Canceled: Sen. Nelson, former Gov. Graham to discuss findings of oil spill commission

November 4, 2010

(UPDATE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED)GAINESVILLE, Fla. — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and former Florida Gov. Bob Graham will answer audience questions Nov. 8 at the University of Florida’s Bob Graham Center for Public Service via a live, three-way videoconference following the hearing of the National Commission on BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

The live videoconference will begin at UF’s Pugh Hall at the conclusion of Monday’s hearing, starting at 5:30 p.m. Nelson will be linked in from Orlando; Graham, along with center students attending a two-day educational tour, will be linked in from Washington, D.C.; and an audience will participate from Pugh Hall on UF’s campus. A discussion of the preliminary findings of the commission, which was charged by President Barack Obama to investigate the causes of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and suggest new guidelines for offshore oil drilling, will start the videoconference. This event will be streamed live from the Bob Graham Center’s website, www.bobgrahamcenter.ufl.edu.

“Both Gov. Graham and Sen. Nelson have agreed to take questions from our audiences,” said Ann Henderson, director of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, “and together we can begin to determine how our state should respond to this disaster.”

The commission hearing will also be streamed live on the center’s website, beginning at 9 a.m. Monday. Graham, who also served three terms in the U.S. Senate, co-chairs the commission with William Reilly, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H.W. Bush.
Experts are predicting a tense but informative hearing with testimony from representatives of the companies involved in the incident, industry executives, technical experts, regulators and others regarding the rig explosion.

The Bob Graham Center for Public Service is a community of students, scholars and politically engaged citizens, devoted to enhanced citizenship; the training of current and future public and civic leaders who can identify problems and spearhead change; and the development of policy on issues of importance to Florida, the United States and the global community.