English subtitles for clip: File:West Wing Week- 8-06-10 or "Dispatches from the Gulf".webm

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OS1 Robertson:
Well, we received this from the ICP this morning: As of today,

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our response stats,
Vessels of Opportunity --

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we have over 1,500
in the area --

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skimmers, more than
830, boom, as of today,

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more than 3.47 million feet.

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We've recovered over 34.7
million gallons of skimmable oil.

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♪♪(music playing)♪♪

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Narrator:
Welcome to a special Gulf Coast edition of West Wing Week.

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We spent this week traveling
through communities along

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America's Gulf Coast to give you
a special behind-the-scenes look

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at the federal government's
historic and unprecedented

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effort to contain and clean
up after the BP oil spill.

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Lt. McLay:
We're approximately a mile from the site where the Deepwater

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Horizon burned and sank in April
and there's a number of vessels

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here -- we counted 42 yesterday within about a quarter of a mile.

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It's the largest U.S. response to an oil spill in history and

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it's exceptional and somewhat unique to have this many vessels

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in such close proximity.

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They're out here 24 by 7 and
they're stationary until the

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well is effectively killed.

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Narrator:
In Pensacola, on the periphery of this bill,

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the emphasis is placed on two
goals: Stopping any remaining

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oil from reaching the shore, and
cleaning the beaches quickly

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when it does.

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CWO Reyes:
We're located in an area called Bayou Chico,

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close to downtown Pensacola.

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You know, our operations have
our boats concentrated primarily

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around the pass.

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VOO stands for Vessel of
Opportunity and that's --

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essentially, it's a term used to
explain civilian boats that are

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contracted by BP to
help mitigate the oil.

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Working with them has been
a very good experience.

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They have a lot of local
knowledge to offer.

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So far today, these vessels
have collected 10 bags worth of

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contaminated material.

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Chief Breaker:
So right now tonight, we have approximately 450 workers out

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here on the beach.

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It varies from night to night
depending on the amount of impact.

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It takes everybody to
make this happen --

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it takes the local,
the county, the state,

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the federal government,
BP, the contractors,

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poor partners all
across this area;

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all have to interface and work
together and put the beaches in

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the Gulf Coast back into the
condition it was before this

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event happened.

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Narrator:
We travel next to Mobile, where the response for Florida,

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Alabama, and Mississippi is
coordinated by Captain Steven

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Poulin of the United
States Coast Guard.

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Captain Poulin:
We have a plan; we had a plan from day one.

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We're executing that plan and
it's a great plan; it's worked.

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We're very cautiously optimistic
that we'll be able to kill this

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well here in the very near
future but this has been a tough road.

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This has been a
complex response.

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But now, with the cap on, we're
feeling pretty good about where

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we're at and we continue to see
less and less oil in the water

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and less oil
hitting the beaches.

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What we're doing is trying to
preserve a way of life down here

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for the citizens
of the Gulf Coast.

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The beaches are open,
this is a beautiful area;

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there's still lots
of summer left,

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so come down and
enjoy the summer.

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Narrator:
Roughly 14 miles to the south, a facility in Theodore,

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Alabama is the center for
boom decontamination, repair,

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and redeployment
back into the field.

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Mr. Hehr:
The boom here, you're looking at, roughly, 10,000 foot.

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Off the water today, they'll receive 10,000 foot or better

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today just off the water.

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Narrator:
Pascagoula, Mississippi is a regional headquarters for the

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National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration,

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one of the government's main
scientific authorities on the ocean.

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Ms. Desfosse:
NOAA right now is focusing on reopening the closed fishing

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areas within the Gulf of Mexico.

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We have about 18
vessels out there;

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we're focusing and sampling
within that closed fishing area,

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analyzing those samples, and
hopefully try to open up those

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areas now that the oil has
stopped leaking into the Gulf.

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We can develop a much more
comprehensive plan and just get

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in there and just intensively
sample within that closed area.

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Mr. Walker:
We're at the National Seafood Inspection Laboratory,

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which is part of the -- NOAA's National Marine Fishery Service.

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This is where we
receive the samples,

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where we check them into our
chain of custody system.

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The samples are usually
then placed in a freezer;

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they're put in a
cube for processing.

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The samples then are delivered
to the dissection teams for

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taking samples for both
sensory and chemical analysis.

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Each fish is carefully -- if it's a large enough fish --

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is carefully dissected.

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So we take a filet from one
side, it's given to sensory,

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and the other side of the
fish, the other filet,

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is given to somebody for
chemical evaluation.

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We've received over
2,600 samples so far.

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We're expecting to receive another 3- or 4,000 samples from

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federal waters.

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We're out collecting lots
of samples right now,

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processing lots of samples, to
try to facilitate that process

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to get everything opened as
quickly as reasonably can be done.

