CNN "American Morning" - Transcript

Interview

Five big oil executives sworn in for the cameras.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole truth and nothing but the truth.

BASH: And skewered by lawmakers who called all five oil spill plans reviewed by the committee "cookie cutter" and "inadequate."

REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), CHAIRMAN, ENERGY AND COMMERCE CMTE.: ExxonMobil, Chevron, Conoco Phillips and Shell are as unprepared as BP was, and that's a serious problem.

BASH: To show them as out of touch, the chairman berated the CEOs for including the protection of walruses in their oil spill plans.

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: There aren't any walruses in the Gulf of Mexico, and there have not been for three million years.

TEX TILLERSON, CEO, EXXONMOBIL: That's unfortunate that walruses were included. And it's an embarrassment that they were included. But that's part of a larger marine mammal study that is used in -- that's used in preparing regional response plans.

BASH: To paint the picture of an industry more worried about image than safety, a power point to reveal ExxonMobil's media strategy in case of disaster, including 13 pre-written press releases.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While ExxonMobil has 40 pages on its media response strategy, its plan for resource protection is only five pages long. And its plan for oil removal is just nine pages long.

BASH: Then, a stunning moment of candor from ExxonMobil's CEO about its readiness for a massive oil spill.

TILLERSON: When these things happen, we are not well-equipped to deal with them.

BASH: But BP's competitors were also quick to distance themselves from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

WAXMAN: You think that they made mistakes. The answer you would give would be, yes?

TILLERSON: We would not have drilled the well the way they did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is not a well we would have drilled with that mechanical set-up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The practices that we would not put in place were employed here.

BASH: But Democrats unloaded most of their anger on BP, accusing them of low-balling the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf.

MARKEY: Are you ready to apologize for getting that number so grossly wrong?

LAMAR MCKAY, BP AMERICA CHAIRMAN: I will just reiterate what Commandant Allen said -- is that those were not BP estimates.

MARKEY: One final chance. Apologize for getting that number wrong.

MCKAY: We are sorry for everything the Gulf Coast is going through.

BASH: And while some Republicans complained about the tone --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Child-like, accusatory, mean-spirited and petulant questioning.

BASH: -- others took it up a notch.

REP. CLIFF STEARNS (R), FLORIDA: I would call for your resignation. I'm calling for it for day -- today. I'm not asking for an apology. I'm asking you to resign.

REP. JOSEPH CAO (R), LOUISIANA: In the Asian culture, we do things differently. Different -- the samurai days, we'd just give you a knife and ask you to commit hara-kiri.

BASH (on camera): Not surprisingly, other Republicans aimed their anger not at BP but at President Obama. One GOP congressman calling him incompetent, and another calling the administration's response disjointed, confusing and frustrating. These lawmakers of both parties are going to have another chance to vent their frustration about the oil spill when they will have the controversial BP CEO, Tony Hayward, before them testifying on Thursday -- John and Kiran.

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