[ASSURAS] Welcome back to "energyNOW!" We just took a look at President Obama's plans to speed up both onshore and offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and possibly in the Atlantic. And we looked at Cuba's offshore drilling plans, just 60 miles off the coast of Florida.

Well, joining us in the MIX to debate drilling is Rayola Dougher, senior economic advisor of the industry lobby, the American Petroleum Institute. Anna Aurilio, director of the environmental advocacy group Environment America. And in Raleigh, North Carolina, Daniel Whittle, the Cuba program director at the Environmental Defense Fund. Thanks, all of you, for joining us, and I'm going to begin with you, Anna. What is your reaction to the president's plan?

[AURILIO] Well, we're very disappointed that the president is so focused on expanding offshore drilling and therefore risking our pristine coastlines, particularly the Atlantic Ocean, particularly the coast of Virginia where I actually like to go to the beach, that he's so focused on that instead of focusing on the things he's doing to get us off oil.

[ASSURAS] The oil industry, in general, Rayola, seems to be saying kind of the same thing -- not so happy, just baby steps. Not so happy?

[DOUGHER] It is baby steps. It's better than nothing, but we still have a long way to go when it comes to a national energy policy. Looking at our resources that we have here in the United States, we have great opportunities to develop our oil and natural gas. We think a lot more can be done. We could bring a million jobs to the market. We could bring $194 billion into the federal treasury, if we're allowed to go ahead with a lot of this development. So there are things we can do and we'd like to do and we'd like a policy that's supportive of domestic development, and supportive, too, of energy efficiency. A policy that works for all of us.

[ASSURAS] But on oil, you are saying "a lot more."

[DOUGHER] A lot more, absolutely. We have a lot of opportunities. We're not going for them. I don't think anybody's arguing about whether you do it safely and responsibly -- that's not an option. It has to be done safely.

[ASSURAS] But are we safer?

[DOUGHER] We are safer. We are.

[ASSURAS] How can you say that? We haven't had, God forbid, another accident to put things in place.

[DOUGHER] Well, a lot has been done in this past year in terms of addressing issues from that spill a year ago. We now have an Offshore Safety Center that we're developing. We have containment systems in place. We have a lot of things. We've beefed up the offshore safety procedures. We've formed task forces to address each and every aspect of that spill to see, are there any holes, is there anything else we can do? Much as you would do in any accident -- you go back over, figure out what went wrong, and move ahead.

[ASSURAS] Anna's kind of breathing deeply. You don't agree, I gather?

[AURILIO] We woke up a year ago to the thing that some of us have worked all of our lives to try to prevent, which is a catastrophic oil spill off the U.S. coastlines, and, unfortunately, I hear what Rayola's saying about wanting to do things more safely, but the reality is that the oil industry is up there in Congress lobbying to weaken even the safety standards that have been put in place since last year's BP oil spill. So, this is a dirty and dangerous industry.

[DOUGHER] I have to disagree with that. We are working hard, developing this Offshore Safety Center. As a matter of fact, the American Petroleum Institute, our charge since 1919 is developing recommended practices, best practices, and we share this. We have offices around the world. Our focus is safety, our focus is doing things right.

[AURILIO] Did you support the bill --

[DOUGHER] So that's what we're doing.

[AURILIO] -- that got rejected in the Senate, that rolls back the safety standards. Did you support that bill?

[ASSURAS] Obviously disagreement here. Let me bring Dan Whittle in. Dan you're an environmentalist. Your view on whether the industry is ready, and I have to say, I have toured a major containment system, fast-response system in Houston. Are you comfortable that they're ready, considering, too, what may happen with Cuba getting into the mix?

[WHITTLE] I don't think anyone knows if we're ready yet. I just spent a week, last week, in Trinidad with a roomful of oil-drilling contractors from around the world, and the point made is that oil drilling in deep waters of the Gulf and along the eastern seaboard is extremely challenging. It's complex and it's risky. So, I think, in the U.S., we need to take time to get it right. We need to carefully look at the commission's recommendations, which have not been voted on yet, and just get it right before we make the same mistakes that we made last summer.

[ASSURAS] Let me move further on, because you mentioned that conference in Trinidad, and that's where you and I met because I attended the conference as well, and it was a huge deal that Cuba was there, so let's bring that into focus. And Cuba is going to be drilling very, very close to Florida. So, in terms of safety, the Cubans said, and they said to me, that they are ready and prepared. Are you comfortable with their preparedness?

[WHITTLE] No one is taking this issue more seriously than the Cubans, I'm happy to report. I've been working in Cuba for a decade on environmental law and protection, primarily on marine and coastal ecosystems, coral reefs, fisheries. And where Cuba is getting ready to drill, there are extremely sensitive environments at stake, both in Cuba and in Florida and the southeast U.S. So I'm confident they're going about it the right way. They're trying to bring American scientists and oil industry experts into their efforts.

[ASSURAS] The embargo currently restricts the United States from getting involved, for example, should there be a spill, so give us a sense, though, and you brought this up, what might happen for the American coastline should there be a major Cuban spill.

[WHITTLE] Well, if there's a major Cuban spill, oil will go through the Florida Straits. It may or may not hit the Florida keys. It more likely will come up the east coast of Florida and as far as North Carolina before shooting off to the North Atlantic. The question is, how fast could Cuba contain and respond to the spill? Under the embargo, not very fast.

[ASSURAS] Okay, so, should American companies be allowed to respond?

[WHITTLE] Absolutely. That's one thing that the administration can do right away, is to provide a license to those companies with the know-how, the capacity, and the expertise to respond quickly.

[ASSURAS] Anna, let me ask you about that. Should American companies be involved? Or should the government be thinking of a way to stop Cuba from doing this, or to penalize foreign companies that work with the United States if they're going to work with Cuba and kind of stop it in the bud?

[AURILIO] Look, all the things that Dan laid out in terms of the threats to Florida's coastline are things we're concerned about whether you drill off Cuba's coast or Florida's coast, which is what the American Petroleum Institute wants to do. So we're very concerned that, while the oil industry says they want to do things safely, they're lobbying this week in the Senate to roll back the safety standards.

[DOUGHER] We are going to need oil and natural gas for decades to come. We have opportunities here in this nation and if we don't take advantage of them, others will. So we have an opportunity to supply our own supplies and to grow those supplies. We have an opportunity to bring the best technology in the world to this job. And we have a big job to do and we're ready to do it.

[AURILIO] We should have had the best technology last summer at BP, and we did not.

[ASSURAS] A debate, obviously, that is going to continue. I hope all of you come back. Thank you very much.

[DOUGHER] Thank you.