WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama lays down the law for BP leaders on Wednesday, brandishing the full powers of his office to demand they put aside vast sums to repay the losses of Americans along the devastated Gulf of Mexico coast.
The meeting flows from Obama’s first and, some say disappointing, Oval Office address to the nation Tuesday night when he laid out what his administration has done and will do to overcome the country’s worst environmental crisis.
Millions upon millions of gallons (liters) of polluting crude oil continue to spew into the Gulf nearly two months after the British-based company’s Deep Horizon drilling platform exploded, killing 11 workers and setting in motion an environmental and economic catastrophe.
Responding to critics who said Obama was too moderate in the Oval Office speech, a forum saved by president’s for national crises, senior adviser David Axelrod said Wednesday that Americans “were not asking him to get angry. They were asking him to get results.”
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Of the coming meeting with BP executives, Axelrod said on MSNBC, “We have one mission. That mission is insuring the people of the Gulf are made whole. It will be clear to them and to the country.”
The president will be meeting with BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and the company’s chief executive, Tony Hayward.
In Obama’s 18-minute speech Tuesday night , he promised not only relentless pressure on BP but also pressed Congress to quickly pass a law that would put the United States on an environmentally friendly course toward energy independence.
“You have to stick to your knitting,” Axelrod said of Obama’s use of the speech to press yet again for one of his signature legislative goals.
It remains to be seen on the political front whether Obama overcame the sense among a majority of Americans that he is powerless to stem the leak and late to muster the country’s full arsenal against the ever-increasing environmental disaster.
The president acknowledged there would be more damage before the spill is contained. He said the country could be tied up with the oil and its aftermath for months or years.
“We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused,” Obama declared.
That said, Obama refused to set aside his vision for the country’s energy future.
“Countries like China are investing in clean-energy jobs and industries that should be right here in America. Each day, we send nearly $1 billion of our wealth to foreign countries for their oil,” he said. “The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now.”
Obama has been scrambling to show he is doing everything he can to stop the massive environmental and financial damage from the oil leak. But the government doesn’t have the technology to stop a spill at a depth of one-mile (1.6 kilometers), forcing Obama to rely on BP to fix it.
Even so, Obama said: “We will fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as long it takes.”
The president’s address capped a two-day inspection tour of the stricken Gulf of Mexico region, and was lent new urgency as scientists announced the spill could be worse than previously thought. It’s something he will bring up with the BP executives.
“I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company’s recklessness,” Obama said.
BP declined to offer details about what proposals it would bring to the meeting or any reaction to Obama’s biting words.
The company said in a statement that it shares Obama’s goal of “shutting off the well as quickly as possible, cleaning up the oil and mitigating the impact on the people and environment of the Gulf Coast. We look forward to meeting with President Obama tomorrow for a constructive discussion about how to best achieve these mutual goals.”
Obama said the proposed damages fund, used to pay claims to workers and business owners, won’t be run by BP. He said an independent third party will be in charge to ensure people are paid in a fair and timely way. Key issues remain unresolved such as who will oversee the escrow fund and how large it will be.
Obama said his government also has directed BP to mobilize more equipment and technology and that stepped-up efforts in the coming weeks should result in the capture of 90 percent of the oil spewing out of the well. Completion of a relief well later in the summer is expected to “stop the leak completely,” the president added.
The president expects to be able to announce a deal quickly to an impatient nation. He planned a Rose Garden statement after the meeting.
The new Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday found 52 percent of those surveyed don’t approve of Obama’s handling of the spill, up significantly from last month. But the public is directing most of its ire at the oil company. A stunning 83 percent disapprove of BP’s performance in the aftermath of the rig explosion, while Obama’s overall job performance rating has stayed virtually the same at 50 percent.
Obama said he had asked former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, an ex-governor of Mississippi, to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan — also to be funded by BP — in concert with local states, communities, fishermen, conservationists and residents.
“We must make a commitment to the Gulf Coast that goes beyond responding to the crisis of the moment,” the president said.
Earlier Tuesday, a government panel of scientists said the oil spill was leaking between 1.47 million gallons (5.56 million liters) and 2.52 million gallons (9.54 million liters) a day — an increase over previous estimates that put the maximum size of the spill at 2.2 million gallons (8.33 million liters) per day.
As of Tuesday, the maximum amount of oil that has gushed out of the well since the April 20 explosion is 116 million gallons (439 million liters), according to the estimates by scientists advising the federal government.
Obama also announced he had picked former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich to lead the agency that regulates the oil industry, replacing Elizabeth Birnbaum, who has stepped down as director of the Minerals Management Service following accusations of lax oversight of drilling and cozy ties with the industry.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.