BP's Credibility Sank as Oil Spill Grew

(AP) At nearly every step since the Deepwater Horizon exploded more than a
month ago, causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history, rig operator BP PLC has
downplayed the severity of the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

On almost every issue - the amount of gushing oil, the environmental impact,
even how to stop the leak - BP's statements have proven wrong. The erosion of
the company's credibility may prove as difficult to stop as the oil spewing from
the sea floor.

(Scroll down to watch CBS News Correspondent Don Teague's report on

BP's "top kill" failure)

"They keep making one mistake after another. That gives the impression that
they're hiding things," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who has
been critical of BP's reluctance to publicly release videos of the underwater
gusher. "These guys either do not have any sense of accountability to the public
or they are Neanderthals when it comes to public relations."

Take one of the most obvious questions since the April 20 explosion: How much
oil is leaking? Official estimates have grown steadily - first the word was none,
then it was 42,000 gallons, then 210,000 gallons. And now a team of scientists
say the leak may well be five times that, making the spill worse than the Exxon
Valdez.

All the while, BP has been slow to acknowledge the leak was likely much worse
than the public had been told.

The oil giant's behavior has led to accusations that it has been motivated to keep
the leak estimate low because under federal law the size of eventual fines is tied
to the size of the leak.

Nelson said that he believes BP has delayed release of everything from the
actual flow rate to the videos because of a federal law that allows the
government to seek penalties of $1,000 to $4,300 per barrel - 42 gallons - of oil
spilled in U.S. waters. "And so naturally they want to minimize what people were
thinking they were going to spill."

BP: Oil Spill Might Have Washed Ashore in

La.
The winds and waves eased in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, an encouraging
development for crews trying clean up a massive oil spill, yet an official with BP
PLC said more than 20 boats were looking into an unconfirmed report of oil
coming ashore in Louisiana.

People along the beaches and bayous waited anxiously to find out just how badly
it might damage the delicate coast.

A Coast Guard official said forecasts showed the oil wasn't expected to come
ashore for at least three more days and that the calm weather was allowing
cleanup crews to put out more containment equipment and repair some of the
booms that were damaged in the rough weather. They also hope to again try to
burn some of the oil on the water's surface.

"We do have the gift of time. It's a gift of a little bit of time. I'm not resting," U.S.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said.

The cleanup crews will soon have some reinforcements. The Pentagon
announced Tuesday it has approved the federal mobilization of up to 17,500
National Guard troops to help various states with the oil spill.

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said boats were dispatched to

Chandeleur Island to look for the oil coming ashore, but so far haven't been able
to find it.

Special Section: Gulf Coast Oil Disaster

White House: Lift Liability Cap for Gulf Spill
Bill Nelson: BP Needs to Do More than Just Clean Up
Oil Spill Closes in on Gulf Coast States
BP CEO: Oil Leak Containment Dome Ready for Use
Higher Gas, Seafood Prices Likely from Spill
Jeff Corwin: Oil Spill Means Eco-Chaos
How Much Will BP Have to Pay
Oil Still Gushing into Gulf
Oil Spill by the Numbers
Gulf Oil Spill Containment Efforts

The Associated Press reported Thursday that some oil washed ashore at the
mouth of the Mississippi River along the Louisiana coast.

So far only sheens have reached some coastal waters. The oil has lingered in the
Gulf for two weeks, despite an uncapped seafloor gusher.

The slow movement has given crews and volunteers time to lay boom in front of
shorelines, an effort stymied by choppy seas over the weekend.

Rig operator BP PLC continued to try to cap one of the smaller of three leaks,
which if successful, could make it easier to install a containment system over the
well.

BP's chief executive said a containment dome designed to cover the principal
leak will be on the seabed Thursday, and will be hooked up to a drill ship over
the weekend.

CEO Tony Hayward stressed to reporters in Washington that the procedure had
never been done before at a depth of nearly a mile below the water's surface.

"So we'll undoubtedly encounter some issues as we go through that process," he

said. "But if that was a good outcome, then you would have the principal leak
contained by the early part of next week. But there's no guarantees."

The plan is to cover the leak with a 98-ton concrete-and-metal box structure
known as a cofferdam, and funnel the oil to the surface. Hayward also said that
chemical dispersants being used on the oil have significantly reduced the
amount of oil coming to the surface.

The uncertainty has been trying for people who live along a swath of the Gulf
from Louisiana to Florida. The undersea well has been spewing 200,000 gallons a
day since an April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon that
killed 11 workers. The rig was owned by Transocean Ltd.

"You mentally want to push it back to the west, and then you feel guilty for doing
so," said Jan Grant, manager at the St. George Inn on St. George Island, Fla.,
about the path the spill might take.

"The waiting is the hardest part," said Dodie Vegas, 44, who rents rooms in her
Bridge Side Cabins complex in Grand Isle, the southernmost tip of Louisiana.

She said 10 guests have already canceled their rooms, worried about the oil
slick.

"I understand their point. You can't be mean about it," she said. "That's their
week off, and if they can't get another week, they've got to decide where they're
going."

