White House Doubts BP's Intentions & Estimates

Carol Browner, the director of Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, has expressed significant reservations with BP:

The Obama administration is adopting an increasingly confrontational approach with BP — accusing company executives of intentionally underestimating the scale of the Gulf oil spill to spare themselves billions in fines.

The White House, under withering fire for not pressuring the oil company more forcefully in the 40 days since the oil well blowout that led to the still-gushing spill, is stressing a new take-charge stance, revealing Sunday that it pressured BP into drilling a second relief well, which could stop the flow — in August.

“BP has a financial interest…They will ultimately pay a fine on those [spill] rates,” said Obama environmental adviser Carol Browner, director of Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, speaking on CBS's “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “BP has a vested financial interest in downplaying the size of this.”