Obama administration talks tough, but carries small club in gulf oil crisis
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
It was Theodore Roosevelt who famously counseled: Speak softly and carry a big stick. When it comes to dealing with what is shaping up to be the nation’s worst oil disaster, the Obama administration finds itself trapped into doing the opposite.
As the environmental crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is well into its second month with no end immediately in sight, the Obama administration is speaking tougher in an effort to win the political public relations war, but quietly acknowledged last week that it is short of any dramatic solution to resolving the mess.
Over the weekend, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar used some of the harshest language yet during a news conference in Houston. Salazar was the author of the administration’s famous dictum ‘to keep a boot on the neck of BP,’ which owns the well that has probably already gushed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf waters, though the exact amount is subject to dispute.
‘I am angry and I am frustrated that BP has been unable to stop this oil from leaking and to stop the pollution from spreading,’ Salazar said.
The federal government could resort to taking over tasks now controlled by BP, Salazar suggested. ‘If we find they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, we’ll push them out of the way appropriately,’ he said.
Salazar’s comments go to the heart of the cleanup problem: Exactly what is the role of the federal government and what can it do that the oil company hasn’t?
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs tried to deal with that issue as reporters peppered him with questions last week. He said the federal government was doing all that it legally could by overseeing the disaster, though BP, which has the personnel and material, remained responsible for doing the actual work. The administration can push, even demand, but it cannot order a private company, he said.
‘But why isn’t the federal government sort of taking over this operation?’ reporters asked.
Gibbs tried explain the different roles of the parties, a task he had engaged before.
‘The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, for reasons that were obvious in 1990, put the liability and the responsibility for recovery and cleanup with the company rather than with the taxpayers,’ Gibbs replied. ‘That’s why ....’
‘I just want to be clear that I understand what you’re saying,’ a reporter from the Associated Press replied, ‘that you’re legally not allowed to take sort of command and control of the whole situation.’
‘No, no, again,’ Gibb said. ‘They areresponsible for...and we are overseeing the recovery response.’
‘But if they’re not getting the job done, does the government just stand there as a spectator and hope for the best?’ another reporter asked.
Gibbs insisted the government was doing more than standing by.
‘We have taken every step,’ Gibbs insisted. ‘We have pushed relentlessly for BP to do what is necessary to contain what is leaking, to deal with both the environmental and the economic impacts of what, as the president said today, is unquestionably a disaster.’
The administration’s problem is that the heart of the disaster is the leak at the well and that BP has yet to staunch the flow of at least 5,000 barrels of oil a day and probably much more, according to other estimates.
‘If BP is not accomplishing the task, why doesn’t the federal government come in and take over and get the job done?’ a reporter asked.
‘Federalize it -- can you just federalize it?’ another reporter questioned.
‘No,’ Gibbs replied.
‘Why didn’t you order them to do that rather than ask them?’ reporters asked of one of tactics.
‘Because it’s -- you can’t do that to a private company,’ Gibbs said, rejecting comparisons to the government’s forceful action against failing companies during the financial crisis.
Finally after more attempts to pin down the issue, Gibbs seemed to taunt reporters: ‘If you’ve got an idea of how to plug this hole, I’m happy to put you in charge of ….’
‘Everything that can be done is being done,’ Gibbs insisted, trying to close the book.
In politics, no book is ever closed -- just more pages are added. President Obama will speak on Monday to governors along the Gulf of Mexico.
-- Michael Muskal
