Obama Calls BP "Reckless", Vows They Will Pay (Speech Video)

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Obama Accuses BP Of "Recklessness"


Dedicating new urgency to the Gulf oil spill, President Barack Obama accused BP of "recklessness" in the first Oval Office address of his presidency Tuesday night and swore not to rest until the company has paid for the damage it has caused to lives, businesses and shorelines.

He announced that he had asked former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan — to be funded by BP PLC — in concert with local states, communities, fishermen, conservationists and residents "as soon as possible."

Obama did not detail what this plan should include or how much it might cost, a price sure to be in the billions of dollars.

'We will make BP pay'

Whatever the bottom line, he declared to his prime-time television audience, "We will make BP pay."

Still, eight weeks into the crisis, oil continues to gush from the broken wellhead, millions of gallons a day, and Obama has been powerless to stem the leak. The sad episode has raised doubts about his leadership and his administration's response to what Obama has called the nation's worst environmental disaster.

The speech comes as a new poll shows a majority of Americans disapprove of how he has handled the Gulf disaster, though far more blame BP for what people call a sluggish two-month response.

A government panel of scientists said earlier Tuesday that the undersea well is leaking even more oil than previously thought, as much as 2.52 million gallons a day — or enough to fill the Oval Office more than 22 times. The total spilled so far could be as much as 116 million gallons.

BP has had only modest success so far in stemming the flood of oil, but Obama said that within weeks "these efforts should capture up to 90 percent of the oil leaking out of the well." Later in the summer, he said, the company should finish drilling a relief well to stop the leak completely.

Much of the president's speech was devoted to a recitation of steps his administration has already taken — "from the very beginning," he said — to clean the oil, help the distraught people of the Gulf and prevent another environmental crisis.

"We will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes," Obama said.

Likened to long epidemic

Likening that process to a long epidemic instead of a single crushing disaster like an earthquake or hurricane, he said the nation could be tied up with the oil and its aftermath for months "and even years."

Looking ahead to his showdown Wednesday morning with BP executives, Obama said he would "inform" them that the company must set aside whatever resources are required to make whole all local residents and businesses hurt by the spill and to repair the immense ecological damage wrought by the oil.

That meeting was to be followed by a presidential statement — his fourth planned remarks on the spill in three days. Later in the week, BP leaders take the Washington hot seat again, appearing before more congressional hearings.

However, Obama said that the new Gulf restoration plan would go beyond just repairing the effects of the crude on a unique, teeming ecology that was already battered by the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"We must make a commitment to the Gulf Coast that goes beyond responding to the crisis of the moment," the president said.

Obama also urged the nation and Congress to get behind his goal of passing sweeping energy and climate change legislation, a key domestic priority of his presidency that had become a long shot. Though Obama supports placing a price on heat-trapping carbon emissions, he did not directly state that.

"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," he said. "I say we can't afford not to change how we produce and use energy - because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater."

Oil executives grilled

On Capitol Hill, executives from other major oil companies turned on BP and defended their own drilling practices during a congressional hearing as they sought to stave off new government regulations in the wake of the spill.

Obama began the day in Pensacola, Fla., where he inspected the famous white sand beaches and met with local officials before heading back to the White House to deliver the first televised Oval Office message of his presidency.

The president walked along Pensacola Beach with Gov. Charlie Crist and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. People were swimming in the emerald green water. But oil is nearby even if it can't be seen, according to Allen.

Onlookers chanted "Save our beach, save our beach."

Earlier Tuesday, the White House announced former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich as Obama choice's for the new head of the Minerals Management Service, the agency that regulates the oil industry. Bromwich replaces Liz Birnbaum, who resigned in May in the fallout over the government's response to the spill.

BP said a small fire believed caused by lightning briefly shut down a system capturing oil from the gushing well on Tuesday. The fire on the drilling ship Discoverer Enterprise was quickly extinguished, the company said, and the oil capture operation resumed.

BP also announced it is accelerating the payments of commercial large-loss claims to get money into the hands of businesses more quickly. BP executive Bob Fryar said the company has thus far paid about $70 million in claims — the vast majority paid to individuals, especially those working in fishing and tourism. Fryar said the average time from claim to check is four days for individuals and about seven days for commercial entities.

Oil in the hot seat

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Oil executives testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on energy and the environment Tuesday defended their own drilling practices.

Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson told the panel it is crucial to find out what caused the offshore rig to explode in April, killing 11 workers and creating the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

"This incident represents a dramatic departure from the industry norm in deepwater drilling," Tillerson said.

Shell Oil Co President Marvin Odum testified, "We remain confident in our drilling expertise and procedures, built on a foundation of multiple required safety


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Did Obama Give BP Free Pass On Oil Spill & Clean Up?

Obama Gives Brits Free Pass On Oil Spill While Lashing Out At Congress


President Obama on Saturday reassured Prime Minister David Cameron that his frustration over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not an attack on Britain.

