Obama takes ownership of BP spill

Barack Obama returns to the Gulf of Mexico coast, insisting he's in charge of efforts to shut down what is now estimated as the worst oil spill in US history.

WASHINGTON // The US president Barack Obama returns to the Gulf of Mexico coast today, insisting he's in charge of efforts to shut down what is now estimated as the worst oil spill in US history, but admitting the government doesn't have the technology or expertise and must rely on oil giant BP. Yesterday, Mr Obama seized ownership of what he called a "tremendous catastrophe," after weeks of allowing Cabinet members to take the public lead as the crippled BP PLC well spewed millions of litres of crude oil into the Gulf from nearly a 1,500 metres below the surface.

"I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down," Mr Obama declared at a White House news conference dominated by the spill. Even at the lowest estimate - 68 million litres - the Gulf spill has far surpassed the size of the previous largest US oil spill, the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, in which a tanker ran aground in Alaska, spilling nearly 42 million litres.

The oil has been spewing since the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. Mr Obama had faced a no-win choice. The president was under mounting criticism - even from members of his own Democratic Party - for seeming aloof to what could be the biggest environmental tragedy in US history. The president, who campaigned on a promise to change the way Washington does business, blasted a "scandalously close relationship" he said has persisted between Big Oil and government regulators.

Conceding that "people are going to be frustrated" until the well is capped, Mr Obama said he would use the full force of the federal government to extract damages from BP. "We will demand they pay every dime they owe for the damage they've done and the painful losses they've caused," Mr Obama said. While making clear he was leading the response, Mr Obama acknowledged some things could have been better handled.

He said his administration didn't act with "sufficient urgency" prior to the spill to clean up the Minerals Management Service, accused of corruption and poor regulation of drilling rigs and wells. * AP