DOINews: Top Administration Officials Discuss Ongoing Oil Spill Response with BP Leadership

WASHINGTON—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Interior (DOI) Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson and Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu today met with BP CEO Tony Hayward and BP American Chairman and President Lamar McKay to discuss ongoing, coordinated response efforts and receive an update on BP's spill mitigation plans for potentially affected Gulf Coast states.

Secretary Napolitano, Secretary Salazar and Administrator Jackson and other senior Administration officials requested an update on how BP plans to ensure an effective response in all potentially affected Gulf Coast states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

The administration—including the DHS, DOI, the Departments of Defense and Commerce, and the Environmental Protection Agency—has launched and coordinated an all-hands-on-deck, relentless response to this crisis from day one in order to mitigate the spill's impact on public health, the environment and the economy.

As President Obama has made clear, BP will be held accountable for the costs associated with this tragic event.

Today's meeting was the most recent in a series of ongoing coordination and communication activities between top administration officials and BP leadership.

BP is now accepting claims for the Gulf Coast oil spill. Please call BP's helpline at 1-800-440-0858. A BP fact sheet with additional information is available here. Those who have already pursued the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP's resolution, can call the Coast Guard at 1-800-280-7118. More information about what types of damages are eligible for compensation under the Oil Pollution Act as well as guidance on procedures to seek that compensation can be found here.

Participants in today's meeting representing the administration included:

Secretary Napolitano

Secretary Salazar

Administrator Jackson

Secretary Chu

Larry Summers, Director, National Economic Council

Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy

Cecilia Rouse, Member, Council of Economic Advisers

Peter Orszag, Director, Office of Management and Budget

Melody Barnes, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy

John Holdren, Advisor to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

Nancy Sutley, Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Lamar McKay, BP America Chairman and President

Tony Hayward, BP CEO

David Nagel, BP Executive Vice President