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JUAN GONZALEZ: New government estimates have found the BP oil
spill may be spewing twice as much oill into the Gulf of Mexico as
previously thought. On Thursday, the Flow Rate Technical Group released
its new estimate of 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day based on
information gathered last week, before BP installed a new capture
device. Some scientists have warned that the flow rate sharply increased
after BP cut the pipe, known as the riser, to install the new device
last week. The current estimates from the government panel suggest that
an amount equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could be flowing into
the Gulf of Mexico every eight to ten days. The new numbers were
released shortly after a scientist on the Flow Rate Technical Group
publicly warned that the oil may be spewing out at a rate of more than
100,000 barrels a day, a figure BP once called its worst-case scenario.

As public anger over BP continues to grow, President Obama was
questioned on NBC’s
The Today Show earlier this week about why he
had not yet directly spoken to BP CEO Tony Hayward. This was his
response when asked what he would do if Hayward was a part of his
administration.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: He wouldn’t be working for me,
after any of those statements. First of all, we’re going to have to
find out why this thing went in the first place. And the fact of the
matter is, is that there’s going to be a thorough review, and I don’t
want to prejudge it. But the initial reports indicate that there may be
situations in which not only human error was involved, but you also saw
some corner cutting in terms of safety, and that BP is a
multibillion-dollar corporation. It’s talking about paying $10.5 billion
in dividends just for this quarter. We are going to have to make sure
that not only do they shut down the cap, we are not only going to have
to make sure that any deep well drilling process that’s out there is, in
fact, failsafe and oil companies know what they’re doing, but we also
have to make sure that every single person who’s been affected by this
is properly compensated and made whole.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, President Obama might now have some harsh
words for BP, but an extensive new investigation into his
administration’s handling of the disaster reveals it was government
mismanagement, delays, and absence of oversight that allowed the crisis
to spiral out of control. The article is called “The Spill, the Scandal,
and the President.” It’s published in the latest
Rolling Stone.

Author Tim Dickinson is a political correspondent for
Rolling
Stone magazine. He writes, quote, “Though George W. Bush paved the
way for the catastrophe, it was Obama who gave BP the green light to
drill” and explores how Interior Secretary Ken Salazar kept in place the
oil industry-friendly environmental guidelines that Bush had
implemented and ultimately let BP, an oil company with the worst safety
record, to get away with murder. Tim Dickinson joins us now from San
Francisco.

Welcome to
Democracy Now!, Tim. What surprised you most
about your investigation?