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Narrator:
In Robertsdale, we cross paths with the Secretary of the Navy,

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Ray Mabus, who is traveling the
region meeting with residents at

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Town Halls to hear
their concerns.

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Secretary Mabus:
I want to thank you all for being here tonight.

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My name's Ray Mabus, I'm
Secretary of the Navy and in

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mid-June, President Obama asked
me to head up an effort to come

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up with a long-range restoration
plan for the Gulf Coast.

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These Town Halls are all about
getting input from people that

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live on the Gulf, work on the
Gulf, raise their families here;

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about what we can do to
restore the Gulf, long-term.

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Any plan that we do has got
to come up from the Gulf;

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any plan of work,
any projects --

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we've got to start with the
people who live here and work here.

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Speaker:
As we look at long-range recovery,

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research and
development; you know,

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we've talked about ways in our
area to diversify the economy in the past.

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We know because of storms and
now in this type of instance,

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we need to do that.

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We ought to be able to track
those research and development

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companies to come here that's
going to look at that,

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look at alternative
fuel energies;

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our fisherman that want
to work on the water.

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So if there's got to be delays,
if there's research and

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development that
needs to be doing,

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they need to be the ones
employed to help get those

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samples and do that, just -- we think that's an opportunity for

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some economic development in the future.

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Secretary Mabus:
Thank you, Ma'am.

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I appreciate it -- you all have helped a whole lot.

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And thank you for spending the
time to come out here and do this.

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Appreciate it very much.

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Thank y'all.

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(applause)

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Narrator:
On Tuesday, August 3rd, we traveled to the Q4000 vessel

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about 47 miles off the shore and 5,000 feet about the ocean

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floor, where the static kill operation is underway to more

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permanently seal the leaking well.

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Mr. Bolton:
Currently, we're in the middle of our pumping mode of our

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kill operation.

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You know, in the
last several days,

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we've been rigging up and you
can see down on the deck the

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guys working.

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That's the manifold that we're
pumping all the mud from the boat.

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Captain Schultz:
It's pretty involved.

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We have several
ships alongside us --

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the BJ Blue Dolphin and HOS
Centerline are both providing

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the actual mud that we're
using in conjunction with this operation.

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Literally, they're
pumping through us --

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we're simply the means to pass
the mud down to the bottom.

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Mr. Bolton:
We did our injectivity test this morning, everything went well,

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they analyzed the data that they
needed to to determine what

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rates and pressures that we
would possibly be seeing.

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We started pumping mud about
3 o'clock this afternoon.

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I mean, everything's looking
good, we're satisfied;

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pressure's coming down and
everything looks encouraging at this point.

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Narrator:
About an hour north of New Orleans is Hammond, Louisiana --

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home of the Hammond
Wildlife Facility,

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a center for the care and
cleaning of oiled animals,

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newly constructed to accommodate
wildlife affected by the spill.

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Ms. Stout:
One of the common misconceptions out there is that when you see

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an oiled animal, it must
be immediately washed.

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What it must get
is immediate care,

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and that care is stabilization,
it's nutritional and hydration

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therapy, to bring it back to a
physiological state where it's

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able to tolerate being washed.

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Mr. Miller:
The oil causes the bird to lose its waterproofing and they

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become hypothermic because then
they can't preen themselves and

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can't keep their
feathers waterproofed.

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And it's very important that you
remove the oils and that they

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can get back their resiliency.

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Ms. Stout:
Making sure you have really solid release criteria and that

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you're putting an animal that
you're confident that's going to

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go back out there and integrate
into the population and be

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successful is really important.

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Narrator:
This vast operation is coordinated by the Unified Area

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Command, located in
downtown New Orleans,

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where it's overseen
by Admiral Zukunft.

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Admiral Zukunft:
10:30 last night was the static kill of the Deepwater Horizon.

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'Til we have a
permanent well kill,

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we still have all
skimmers, all people,

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everybody ready should this
situation turn back on itself.

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But right now, we're cautiously
optimistic that we're moving and

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progressing towards a
permanent well kill.

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We really had an Army, a Navy,
and an Air Force responding to this.

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We've had Cutters come from as
far away as Hawaii, Puget Sound,

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San Francisco -- to be here skimming oil.

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These are people that are
committed to restoring the Gulf

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of Mexico.

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They are giving me everything
they have whether it's rescuing

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birds, deploying boom,
doing skimming operations;

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all of those people are part of
my team and I'm here to stand up

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for them and just applaud them
for their extremely hard and

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valuable work.

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Narrator:
To find out more information on the BP oil spill and the federal

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response to control and contain
it, visit whitehouse.gov,

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and thanks again for checking
out your West Wing Week.