An estimated two million gallons of oil continue to gush into the Gulf each day.

And lawmakers on Capitol Hill drilled that into oil company executives as they were grilled about their lack of a contingency plan.

"The oil companies before us today amassed nearly $289 billion in profits over the last three years. They spent $39 billion to explore for new gas and oil. Yet the average investment in research and development for safety, accident prevention and spill response was a paltry $20 million per year," said Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey.

Federal authorities gave B.P. permission to start burning oil and gas as part of a pledge to more than triple how much crude it stops from spewing into the Gulf.