White House: We’re Stuck With BP For Now

For all the bad press, insults and calls of incompetence that BP has had to stomach over the past few weeks, there’s a stark reality floating through Washington: in managing the Gulf clean-up, there’s no alternative.

There was talk through the press corps over the weekend that with frustration mounting over the company’s inability to stop the current leak, and its far-out August estimate of completing a relief well to permanently cut off the flow of oil, that maybe someone else should take the reins, like the federal government. Surely the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Interior and Energy have the infrastructure and the know-how—and certainly the backing of the federal purse—to coordinate the full response both below the water and on the coast lines.

Except, well, they don't. At today’s White house briefing, Admiral Thad Allen, who's heading the Gulf response, made the sheepish admission that the oil company was, in all reality, doing the best job anyone could. “To push BP out of the way would bring up the question: replace them with what?” he asked. A telling admission to be sure. It comes down to the logistical realities, which Allen laid out several minutes later. “Really, the government doesn’t have all we need to solve this problem.”

There's another reason too. For the past month, the BP-government relationship has been good for the White House, even if the company hasn’t been as successful as environmentalists and Gulf residents would hope. The fumbling oil company gives the White House a public punching bag to body slam repeatedly whenever reporters ask why one idea or another hasn’t worked. The relationship has also allowed the White House to shake off culpability for the incident. (Allen referred to BP as "the responsible party” six times within the first 10 minutes, hoping to underscore that it’s them, not us, at whom you should direct your anger.) If BP were given a pink slip and told to vacate, the administration would be left with an even more sobering reality: no infrastructure, little technical know-how and an exorbitant price tag to try the very same methods BP engineers have already exhausted. Would an oil clean-up contractor or even another oil company like Shell or Exxon Mobile be an option, asked one reporter? Yes, the Admiral admitted the idea had been discussed, “but I don’t see how that would be better than what we have now.”

It all adds up to pretty good news for BP executives and engineers, who have been scrambling for over a month to figure out how to stop the bleeding, literally and figuratively. The feds still have regulatory and legal authority over the company. The on-scene federal coordinator has the power to issue orders in the region, which take the form of law. But beyond that, the administration is limited, meaning that the boot Sec. Salazar has planted firmly on the throat of BP might not actually have a foot inside it.

The good news, however, is that neither BP’s nor the White House’s interests are in conflict. In fact, they’re aligned. The company has its balance sheet, its image and its shareholders to answer to. The government has voters and angry reporters banging on its door. Only when the oil stops flowing and a full clean-up plan exists will either party be out of the woods.