But a day earlier, Obama blasted U.S. lawmakers and Tea Party activists for criticizing his response to the nation's worst environmental disaster, suggesting they are being hypocrites.

"I think it's fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is classic, big-government overregulation and wasteful spending," he told Politico in an interview.

Obama also suggested the criticism coming from anti-big government protesters, such as Tea Party activists, was hypocritical.

"Some of the same folks who have been hollering and saying 'do something' are the same folks who, just two or three months ago, were suggesting that government needs to stop doing so much," Obama said. "Some of the same people who are saying the president needs to show leadership and solve this problem are some of the same folks, who just a few months ago, were saying this guy is trying to engineer a takeover of our society through the federal government that is going to restrict our freedoms."

But Obama sang a much different tune to Cameron on Saturday when the two leaders held a "warm and constructive" telephone conversation for more than 30 minutes, Cameron's Downing St. office said.

Cameron's office said the prime minister “expressed his sadness at the ongoing human and environmental catastrophe,” but stressed BP's economic important to Britain, the U.S. and other countries.

Then Obama told the prime minister "that his unequivocal view was that BP was a multinational global company and that frustrations about the oil spill had nothing to do with national identity. The prime minister stressed the economic importance of BP to the U.K., U.S. and other countries. The president made clear that he had no interest in undermining BP's value.”

Cameron is under pressure to get Obama to tone down the criticism fearing it will hurt the millions of British retirees that hold BP stock. The company's stock has lost 40 percent of its value since the April 20 oil rig fire.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., fired back at Obama over his criticism of Congress, saying hypocrisy is no excuse for inaction "in addressing the dysfunctional and corrupt nature of the Minerals and Management Service" -- the agency that oversees offshore drilling.

"If President Obama had exercised some long overdue leadership and called on Congress to address the cozy relationship between MMS and the industry they regulate, I would have been the very first person to partner with him and give MMS the overhaul it desperately needs," Issa said in a written statement.

"After 10 inspector general reports, 10 GAO reports, a congressional investigation, the real question is, why did it take such a catastrophe for the president to call for action," he said.

Obama has sharpened his attacks on BP in recent days as the company struggles to stop oil gushing from its ruptured deepsea well.

Obama has said he would have fired BP's top executive, if he were in charge, and has supported the idea that the oil company suspend its quarterly dividend.

In a sign the company feels the pressure, BP said Saturday that its board would meet Monday to discuss deferring its second-quarter dividend and putting the money into escrow until the company's liabilities from the spill are known. BP said no decision had yet been made.

Obama also has reproached BP for spending money on a public relations campaign and occasionally refers to "British Petroleum," although the company years ago began using only its initials and is a far-reaching international corporation with extensive holdings in the United States, including a Texas refinery and a share of the Alaska oil pipeline.

This past week, the usually measured Obama said in a television interview, "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers -- so I know whose ass to kick."


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Could H1N1 Swine Flu Virus Actually Be Biological Warfare Attack??

With news of a dangerous strain of the Swine Flu virus which has already killed 68 people and infected more than 1,000 causing widespread panic, one wonders if this is the result of regular Human illness or another Terrorist attack?

After two more cases of the virus thought to have been transmitted from Mexico, were recently confirmed in Kansas, samples of the H1N1 strain are now being tested by Center for Disease Control personnel.

The CDC is familiar with the H3N2 Swine Flu virus, but unfamiliar with the H1N1 Swine Flu virus strain currently circulating.

By definition the Swine Flu is a strain of the Human Flu virus mixed with Pig and Bird genes.

It can be treated with vaccines however for new strains such as H1N1, the development of an effective vaccine could possibly take months.

Cause for panic surrounding the outbreak is due to how quickly the flu is spreading. The epidemic is spreading so fast CDC officials have admitted its too late for U.S. Medical officials to control it.

The most vulnerable victims of H1N1 are young children and the elderly.

Mexican Government officials are cooperating with White House officials who at the moment are closely monitoring the spread, in efforts to help save lives.

To assist Mexican citizens officials have set up a Hotline, shut down all public events including Tourist attractions and closed schools.

In addition Mexican soldiers and Health Workers are passing out face masks.

Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization, states "the outbreak of the never-before-seen virus has “pandemic potential”, but she said it is still too early to tell if it would become a pandemic".

In 1918 a Spanish Flu strain spread killing more than 40 million people worldwide.

If this type of epidemic doesn't motivate Congress to please immediately begin reforming the American Health Care System, then what?

SYMPTOMS:

Fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the U.S. victims who recovered also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.

One has to wonder where did this unfamiliar strain originate from and how did it spread so rapidly? Could this latest Health Scare give rise for concern regarding another possible Terrorist attack in the form of Biological Warfare?

Let's hope not.



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Sources: TIME, MSNBC, Politico, Washington Post, Reuters, Huffington Post, Google Maps