Obama is Confident

Admiral Allen yesterday told reporters a cap on the damaged oil well is keeping up to 462,000 gallons of oil a day from leaking into the Gulf. That's up from about 441,000 gallons on Saturday and about 250,000 on Friday.

BP in a statement put the amount being captured at 466,200 gallons. Admiral Allen said the government was using its own flow-rate calculations and not relying on those from BP.
"This will be contained," Mr. Obama asserted. "It may take some time, and it's going to take a whole lot of effort. There is going to be damage done to the Gulf Coast, and there is going to be economic damages that we've got to make sure BP is responsible for and compensates people for."
Mr. Obama said that government scientists and other experts confirmed that the capping device "is beginning to capture some of the oil. We are still trying to make a better determination as to how much it is capturing."
But, he added, "even if we are successful in containing some or much of the oil" the problem wouldn't be solved until relief wells reach the area of the damaged well in several months.
"What is clear is that the economic impact of this disaster is going to be substantial and it is going to be ongoing," he said.
"We also know that there's already a lot of oil that's been released and that there's going to be more oil released no matter how successful this containment effort is," he added.
He reiterated an appeal he made on Friday in the region that BP not "nickel and dime" Gulf coast residents and businesses that have filed claims against the London-based oil giant.
"'We are going to insist that money flow quickly and in a timely basis," Mr. Obama said.
Admiral Allen acknowledged at yesterday's White House briefing that the company has struggled with handling claims. He said we'd "like them to get better" at processing the claims and that a system for paying them should be "routinized" as soon as possible.