BP has been unable to shut off the well, but crews have reported progress with a
new method for cutting the amount of oil that reaches the surface. They're using
a remotely operated underwater vehicle to pump chemicals called dispersants
into the oil as it pours from the well, to break it up before it rises. Results were
encouraging but the approach is still being evaluated, BP and Coast Guard
officials said.

The latest satellite image of the slick, taken Sunday night, indicates that it has
shrunk since last week, but that only means some of the oil has gone
underwater.

The new image found oil covering about 2,000 square miles, rather than the
roughly 3,400 square miles observed last Thursday, said Hans Graber of the
University of Miami.

Fishing has been shut down in federal waters from the Mississippi River to the
Florida Panhandle, leaving boats idle Monday in the middle of the prime spring
season. A special season to allow boats to gather shrimp before it gets coated in
oil will close Tuesday evening.

"We're in trouble," Peter Young, a local fishing boat captain, told CBS News
Correspondent Mark Strassmann. "We're in big trouble."

The effect on wildlife is still unclear. No oil has been found on 29 dead
endangered Kemp's ridley turtles that were examined by experts after washing
up on the beaches along the Mississippi coast over the past few days.

But Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, said
tissue samples would be sent off to labs for further review. Experts have warned that just
because no oil is found on the turtles that doesn't mean they didn't consume contaminated fish
or come into contact with toxins.

Meanwhile, crews haven't been able to activate a shutout valve underwater. And it could take
another week before a 98-ton concrete-and-metal box is placed over one of the leaks to
capture the oil.

Worse, it could take three months to drill sideways into the well and plug it with mud and
concrete to stop the worst U.S. oil spill since the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska,
leaking nearly 11 million gallons of crude.

Those nowhere near the Gulf who drink coffee, eat shrimp, like fruit or plan to buy a new set
of tires could also end up paying for the disaster.

A total shutdown of Mississippi River shipping lanes is unlikely. But there could be long
delays if cargo vessels that move millions of tons of fruit, rubber, grain, steel and other
commodities in and out of the nation's interior are forced to wait to have their oil-coated hulls
power-washed to avoid contaminating the Mississippi. Some cargo ships might choose to
unload somewhere else in the U.S. That could drive up costs.

"Let's say it gets real bad. It gets blocked off and they don't let anything in. They lose time,
and they are very concerned about that," said river pilot Michael Lorino. "It's going to be very
costly if they have to unload that cargo in another port and ship it back here because it was
destined for here."

BP said Monday it would compensate people for "legitimate and objectively verifiable"
claims from the explosion and spill, but President Obama and others pressed the company to
explain exactly what that means.
 (AP Photo)
For the tourism industry, the spill couldn't come at a worse time. Restaurant owners and
inkeepers said they are already getting calls about the spill.

"It's the beginning of the booking season, the beginning of the summer season," said Marie
Curren, sales director for Brett/Robinson, a real estate firm in Gulf Shores, Ala. "The only
thing that could make it worst now is a hurricane."

(At left, a sign on a fishing camp in Hopedale, La., along a bayou leading to the Gulf of
Mexico, expresses unfriendly sentiment towards BP PLC May 3, 2010.)

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist toured an Escambia County emergency operations center and said
while the Panhandle would see the first impact from the spill, the entire state should be
prepared.

"If and when it gets into the Gulf Stream, that will take it around the Gulf of Mexico
potentially down to the Keys and around the Atlantic side. Now, I don't want to be an
alarmist, but I want to be a realist. And I just think we all need to be prepared to do whatever
we can to protect our state. It's precious."

Dana Powell expects at least some lost business at the Paradise Inn in Pensacola Beach, Fla.,
and could see a different type of guest altogether: Instead of families boating, parasailing and
fishing, workers on cleanup crews will probably be renting her rooms.

"They won't be having as much fun," she said, "but they might be buying more liquor at the
bar, because they'll be so depressed."

And what will she serve in her restaurant? Hamburgers and chicken fingers instead of crab
claws.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and other officials kept up their criticism of BP and the Coast
Guard, saying they never provided plans to protect the Louisiana coast from an oil spill.

Jindal and Sen. David Vitter said local leaders have stepped in to come up with their own
solutions and officials are waiting for the Coast Guard to approve the plans and BP to fund
them.

"If it were up to the BP and the feds, we would not yet have plans," Vitter said.
By all accounts, the disaster is certain to cost BP billions. But analysts said the company
could handle it; BP is the world's third-largest oil company and made more than $6 billion in
the first three months of this year. The oil spill has drained $32 billion from BP's stock
market value.

BP: Oil Spill Containment Try No

"Guarantee"
(AP) A mission to the bottom of the sea to try to avert a wider environmental
disaster progressed early Friday as crews said a 100-ton concrete-and-steel box
was close to being placed over a blown-out well on the Gulf floor in an
unprecedented attempt to capture gushing oil.

Douglas Peake, the first mate of the supply boat that brought the box to the site,
confirmed a radio transmission from the nearby vessel lowering the device that
said the device would be in position over the well soon.

The transmission said undersea robots were placing buoys around the main oil
leak to act as markers to help line up the 40-foot box.

