Browner: Energy bill success still possible before end of the year

White House energy adviser Carol Browner said Sunday that while the Obama administration is "deeply disappointed" that an energy bill was unable to make its way through Congress, the president has not given up hope that it can get done this year. 

In an exclusive interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Browner was asked whether the president has conceded defeat on energy legislation. 

"Not yet," Browner said. "The Congress is coming back and we will continue to see if we can get legislation. We passed it in the House and we will continue to work in the Senate."

Asked if Democrats could potentially get it done in a lame-duck session, Browner responded, "Potentially."

As for the ongoing cleanup effort in the Gulf, Browner wouldn't comment on whether the government will pursue criminal negligence charges against BP, but she did say she expects the company will be held accountable to the full extent of the law. 

"BP will be held absolutely accountable," she said. "There will be a large financial penalty."

The government is also confident in its own estimates of the total amount that flowed into the Gulf as a result of the spill. The government puts that number at 4.9 million barrels, according to Browner — a figure that BP is likely to dispute.

She said the company has been silent on the figure, "but that doesn't matter."  

Browner also sounded supportive of the idea of returning as much as 80 percent of the penalty dollars paid by BP directly to the Gulf Coast states. That's the number proposed by several lawmakers from the region.

Browner said that number "makes a lot of sense," but stopped short of saying the president was committed to that specific percentage. 

The Obama administration also said last week that more than 70 percent of the oil that spilled into the Gulf is already gone, but that has been disputed by some scientists and other environmental experts.

Browner defended the government's cleanup efforts, noting that just because the administration is touting the early results of the cleanup, that doesn't mean it's ignoring the potential for long-term environmental effects.

"No one is saying 'don't worry,' " she said. "Right now, we're saying the tests show nothing of concern."

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