Obama Says Gulf Oil Cap Is 'Holding'
President slams BP for $50M PR spending campaign during crisis.
June 4, 2010— -- President Obama got a briefing today on efforts to finally stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and concluded that progress is apparently being made in limiting the pollution.
Speaking in Kenner, La., Obama suggested there was finally a glimmer of hope that spill could be brought under control after receiving a briefing from Adm. Thad Allen on the efforts by BP to put a cap on the spilling oil and draw much of it to a ship on the surface.
"It does appear that the cap at least for now is holding," Obama said. But he cautioned, "It is way to early to be optimistic."
Despite the good news, the president spoke angrily about BP's priorities. He said the oil company has spent $50 million on television advertising to limit the damage to their corporate image and planned to pay out $10 billion in dividends at a time when businesses throughout the region are getting hurt by the oil spill.
"They've got moral and legal obligations to the gulf," he said, and warned BP against "nickel and diming the folks down here."
The president visited the region for the third time since BP's underwater oil well erupted and began pouring tens of millions of gallons of oil into the gulf. Following his briefing by Allen, he was going to a barrier island to visit local workers affected by the catastrophe.
Earlier in the day, a BP executive said he was "confident" that a new cap placed over the leaking well will begin to capture some of the oil and prevent it from flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.
"I am actually pretty confident this is going to work," BP COO Doug Suttles told "GMA." "It probably won't capture all of the flow but it should capture the vast majority..."
BP has siphoned some of the oil up a pipe, The Associated Press reported. Suttles told GMA the company wouldn't know immediately how much oil it was siphoning off.
"It is hard to put a precise number on it. But what we will be doing is monitoring it very, very closely as we slowly increase the production," Suttles said. "And what we are trying to do is get the maximum amount we can with the minimum amount leaking by. But we will probably have to have some very small amount leaking around the bottom to make sure we don't draw this water in."
The live images of the leaking well show oil still flowing out from the cap, but Suttles said that is due to four vents that were installed in the top of the dome to prevent hydrates from forming. BP will begin successively closing those vents over the course of the day, Suttles said.
At least 140 miles of the Gulf Coast have now been touched by oil. An oily sheen has been spotted less than seven miles from Pensacola, Fla.
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