The box was about 4,000 feet underwater before dawn Friday, with another
1,000 feet to go, Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said.

A crane late Thursday lowered the containment vessel designed to collect as

much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funnel it up to a tanker.
Eventually the crane would give way to underwater robots that will secure the
contraption over the main leak at the bottom, a journey that would take hours.

A steel pipe will be installed between the top of the box and tanker. If all goes
well, the whole structure could be operating by Sunday.

"We haven't done this before," said BP spokesman David Nicholas. "It's very
complex and we can't guarantee it."

Complete Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf

Oil giant BP PLC is in charge of cleaning up the mess. It was leasing the drilling
rig Deepwater Horizon that exploded 50 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11
workers on April 20 and blowing open the well. It has been spewing an estimated
200,000 gallons a day in the nation's biggest oil spill since the Exxon Valdez
disaster in Alaska in 1989.

The quest took on added urgency as oil reached several barrier islands off the
Louisiana coast, many of them fragile animal habitats. Several birds were
spotted diving into the oily, pinkish-brown water, and dead jellyfish washed up
on the uninhabited islands.

"It's all over the place. We hope to get it cleaned up before it moves up the west
side of the river," said Dustin Chauvin, a 20-year-old shrimp boat captain from
Terrebonne Parish, La. "That's our whole fishing ground. That's our livelihood."

The crew of the semi-submersible drilling vessel Helix Q4000 waited hours longer
that expected to hoist the contraption from the deck of the Joe Griffin supply
boat because dangerous fumes rising from the oily water on a windless night had
delayed the work. Joe Griffin Capt. Demi Shaffer told an Associated Press
reporter aboard his boat the fear was that a spark caused by the scrape of metal
on metal could cause a fire.

But the crane lifted the containment box from the deck and into the Gulf after 10
p.m. CDT, dark oil clinging to its white sides as it entered the water and
disappeared below the surface.

The technology has been used a few times in shallow waters, but never at such
extreme depths - 5,000 feet down, where the water pressure is enough to crush
a submarine.

The box - which looks a lot like a peaked, 40-foot-high outhouse, especially on
the inside, with its rough timber framing - must be accurately positioned over the
well, or it could damage the leaking pipe and make the problem worse.

BP spokesman Doug Suttles said he is not concerned about that happening.

Underwater robots have been clearing pieces of pipe and other debris near
where the box will be placed to avoid complications.

"We do not believe it could make things worse," he said.

Other risks include ice clogs in the pipes - a problem that crews will try to
prevent by continuously pumping in warm water and methanol - and the danger
of explosion when separating the mix of oil, gas and water that is brought to the
surface.

"I'm worried about every part, as you can imagine," said David Clarkson, BP vice
president of engineering projects.

If the box works, a second one now being built may be used to deal with a
second, smaller leak from the sea floor.

"Hopefully, it will work better than they expect," Peake, said.

What the BP Oil Spill Teaches
(The Nation) Tom Hayden is a the Nation Institute's Carey McWilliams Fellow. He is a
former state senator from California.

The need for greater linkages between the environmental, peace and Wall Street reform
movements grow by the day in the face of the epic oil spill caused by British Petroleum, a
multinational firm tied to Goldman Sachs and Halliburton in oil wars from the Gulf of
Mexico to the Persian Gulf.

Peter Sutherland, chairman of BP’s board for the past decade, had headed Goldman Sachs
International and, in the 1990s, was a director of the World Trade Organization.

Last year Sutherland touted BP’s founders as the “cream of Edwardian society” who
organized the Anglo-Persian oil company in 1909 with a concession from the Shah of Persia.

Kicked out of Iraq by former president Saddam Hussein in the 1960s, BP recently has been
rewarded with the concession to exploit what “could be one of the largest expansions of
crude-oil production ever achieved anywhere”, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The BP-Halliburton connection was not only forged in Iraq, but in underwater catastrophes in
2009 in Australia’s sea of Timor and explosion two weeks ago of the Deepwater Horizon
drilling rig off the southern US coast. Halliburton performed the concrete work that preceded
both spills, and the New York Times reports a Halliburton employee has acknowledged “that
he made the problem worse” during the Australian spill. As for the recent disaster,
Halliburton officials claim it would be “premature and irresponsible to speculate” on the
cause.

The Goldman Sachs connection remains to be investigated, but it appears Sutherland had a
conflict of interest in his dual roles at BP and the Wall Street giant. BP and Goldman were
involved heavily in the 1990s and in 2000 in achieving deregulation of energy futures trades
from the previous oversight of the Commodities Futures and Exchange Commission (CFTC).
As most crude oil futures trades became deregulated, the price of oil skyrocketed from $18
per barrel in 1988 to $36 in 2000, to $110 in 2008. BP’s environmental crimes also include
the use of Colombian paramilitaries to protect its jungle pipelines and thousands of air
pollution violations at its Carson oil refinery in Los Angeles. BP has asserted that the goal of
global warming initiatives should be to stabilize emissions at 500-550 ppm, levels considered
shocking by most environmental experts.

