Last night, President Obama spoke eloquently about the challenges facing our country from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Our thoughts and prayers, as an industry and as a nation, have been with our workers and their neighbors along the coast. But our focus has been to help BP and the government in their efforts to stop the spill, to clean up the oil, and--once the causes of the spill are known--prevent it from ever happening again.

We will redouble our commitment to safety and environmental protection. Where improvements can be made; we'll make them. The oil and natural gas industry has been raising the bar on best practices for the past 90 years, and we will continue to find ways to raise that bar higher.

We understand that people are frustrated and expect answers. We will be part of the search for solutions to every energy challenge the president spoke of from the Oval Office.

Our energy future must build from our energy present: oil and natural gas provide more than half the energy used in America and the demand for energy will grow in the coming decades. We have abundant energy resources in this country. If we design an energy future that excludes our own resources, we will threaten jobs and economic growth throughout the economy.

The industry's commitment to safety and environmental protection is real and strong, but the tragedy in the Gulf clearly demonstrates it was not good enough. All of us realize we must do better, and we will.