Salazar says federal officials 'not standing on the sidelines'

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday sought to show that federal officials are in firm command of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill response while simultaneously emphasizing that it’s BP’s responsibility to cap the leaking well and clean up the damage it's caused.

“Under the law, BP is the responsible party. BP is charged with capping the leaking oil well and paying for the response and for the recovery without limitation,” Salazar said at a press conference in Louisiana on a visit with several Capitol Hill lawmakers and other officials.

“They will be held accountable. We will keep our boot on their neck until the job gets done,” he added.

Salazar did not, however, repeat his comments Sunday that the administration could “push [BP] out of the way appropriately” if the spill response is not adequate - even though several senators traveling with him, including Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), said emphatically that it was not.

“When [Coast Guard] Admiral [Thad] Allen, as the commander of this situation, is not satisfied with the actions of BP, he calls and will call BP and pushes them to take every appropriate step. He will order them to take the appropriate steps,” Salazar continued Monday.

“I also have made it clear that we are not standing on the sidelines and letting BP do what BP wants to do,” he added.

Salazar and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also noted that the administration is convening its own group of experts to determine the size of the spill.

Estimates of the amount of oil pouring into the Gulf have varied widely, and some lawmakers and other critics have accused BP of downplaying the size of the leak.

The administration is deploying a host of top officials to the Gulf Coast. U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is also in the Gulf Coast, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu is traveling to Houston Monday night.

“Secretary Chu has been working with the Department's National Laboratories and other top scientists to help BP determine how to stop the leak, and exploring ideas about the most effective scientific and engineering approaches to the problem,” states an announcement of the trip from the administration’s Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center.

It notes that Chu scuttled a planned trip this week to China — where he was to discuss “clean” energy efforts — in order to work on the oil spill response.

The Coast Guard's Allen emphasized during the White House briefing Monday that while the federal government is playing an oversight role, it does not have the technical means to cap the well.

“The law requires them, as the responsible party, to play a certain role, to pay for it, to provide equipment and so forth, and particularly with trying to deal with the leak at the bottom of the ocean. They are at 5,000 feet down. BP or the private sector are the only ones who have the means to deal with that problem down there,” he said, noting the government lacks the needed equipment.

“There has got to be a way where private industry can address the problem with proper oversight by the federal government,” he added.

Asked about the idea that BP could be pushed aside, he replied: “To push BP out of the way would raise the question, ‘to replace them with what?’”