President Barack Obama, speaking in Louisiana, on
Friday said he has ordered BP PLC (BP, BP.PLN) to pay all economic
injury claims related to the Gulf oil disaster and reiterated that
the outcome of a maneuver to plug the mile-deep well remains
uncertain.
Obama, amid growing criticism about his
administration's response to the disaster, was in the Gulf meeting
with local, state and federal officials to survey efforts to plug the
well. He said the government is doing whatever it takes to end the
spill and stressed that ultimate responsibility for the catastrophe
rests with him.
He said he wants to triple the number of
people working in areas where oil has come ashore. He also said while
oil is coming ashore in some areas, all but three beaches in the Gulf
are clean and urged Americans to visit the other beaches to help
boost economic activity.
His trip to the region comes a day
after he halted much of the planned or current drilling off U.S.
coasts, including 33 exploratory operations in the gulf. He said
tougher regulations were needed for the oil industry in the wake of
the disaster.
His remarks also come after a federal panel
released estimates of the spill's size that would rank it the worst
in U.S. history, surpassing the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
Obama
Friday said the disaster is unprecedented, which means not every
judgment the government makes will be "right the first time
out." He said the government has one criteria when making
decisions: "What's going to best protect and make whole the
people and the ecosystems in the gulf?"
He pledged that
the government won't abandon the gulf until the leak is plugged and
the area is cleaned up.