And yet despite its status as a serial and dangerous polluter, BP has attempted to cultivate a
reputation as a “responsible” oil company, famously rebranding itself as BP “Beyond
Petroleum” with a $200 million Ogilvy and Mather advertising campaign in 2000, and known
for encouraging “dialogues” and “partnerships” with mainstream environmental
organizations like the National Wildlife Federation.

The current oil spill invites a coming together of many social movements, including those
inspired by the recent indigenous gathering in Bolivia and mainstream groups with a new
opportunity for principled battle against the Obama administration’s embarrassing energy
legislation which green-lights more off-shore drilling. It remains for progressives to move
beyond a single-issue focus to make the connections between Wall Street, war, and
environmental destruction.

(The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.)

How Much Will BP Have to Pay for Oil

Spill?
BP PLC gave some assurance Monday to shrimpers, oil workers and scores of
others that they will be paid for damage and injuries from the explosion of a
drilling rig and the resulting massive oil spill in the Gulf.

A fact sheet on the company website says BP takes responsibility for cleaning up
the spill and will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively verifiable"
claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses. President
Barack Obama and several attorneys general have asked the company to explain
what exactly that means.

U.S. law may limit how much BP has to pay for damages such as lost wages and
economic suffering in the oil spill.

A law passed in response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska makes BP
responsible for clean-up costs. But the law sets a $75 million limit on other kinds
of damages.

Economic losses to the Gulf Coast are likely to exceed that. In response, several
Democratic senators introduced legislation Monday to raise the liability limit to
$10 billion, though it would not apply retroactively.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that the administration's commitment
was for BP to pay for all costs associated with the spill.

People like Dana Powell, manager of the Paradise Inn in Pensacola Beach, Fla.,
have feared what will happen to the Gulf Coast's staple industries such as
tourism and commercial fishing.
"Now when there's a hurricane, we know it's going to level things, devastate
things, be a huge mess and it's going to take several years to clean up," she
said. "But this? It's going to kill the wildlife, it's going to kill lifestyles - the
shrimpers, the fishermen, tourism. Who's going to come to an oil-covered
beach?"

Special Section: Gulf Coast Oil Disaster

Oil Spill by the Numbers
Gulf Oil Spill Containment Efforts

In the Chandeleur Sound on Monday, about 40 miles northeast of Venice, thick,

heavy oil was slicked in long clumps that looked like raw sewage. Several sick
and dying jellyfish could be seen in the water.

A dolphin surfaced nearby but did not appear to be in distress as rain fell over
the scene.

Charter boat captain Bob Kenney looked across the oil streaming in as rain fell.
The oil was drifting northward toward the Chandeleur Islands and the Mississippi
coast.

"This rain is mother ocean crying because of all this oil in her," said charter boat
captain Bob Kenney. "This is what makes me cry."

BP CEO Tony Hayward said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that BP
was not responsible for the accident. He said the equipment that failed and led
to the spill belonged to owner Transocean Ltd., not BP, which operated the
Deepwater Horizon rig.

Guy Cantwell, a Transocean spokesman, responded by reading a statement

without elaborating.

"We will await all the facts before drawing conclusions and we will not
speculate," he said.

A board investigating the explosion and oil leak plans to hold its first public
hearing in roughly two weeks. The cause of the April 20 explosion, which killed
11 workers, has not been determined.

Coast Guard Capt. David Fish, chief of the Washington-based Office of

Investigations and Analysis, said the six-member board - three from the Coast
Guard and three from the U.S. Minerals and Management Service - will likely
meet in the New Orleans area and take testimony from experts and workers who
survived the disaster.

"We want to get it public because that's just what our rules are and while
everything is fresh in everyone's mind, particularly with the witnesses," he said.

Meanwhile, Hayward said chemical dispersants seem to be having a significant

impact keeping oil from flowing to the surface, though he did not elaborate.

The update on the dispersants came as BP was preparing a system never tried to
siphon away the spill of crude from a blown-out well a mile underwater.
However, it will take at least another six to eight days before crews can lower 74-
ton concrete-and-metal boxes being built to capture the oil and siphon it to a
barge waiting at the surface.

That delay could allow at least another million gallons to spill into the Gulf, on
top of the roughly 2.6 million or more that has spilled since the April 20 blast.
Those numbers are based on the Coast Guard's estimates that 200,000 gallons a
day are spilling out, though officials have cautioned it's impossible to know
exactly how much is leaking.

By comparison, the tanker Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons off the Alaska
coast in 1989.

Crews continued to lay boom in what increasingly felt like a futile effort to keep
the spill from reaching the shore, though choppy seas have made that difficult
and rendered much of the oil-corraling gear useless.

In Pensacola, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist characterized the spill as "sort of an

underground volcano of oil." He said Monday that BP was responsible for the
cleanup and added "we'll be more than happy to send them the bill."

Everything engineers have tried so far has failed to stop the leak. After the
explosion, the flow of oil should have been stopped by a blowout preventer, but
the mechanism failed. Efforts to remotely activate it have proven fruitless.

The oil could keep gushing for months until a second well can be dug to relieve
pressure from the first.

