By Juliet Eilperin - Washington Post Staff Writer
Within hours of the massive April 20 explosion on Deepwater Horizon the U.S. government launched an urgent and carefully managed response to demonstrate its control of the emerging disaster sending Coast Guard ships to the site keeping the president informed and posting projections of how an oil spill might affect travel.
What the Obama administration did not realize was how the arcane world of offshore drilling would soon collide with official Washington as politicians began kibitzing about rig mechanisms on Sunday talk shows and oil executives gave daily briefings about their disaster management skills. Nor did the administration likely have any idea that it would find itself in many ways dependent on a foreign oil company -- both foe and needed friend in the response.
It was a relationship for which neither the White House nor BP was well prepared. And it stands in marked contrast to the arms length distance that the U.S. government kept from Exxon after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. Thomas A. Campbell who served as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations general counsel at the time said it would have been politically toxic for the government to collaborate: We werent able to even talk to Exxon except on purely technical issues.
Why the change? The success or failure of the administrations current response -- involving about 13000 workers and 460 vessels along with 1.4 million feet of boom laid against the spreading slick -- depends in large part on BPs expertise and technology.
From the beginning the oil giant has highlighted the collaborative nature of its relationship with the administration. BP is hugely appreciative of the cooperation and of what were receiving at all levels of government from the very top of the administration down through the unified command and state and local governments said spokesman Andrew Gowers.
Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano meanwhile has taken pains to distance the administration from BP saying I wouldnt characterize them as our partner. I would characterize them as the responsible party adding that their role provides them with a clear mandate: Theyve got to kill this well clean up the ocean and pay the claims.
And as even the first part of this three-pronged mission has eluded the companys grasp the administration has publicly lambasted BP. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar declared Our job is basically to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum. Outside observers claim that the response has been hampered by the fact that nobody in government or industry had anticipated such a catastrophe. Why did we think such a thing was not possible when we now know it was? said Larry Kamer a partner at the Glover Park Group who has worked on worst-case-scenario planning for oil companies.
From the start the federal government pushed BP to act quickly: The oil giant planned to bring in remote-operated vehicles a few days after the accident to see what was happening deep below the surface and Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes insisted they bring them immediately. BP also proposed setting up the unified command center in Houston a decision Coast Guard and Interior officials overruled saying it should be closer to the disaster in Robert La.
When it comes to staunching the flow of oil however the administration has often been reduced to the role of just asking the hard questions. On the evening of April 27 Salazar spent two hours grilling BP chief executive Tony Hayward and BP America President Lamar McKay on details about the blowout preventer apparently exhausting their knowledge of the device.
Youve got to talk more to our technical experts because youre asking questions I cant answer Hayward told them.
Now the government has embedded senior administration scientists at BPs headquarters in Houston including the heads of three national labs and the director of the U.S. Geological Survey.
The government is not only relying on BPs expertise but also its equipment: Salazar joined Napolitano in calling the Pentagon to ask whether it had better submersible equipment to augment or replace the ROVs that BP had deployed. The answer according to an administration official was the military did not have anything that could operate on the seabed with the level of precision that BPs equipment had.
Sometimes the response has run into minor roadblocks like its ongoing testing of chemical dispersants deep below the sea surface. Late last week the Environmental Protection Agency waited for the second round of test results in vain after BP failed to provide samples to Louisiana State University for analysis in time.
And at times BP has pushed back on the administrations demands like when the Navy proposed bringing in an amphibious vessel at the companys expense. One company official who spoke on condition of anonymity said BP had urged the government to develop a realistic shopping list.
But political grandstanding aside this Internet- and media-savvy White House is well aware that it needed to launch a public relations offensive in tandem with its official response. Last week it began posting a blog describing the administrations spill activities in detail. The document is laden with adverbs such as immediately quickly and actively all aimed at conveying a sense of urgency and focus.
The Unified Command uses Twitter Facebook Youtube Flikr and the Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System to send out updates on the response according to a White House official and the Pentagons five-person Combat Camera Teams are operating in Houma La. Mobile Ala. and Stennis Miss. to capture images and video in the field which are then uploaded to the governments response Web site.
But polls show that many Americans dont think highly of either President Obama or BP when it comes to the spill. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found 54 percent of respondents said the administrations response has been only fair or poor while 63 percent rated BPs handling as fair or poor. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found 45 percent of respondents thought the government hasnt done enough in response to the leak compared with 43 percent who said it has with even more negative numbers for BP.
And although some Republican gulf governors have praised the federal response this weekend Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he would give both BP and the administration an incomplete so far.
There appears to be a disconnect between the American publics broad perception of the response and those on the front lines. Plaquemines Parish President William Billy Nungesser a Republican elected in 2006 said he appreciated the lengths to which Obama had gone to in order to visit his area.
Hes a Democrat and Im a Republican so well have our differences Nungesser said. But Obama did something Ive never seen before at that level -- he came out listened to what we had to say and has been delivering on what he said he would.
At the same time underlying the administration response is the knowledge that its dependence on BP effectively limits its ability to speak with authority.
Do you think it will stop today? a fisherman asked EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson when she met with residents in Waveland Miss. on April 30.
Sir we really just cant say when you can stop this leak Jackson replied adding People in this area we prepare for the worst and hope for the absolute best.
The fisherman began to cry.
Thats when it hit me the incredible emotional pressure of not knowing what will happen she said in an interview. Its like telling him You will not make money. Youre not going to feed your family.
Staff writers David A. Fahrenthold Marc Kaufman Steven Mufson and Michael D. Shear and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
