Reports critical of White House response to BP

Financial Times:

The White House blocked the publication of government agencies’ worst-case estimates of how much oil was gushing from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to critical interim reports from the presidential commission investigating the disaster.

In four reports published on Wednesday, the staff of the independent commission depicted a White House that was “over-optimistic” in its initial assessment of the disaster and willing to let politics play a role in the response.

“By initially underestimating the amount of oil flow and then . . . appearing to underestimate the amount of oil remaining in the gulf, the federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem,” said one report.

Barack Obama, president, appointed the commission to investigate the causes of the spill and provide recommendations on how to avoid a repeat.

After the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, the government appeared slow to realise the full extent of the spill, which the Coast Guard and BP initially estimated to be spewing 1,000 barrels of oil a day into the gulf. Three days later the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) arrived at a worst-case discharge estimate of 64,000-110,000 b/d.

NOAA requested approval to make the figures public from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. “Staff was told that the Office of Management and Budget denied NOAA’s request,” the report said.

Jeffrey Zients, the OMB’s acting director, and Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator, said in a statement that government officials were clear with the public about what the worst-case flow rate could be.

The OMB “provided comments to ensure the analysis reflected the best known information at the time and accurately reflected the limitation of the model and available information, including response actions,” they said.

The final estimate was that 52,700-62,200 b/d had been gushing from the well.

The staff report suggested the commission “encourage” government responders to disclose information about the scenarios under which they were operating, including worst-case discharge estimates.

In a separate report, the commission staff said that disaster contingency plans were put aside in favour of political solutions that did not always make sense.