Many coastal communities are desperate to keep the slick away from their
beaches. One person had a suggestion at a BP town hall meeting held in
Navarre, Fla., however.

"Would it be possible to just go out there and bomb the hell out of it?" said
Kenny Wilder, 67, of Navarre.

Besides the immediate impact on Gulf industries, shipping along the Mississippi
River could soon be limited because the slick was precariously close to a key
shipping lane. Ships carrying food, oil, rubber and much more come through the
Southwest Pass to enter the vital waterway.
Shipment delays - either because oil-splattered ships need to be cleaned off at
sea before docking or because water lanes are shut down for a time - would raise
the cost of transporting those goods.

"We saw that during Hurricane Katrina for a period of time - we saw some prices
go up for food and other goods because they couldn't move some fruit down the
shipping channels and it got spoiled," PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said.

The Port of New Orleans said projections suggest the pass will be clear through
Tuesday.

Obama Vows to Do Whatever it Takes

Obama toured the region Sunday, deflecting criticism that his administration was
too slow to respond and did too little to stave off the catastrophe. The
administration has also strongly defended any comparison to the slow response
to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

A piece of plywood along a Louisiana highway had these words painted on it:
"OBAMA SEND HELP!!!!"

The containment boxes being built were not part of BP's original response plan.
The approach has been used previously only for spills in relatively shallow water.
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said engineers are still examining whether the
valves and other systems that feed oil to a ship on the suBP was trying to cap
the smallest of three leaks with underwater robots in the hope it will make it
easier to place a single oil-siphoning container over the wreck. One of the robots
cut the damaged end off a pipe at the smallest leak Sunday and officials were
hoping to cap it with a sleeve and valve, Coast Guard spokesman Brandon
Blackwell said Monday. He did not know how much oil was coming from that
leak.

"We see this as an opportunity to simplify the seafloor mission a little bit, so
we're working this aggressively," BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said.

A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not

authorized to discuss the volume of reserves, confirmed reports that tens of
millions of barrels of oil were beneath the seabed being tapped by the rig when it
blew up. Bob Fryar, senior vice president for BP in Angola, said any numbers
being thrown out are just estimates at best.

On Sunday, fishermen from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Florida
Panhandle got the news that more than 6,800 square miles of federal fishing
areas were closed, fracturing their livelihood for at least 10 days and likely more
just as the prime spring season was kicking in.

Peter Young has worked nearly 18 years as a fishing guide and said he's afraid
his way of life may be slipping away. The government has overreacted by
shutting down vital fishing areas in the marshes, he said.

Until he sees oil himself, Young will keep fishing the closed areas.

"They can take me to jail," he said. "This is our livelihood. I'm not going to take
customers into oil, but until I see it, I can't sit home and not work."
rface can withstand the extra pressures of the deep.

Obama Slams BP, Transocean, Halliburton

Over Gulf Oil Spill
President Obama today harshly criticized BP and other companies for "falling over each other
to point the finger of blame at somebody else" at recent Congressional hearings into who
bears responsibility for the rapidly-expanding environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
"I know BP has committed to pay for the response effort, and we will hold them to their
obligation," he said following a meeting with administration officials to discuss the oil leak.
"I have to say though I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle
during the congressional hearings into this matter."
"You had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point
the finger of blame at somebody else," he continued. "The American people cannot have been
impressed with that display, and I certainly wasn't."
"I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility," Mr. Obama later added.
Speaking in the Rose Garden, Mr. Obama said he is "not going to rest or be satisfied until the
leak is stopped at the source, the oil in the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people of
the Gulf are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods."
Oil Flow Rate Questioned as BP Tries 2nd Fix
Oil Leak Stop At Least a Week Away, BP Exec Says
Complete Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf

(Credit: CBS)
"I saw firsthand the anger and frustration felt by our neighbors in the Gulf, and let me tell
you, it is an anger and frustration that I share as president," he said.
"For too long, for a decade or more, there's been a cozy relationship between the oil
companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill," the president said, referencing
the Minerals Management Service. "It seems as if permits were too often issued based on
little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies. That cannot and will not happen
anymore. To borrow an old phrase, we will trust but we will verify."
Mr. Obama said that his Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, recognized the need for
reform before the spill but "often-times he has been slammed by the industry, suggesting that
somehow these necessary reforms would impede economic growth."
He noted plans to split the agency's inspection and collection divisions to avoid conflicts of
interest and said he had asked Salazar "to conduct a top to bottom reform" of the agency.
The president also referenced the fact that scientists are now estimating that the spill may be
far larger than government estimate of 5,000 barrels per day. According to one
oceanographer, the spill could "easily be four or five times" than that estimate.
Federal Response to the Gulf Oil Spill
Top of Form

What do you think of the President's handling of the oil spill in the
Gulf?
248 false false

• I approve of his actions so far.

• I don't think he's doing enough.

