In the latest news on the BP oil spill, the U.S. and the U.K. have different accounts of yesterday’s Obama-Cameron phone summit, Bloomberg’s defending BP execs, and the Coast Guard has handed the company a deadline: Clean this mess up, or else … they’ll think of something. More on the slow cleanup below:
• President Obama and new British Prime Minister David Cameron did some gabbing on the phone yesterday, having sort of the presidential equivalent of girl talk, betting “the best lager against the best beer in America” on yesterday’s U.S.-U.K World Cup match. But the White House’s report reads: “The president and the prime minister discussed the impact of tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, reiterating that BP must do all it can to respond effectively to the situation.” The report from 10 Downing, however, states: “President Obama said to 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.” [Politico]
• Michael Bloomberg, noted Rich White Men apologist, believes we should lay off BP: “The guy that runs BP didn’t exactly go down there and blow up the well. If you want him to fix it and they’re the only ones with the expertise, I think I might wait to … assign blame … I don’t want him focusing on anything [else].” [Politico]
• President Obama will address the nation on Tuesday regarding the oil spill, after he returns from his fourth visit to the region. [CNN]
• With concerns about tourism, Florida is growing frustrated: “Florida gets little if any financial benefit from offshore drilling, even though it shares the environmental risks.” [NYT]
• At President Obama’s meeting/ass-kicking with BP executives this week, he plans to demand that they create and fund an escrow account and “accept an independent panel to handle damage claims by individuals and businesses hurt by the disaster.” [Politico]
• Nancy Pelosi is less sympathetic towards the BP execs than Bloomberg: “I’m saying that they should not be paying dividends until they make these people whole and make a better effort to do it in a timely fashion … These people are coming to us and saying, ‘I have to take out a loan … which I can ill-afford to repay because BP is not, you know, is not paying.’ BP has the money, it made $17 billion last year.” [Politico]
• “The Coast Guard has given BP engineers to the end of the weekend to increase the containment of the oil spilling from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico.” Or else? “Admiral Watson did not say in his letter what the consequences would be for missing the deadline.” [NYT]
