Obama Convinces No One

President Obama held his first news conference in 10 months, spending much of the time defending his administration’s handling of the BP oil spill, now billed as the biggest oil disaster in U.S. history.  Obama rebutted his critics who have said that the White House has ceded too much power to BP by observing, on several occasions that, the federal government is in charge of the response operation and not BP.

“The America people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort,” Obama said.  “As far as I’m concerned, BP is responsible for this horrific disaster, and we will hold them fully accountable on behalf of the United States as well as the people and communities victimized by this tragedy.”

Obama added:

“But make no mistake: BP is operating at our direction.  Every key decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance. I’ve designated Admiral Thad Allen — who has nearly four decades of experience responding to such disasters – as the National Incident Commander, and if he orders BP to do something to respond to this disaster, they are legally bound to do it.”

But even as Obama sort to reassure the American people that the federal government was in charge of the oil spill response operation, BP had suspended the “top kill” procedure, a technique being used to stop the leak, for 16 hours and had not even bothered to tell anyone, not the Coast Guard or the public. Even so, while the procedure has resumed, given its complexity and the depth of the leak, there is no guarantee of its success.

Obama said that everything was being done to help the residents–from fishermen to restaurant and hotel owners — whose lives have been disrupted and even destroyed by the spill.

“So far the Small Business Administration has approved loans and allowed many small businesses to defer existing loan payments,” Obama said.  “At our insistence, BP is paying economic injury claims, and we’ll make sure that when all is said and done, the victims of this disaster will get the relief that they are owed.”

Obama was critical of the too close relationship that had developed between the Minerals and Management Service (MMS), the agency charged with not only providing permits, but also enforcing laws governing  oil drilling.  It is for that reason there is now a separation between those permitting the drilling and those who regulate and ensure the safety of drilling, Obama said.  Today the head of the MMS, Elizabeth Birnbaum, was fired or resigned.

In an attempt to strengthen operating standards and requirements for offshore energy companies, Obama had recently announced that no new permits for drilling new wells would be granted until a 30-day safety and environmental review was completed.  Based on the review, Obama said that the following actions are being taken:

• suspension of planned exploration of two locations off the Coast of Alaska

• cancellation of the pending lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico and Virginia

• continuation of the moratorium and suspension of permits to drill new deepwater wells for six months

• suspension of 33 deepwater exploratory wells currently being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico

Acknowledging the “economic and environmental tragedy” taking place in the Gulf, Obama said that it underscored the need for the U.S. to develop clean, renewable sources of energy and to move forward with appropriate legislation in this regard.

Meanwhile, government scientists said today that the leak has spewed crude and gas from two to five times as much as earlier estimates put out by BP and agreed to by the government. It is now estimated that 19,000 barrels of oil per day have poured into the Gulf and not 5,000 barrels as initially estimated.    Put another way, 18 to nearly 40 million gallons of crude oil have already entered the Gulf compared to the 11 million gallons dumped by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989.

Obama acknowledged that his Administration had been too slow in pushing BP to release information on flow rates and standing up the flow tracking group.

According to Obama, “this (the oil spill) is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about”.

And for good measure he added:

“In case anybody wonders, in case you were wondering who’s responsible, I take responsibility, ” Obama said.  “It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down.  That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.  It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen right away or the way I’d like it to happen.  It doesn’t mean that we’re not going to make mistakes.  But there shouldn’t be any confusion here:  The federal government is fully engaged, and I’m fully engaged.”