• Don't know/Unsure.
Vote View results
Bottom of Form

Mr. Obama said that because no one can reach the leak, which is 5,000 feet below the surface
of the ocean, "we know there is a level of uncertainty." But he added that "our mobilization
and response efforts have always been geared toward the possibility of a catastrophic event."
The government is using "every available resource" to address the spill, the president said.
"Over one million feet of barrier boom have been deployed to hold the oil back," according to
Mr. Obama. "Hundreds of thousands of gallons of dispersant helped to break up the oil.
About four million gallons of oily water have been recovered."
He added that 13,000 people and the National Guard had been deployed to help protect the
shoreline and wildlife.
Mr. Obama pushed Congress to pass legislation that he said will help with cleanup efforts,
provide unemployment help and jobs training to those affected and aid the economic
recovery of the region. It would also help ensure that oil companies, not taxpayers, are on the
hook for spills like this in the future, he said.
As his remarks concluded, the president reiterated his support for offshore drilling going
forward.
"Domestic oil drilling continues to be one part of an overall energy strategy that now includes
more clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency than at any other time in our history," he
said. "But it's absolutely essential that going forward we put in place every necessary
safeguard and protection so that a tragedy like this oil spill does not happen again."

BP CEO: We'll Pay Oil Spill Costs

(CBS/ AP) The CEO of British Petroleum said Monday that while he believes his
company is not 100 percent to blame for the devastating oil spill off the
Louisiana coast, it will aid businesses affected by the spill and continue efforts to
stop the oil from reaching the shore.

"This is not our accident, but it's our responsibility," BP CEO Tony Hayward told
CBS' "The Early Show" Monday.

BP PLC said Monday it will pay "all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs"
resulting from the blown-out oil well.

In a fact sheet posted to the company's website, BP said it took responsibility for
the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and says, "we will clean it up."
The company says it will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively
verifiable" claims for property damage, personal injury, and commercial losses.

Meanwhile, BP was preparing a system never tried before at such depths to

siphon away the geyser of crude from a blown-out well a mile under Gulf of
Mexico waters. However, the plan to lower 74-ton, concrete-and-metal boxes
being built to capture the oil and siphon it to a barge waiting at the surface will
need at least another six to eight days to get it in place.

Hayward said his company was "absolutely focused" on not letting oil reach
shore.

Crews continued to lay boom in what increasingly feels like a futile effort to slow
down the spill, with all ideas to contain the flow failing so far.

Fishermen from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle got
the news that more than 6,800 square miles of federal fishing areas were closed,
fracturing their livelihood for at least 10 days and likely more just as the prime
spring season was kicking in. The slick also was precariously close to a key
shipping lane that feeds goods and materials to the interior of the U.S. by the
Mississippi River.
Special Section: Gulf Coast Oil Disaster
Oil Spill by the Numbers
Gulf Oil Spill Containment Efforts

Even if the well is shut off in a week, fishermen and wildlife officials wonder how
long it will take for the Gulf to recover. Some compare it to the Hurricane Katrina
that Louisiana is still recovering from after nearly five years.

BP: We've Paid $29 Million in Oil Spill

Claims
(CBS/AP) BP says it has paid at least $29 million to people claiming economic
losses because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The oil company said in court documents Tuesday in Louisiana that it has yet to
deny any claims. Many of the claims are from fishermen and shrimpers.

BP said 25,000 claims have been submitted and more than 12,000 payments
have been made so far.

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

BP is trying to block an attempt by some fishermen to get a federal judge to

oversee the claims process. BP says the 1990 Oil Pollution Act gives the Coast
Guard oversight responsibilities.

BP and other companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster have
been targeted by more than 130 lawsuits. BP says people who accept claims do
not waive rights to sue.

How Much Does BP Owe for Gulf Oil Spill?

"BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying the bill," President Obama said this
weekend as he surveyed the site of a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP has acknowledged it is financially responsible for the clean up efforts of the spill, which
started when a floating oil rig that BP leases exploded on April 20. The company also says it
will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively verifiable" claims for property damage,
personal injury, and commercial losses.
So when the government hands BP the bill, how much will the oil company owe? The exact
costs are unknowable right now, but it is sure to be significant.
So far the cost estimate for the clean up efforts is about $6 million per day, Coast Guard Petty
Officer Connie Terrell told Hotsheet. The Coast Guard and BP are working around the clock
to come up with a solution to stop the leaks as well as contain and clean up the oil, Terrell
said. She added, "BP has spared no expense with their efforts to do this."
BP has said, however, that the cost of the clean up efforts could rise dramatically once the oil
slick hits the land, Reuters reports.
On top of that, the endeavor could take months. Terrell said it is unclear right now how long
it will take to secure the leak and clean the spill, but BP chief executive Tony Hayward said
on NBC's "Today Show" this morning that that "the worst-case scenario is that we would
need to contain this for two to three months whilst a relief well is drilled."
According to Reuters, financial analysts have produced estimates for the final cost of the
clean up ranging from $7 billion (according to the investment firm Bernstein) to under $1.1
billion (according to analysts at Citigroup, Evolution Securities and Panmure Gordon).
By comparison, Exxon said it spent $2.1 billion on cleanup after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill
off the coast of Alaska. It spent about a billion more on fines, damages, penalties and other
expenses. The Exxon Valdez spill, however, was a contained spill with a finite amount of oil.
It's unclear how many thousands of barrels of oil could be spilling into the Gulf currently, and
experts are warning this disaster could be more serious than the 1989 spill.
"This spill at this point, in my view, is indeterminate," Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the
U.S. Coast Guard, said on CNN. "That makes it asymmetrical, anomalous and one of the
most complex things we've ever dealt with."
Special Section: Gulf Coast Oil Disaster
White House Dismisses Katrina/Oil Spill Comparison
Oil Spill by the Numbers
Gulf Oil Spill Containment Efforts
The costs related to the spill will far surpass the clean up costs. The impacted coastline
produces tens of billions in state revenues from tourism, the Washington Post reports. The
spill will have a significant impact on the region's shrimp, oyster and crab harvests. Shipping
along the Mississippi River could also be limited because of the location of the oil slick.
States can also seek damages for expenses like the restoration of damaged wetlands.
Furthermore, 11 workers from the rig are missing and presumed dead, and their families will
have to be compensated. Seventeen others were injured in the explosion; 3 were injured
critically.
While BP is on the hook for the clean up costs, there is a $75 million cap on an oil company's
liability for economic damages, or other damages claimed by individuals or government,
under the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund law. That law also established a government reserve
funded through taxes on oil companies, as well as fines and penalties in the case of oil spills,
to pay for cases like the current oil spill. There is currently $1.6 billion in the reserve, and this
disaster could use up to $1 billion of its funds, the New York Times reports.
Democratic Senators Robert Menendez (N.J.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.)
today introduced legislation to raise the liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion. They're
calling it the "Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act"
"The bottom line is that oil spills can leave massive holes in the economy," Menendez said.
"If you spill it, you should have to fill it. We're glad that the costs for the oil clean up will be
covered, but that's little consolation to the small businesses, fisheries and local governments
that will be left to clean up the economic mess that somebody else caused."
While BP has said it will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively verifiable"
individual claims, there is already concern the company is short-changing Gulf Coast
residents. Alabama's Attorney General Troy King on Sunday said he told BP to stop
circulating settlement agreements among coastal residents that he said stripped people of their
right to sue in exchange for $5,000. BP also on Sunday altered the terms of its waivers for
volunteer clean up respondents after it came under scrutiny for forcing the volunteers to give
up their right to sue in the case of an accident.
It's also possible BP could try to spread the costs to other companies, such as Cameron
International Corp., which supplied the well head equipment that has been blamed for the
accident, Reuters reports

Outrage Over Gulf Oil Spill Grows

(CBS/AP) Thick, sticky oil crept deeper into delicate marshes of the Mississippi
Delta, an arrival dreaded for a month since the crude started spewing into the
Gulf, as anger and frustration mounted over efforts to plug the gusher from a
blown-out well and contain the spill.

Up to now, only tar balls and a sheen of oil had come ashore. But chocolate
brown and vivid orange globs and sheets of foul-smelling oil the consistency of
latex paint have begun coating the reeds and grasses of Louisiana's wetlands,
home to rare birds, mammals and a rich variety of marine life.

With each passing day, outrage grows. State and local officials say the federal
government isn't doing enough. President Barack Obama faults the agency that
oversees offshore drilling. Republicans say the Coast Guard and the
administration should have done more.

A deep, stagnant ooze sat in the middle of a particularly devastated marsh off
the Louisiana coast where Emily Guidry Schatzel of the National Wildlife
Federation was examining stained reeds.

"This is just heartbreaking," she said with a sigh. "I can't believe it."

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

Oil Spill: One Month Later

Fingers are also pointing at BP PLC, not only for the April 20 explosion of the
Deepwater Horizon rig and the deaths of 11 workers, but for the gusher of oil
that flowed entirely uncontained until this past weekend. The company, which
was leasing the rig, conceded Thursday what some scientists have been saying
for weeks: More oil is flowing from the leak than BP and the Coast Guard had
previously estimated.

The BP executive in charge of fighting the spill, Chief Operating Officer Doug
Suttles, said he understands the public frustration. He told CBS' "Early Show"
on Friday that in the worst-case scenario, the gusher could continue until early
August, when a new well being drilled to cap the flow permanently could be
finished.

But Suttles said he believes the rich Gulf environment will recover, in part
because it is a large body of water and has withstood other oil spills.

"I'm optimistic, I'm very optimistic that the Gulf will fully recover,"
Suttles told "Early Show" anchor Maggie Rodriguez.

A live video feed of the underwater gusher, posted online after lawmakers
exerted pressure on BP, is sure to fuel the anger.

It shows what appears to be a large plume of oil and gas still spewing into the
water next to the stopper-and-tube combination that BP inserted to carry some
of the crude to the surface. The House committee website where the video was
posted promptly crashed because so many people were trying to view it.

At least 6 million gallons have gushed into the Gulf since the explosion, more
than half of what the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled in Alaska in 1989. A growing
number of scientists believe it's more.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler told The Associated Press that the mile-long tube
inserted into a leaking pipe over the weekend is capturing 210,000 gallons of oil
a day - the total amount the company and the Coast Guard have estimated is
gushing into the sea - but some is still escaping. He would not say how much.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a team including

scientists is working on a new estimate of how much oil is gushing from the well.
Agency officials would not speculate on how big the leak might be.

