. 1:45alike one lawmaker actually issued an
47. 1:47apology to BP Texas Republican Joe
48. 1:50Barton said President Obama's demand for
49. 1:52a$2 billion compensation fund amounted
50. 1:55to a Shakedown of the O
51. 1:57giant I'm speaking as totally from
52. 2:00myself I'm not speaking for the
53. 2:01Republican party I'm not speaking for
54. 2:03anybody in the House of Representatives
55. 2:05but
56. 2:07myself but I'm ashamed of what happened
57. 2:10in the white house
58. 2:13yesterday I think it is a tragedy of the
59. 2:16first
60. 2:17proportion that a private
61. 2:20Corporation can be sub subjected to what
62. 2:23I would characteriz as a
63. 2:26Shakedown in this case a 20 billion
64. 2:29Shakedown
65. 2:31Barton came under Swift denunciation
66. 2:33from the White House and was forced to
67. 2:34retract his remarks hours later under
68. 2:36pressure from fellow Republicans at the
69. 2:39hearing Iowa Democrat Bruce brilley
70. 2:41challenged Barton and asked Tony Haywood
71. 2:43if he considered the $ 20 billion
72. 2:45compensation fund a slush fund did you
73. 2:48consider this compensation fund for
74. 2:51people who who had lost their lives lost
75. 2:53their businesses lost their environment
76. 2:56lost their ability to earn did you
77. 2:58consider that to be a slush fun fund as
78. 3:00we said yesterday the fund is a signal
79. 3:03of our
80. 3:04commitment to do right to ensure that
81. 3:09individuals fishermen Charter boo
82. 3:12captains small hotel owners everyone
83. 3:15who's been impacted by this is kept
84. 3:18whole that is what I have said from the
85. 3:21very beginning of this and that is what
86. 3:23we intend to do and as I said in my
87. 3:26testimony I hope people will now take
88. 3:28see that we are good for I would and can
89. 3:31we take that as a no in response to my
90. 3:33question sir that you did not consider
91. 3:35this to be a slush fund I certainly
92. 3:38didn't think it was a slush fund even
93. 3:40when grilled by Florida Republican Cliff
94. 3:42Sterns BP CEO Tony Hayward denied The
95. 3:45Spill was a result of Reckless Behavior
96. 3:47but acknowledge no one at BP has been
97. 3:49fired following the
98. 3:51explosion the people of Florida when I
99. 3:53talked to them and they said there's oil
100. 3:55spilling on the the
101. 3:57coast would it be appropriate to say
102. 3:59that's because of BP's Reckless Behavior
103. 4:02yes or no it is a consequence of a big
104. 4:04accident no yes or No Reckless Behavior
105. 4:06or not the there is no evidence of
106. 4:09Reckless Behavior so you're standing
107. 4:10here you're saying here today that BP
108. 4:12Had No Reckless Behavior that's your
109. 4:14position yes I there is no evidence of
110. 4:17Reckless Behavior no yes or no you're
111. 4:19saying BP has had no Reckless Behavior
112. 4:21is what you're saying to us I have seen
113. 4:23no evidence of Reckless behavor okay so
114. 4:24you're on record saying there's been No
115. 4:26Reckless Behavior has anyone in BP been
116. 4:28fired because of the this incident
117. 4:31anybody not yes or no no so far no
118. 4:35people have been fired so your captain
119. 4:37of the ship runs into New Orleans spews
120. 4:40all this oil CU all this damage from
121. 4:42Alabama Mississippi Florida Louisiana
122. 4:45and no one's been
123. 4:47fired our investigation is
124. 4:50ongoing so let's say the investigation
125. 4:53goes for 3 years does that mean you
126. 4:55wouldn't fire
127. 4:57anybody as the investigation draws
128. 4:59conclusions we'll take the necessary
129. 5:01action and New York Democrat Elliot
130. 5:03Engel asked Hayward about BP's other
131. 5:06wells in the Gulf of Mexico how how many
132. 5:09other Wells has BP uh in the
133. 5:13Gulf I don't know the precise number but
134. 5:15but it's a large number give me a
135. 5:18ballpark figure in the order of hundreds
136. 5:21okay how can we be assured that the same
137. 5:23thing won't happen with one of the other
138. 5:25Wells how can you give us assurances
139. 5:27that what happen with this well won't
140. 5:29happen again into several hundred
141. 5:33Wells the the other Wells that I'm
142. 5:36referring to have all been drilled and
143. 5:38completed and are
144. 5:40secure so you are saying that all the
145. 5:42other Wells that BP has are something
146. 5:45that happened to this well could never
147. 5:47happen again in any of those other Wells
148. 5:50all of the other Wells that I'm
149. 5:51referring to are wells that have been
150. 5:53completed and are secure so is that the
151. 5:56same assurance that you had said that
152. 5:58you were going to uh with a laser make
153. 6:01uh safety a priority is this the same
154. 6:04kind of in assurance that you're giving
155. 6:05us
156. 6:07now I have throughout my
157. 6:10tenure been very explicit about the
158. 6:13priority of safety in BP it is the first
159. 6:17word I utter every time I talk to any
160. 6:20group of people in
161. 6:22BP the fact that safe and reliable
162. 6:24operations is our number one priority
163. 6:27and we have made very significant
164. 6:29changes
165. 6:30to our processes to our people and
166. 6:33invested very significantly into the
167. 6:36Integrity of our plant and Equipment
168. 6:39over the last three or four years Mr
169. 6:41Hayward let let me just say with all due
170. 6:43respect uh I like everyone else here and
171. 6:46everyone else in America is thoroughly
172. 6:48disgusted uh I think you're you're
173. 6:50stalling I think you're insulting our
174. 6:52intelligence and I really resent it New
175. 6:56York Democrat Elliott angle questioning
176. 6:58BP CEO Tony Hayward on Capitol Hill
177. 7:00Thursday for more on BP we'll be joined
178. 7:03by Tyson silom of uh public Citizen and
179. 7:06Robert Reich the former labor secretary
180. 7:08he's joining us from Berkeley after this