Panel faults government response to Gulf oil spill

Oct 7, 2010, 11:22 GMT

   Washington - A study of the US government's response to the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, in which a well spewed from April to August, has found shortcomings in the handling of the crisis, according to media reports Thursday.

   The preliminary findings from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, established by President Barack Obama, criticized the frequent upward revisions of the estimated flow of oil from the well.

   A projected 'worst-case' estimate of the rate of oil flowing from the damaged well should have been made public early in the disaster, the commission wrote. The final estimate of more than 4 million barrels of oil in the Gulf proved much closer to that worst-case scenario than the early flow estimates.

   The panel said that such problems undermined citizens' confidence in the government's ability to deal with the crisis.

   Obama administration officials quickly responded to the working versions of the reports.

   'The federal government response was full force and immediate, and the response focused on state and local plans and evolved when needed,' Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Jane Lubchenco, chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a joint statement late Wednesday.

   'As directed by the president, the response was based on science, even when that pitted us against BP or state and local officials, and the response pushed BP every step of the way. Finally, and most importantly, the response provided results for the people of the Gulf Coast.'