Washington, meanwhile, has turned up the pressure on BP.

The Obama administration asked the company to be more open with the public
by sharing such information as measurements of the leak and the trajectory of
the spill. BP has been accused of covering up the magnitude of the disaster.

Also, the Environmental Protection Agency directed BP to employ a less toxic

form of the chemical dispersants it has been using to break up the oil and keep it
from reaching the surface.

BP is marshaling equipment for an attempt as early as Sunday at a "top kill,"

which involves pumping heavy mud into the top of the blown-out well to try to
plug the gusher.

If it doesn't work, the backup plans include a "junk shot" - shooting golf balls,
shredded tires, knotted rope and other material into the well to clog it up.

"We're now looking at a scenario where response plans include lighting the
ocean on fire, pouring potent chemicals into the water, and using trash and
human hair to stop the flow of oil," said Michael Brune, executive director of the
Sierra Club, in a letter to Mr. Obama calling for a formal moratorium on new
offshore drilling permits. "If this is the backup plan, we need to rethink taking the
risk in the first place."

In Related News:

• The National Law Journal has reported that BP's lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis have
filed a motion seeking to have lawsuits against the company consolidated and
heard in Texas (where the company’s North American headquarters is located)
rather than Louisiana (where much of the damage so far has occurred).

The Journal notes that BP may be seeking a home-field advantage as well as

avoiding hearings in the Eastern District of Louisiana, where past multidistrict
litigation has been resolved more quickly than in the Southern District of Texas.

• The Associated Press reports a stockholder lawsuit against BP claims "gross

mismanagement" by company officials has severely damaged the company's
reputation and hurt its value.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Superior Court in Anchorage, alleges the

officials did not take the necessary steps to ensure BP compliance with safety
rules and environmental safeguards, citing last month's oil rig explosion in the
Gulf of Mexico, a 2005 refinery blast in Texas, and concerns U.S. Reps. Henry
Waxman and Bart Stupak raised earlier this year about BP operations on Alaska's
North Slope.

"Defendants' disdain for safety and environmental laws, and the resulting loss of
lives and property, has plunged BP into a public relations crisis," the lawsuit
claims. This has resulted in BP being "tagged as an unsafe company and gross
polluter, all of which are extremely negative developments which are hurting
BP's business."

A spokesman for BP in Alaska, Steve Rinehart, declined comment on pending

litigation.

BP Begins Continuously Spraying Oil

Dispersants
(CBS/AP) A BP official is telling The Associated Press that the company has
received federal approval to continuously spray chemicals underwater on the
massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP PLC spokesman Mark Proegler said the company received Environmental

Protection Agency approval and began pumping dispersant on the site starting at
4:30 a.m. Monday. The company plans to continue spraying and taking tests.

The dispersants had never been tried at such depths before this spill and officials
have been worried about the effect on the environment.

Complete Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf

Officials with BP have been encouraged by the underwater spraying, saying it

prevents some of the oil from reaching the surface.

An EPA spokeswoman didn't immediately return a telephone call or e-mail.

Icy slush had foiled plans to use a giant box to contain the gusher leaving BP
pondering alternate solutions at sea, while on land, helicopters were expected to
drop sandbags in Louisiana to guard against thick blobs of crude that began
washing up on beaches Monday.

On Sunday, in a waterfront yard in Port Fourchon, La., a tractor-trailer dumped a

load of sand, which workers planned to pack into 5-cubic-yard bags. Once the
bags are ready, the Army National Guard will airlift them on Monday to five spots
along a four-mile stretch of coastline between Port Fourchon and the Jefferson
Parish line, said Lafourche Parish compliance officer Robert Passman.

BP said Monday that the oil spill has cost the company $350 million so far. The
tally included the cost of the immediate response, containment, relief well
drilling, commitments to the Gulf Coast states, and settlements and federal
costs.

The company did not speculate on the final bill, which most analysts expect to
run into tens of billions of dollars.

With crippled equipment littering the ocean floor, engineers from the oil
company - which is responsible for the cleanup - scrambled to devise a fresh
method to cap the ruptured well. Their previous best hope for containing the leak
quickly, a four-story containment box, became encrusted with deep-sea crystals
Saturday and had to be cast aside.

CBS News correspondent Don Teague reports that BP is also considering

using deep sea dredges to try and pile up sand near the coastline to build
artificial barrier islands. The hope is that the new islands might absorb much of
the crude before it can impact the sensitive marshlands on southern fringe of the
Gulf states.

The engineers appear to be "trying anything people can think of" to stop the
leak, said Ed Overton, a LSU professor of environmental studies.

An estimated 3.5 million gallons of oil have spilled since an explosion on April 20
on the drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. At
that pace, the spill would surpass the 11 million gallons spilled in the Exxon
Valdez disaster by next month. BP is drilling a relief well that is considered a
permanent fix, but that could take months to complete.