Feds send oil company $69M bill for response

June 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The federal government slapped BP with a $69 million bill Thursday to cover initial costs of responding to the largest oil spill in U.S. history. An angry President Barack Obama said he was convinced that BP has not moved quickly enough to stop the flow of oil and clean up the mess.

Obama, who today planned to make his second visit in a week to the battered Gulf Coast, used his strongest language to date in assailing BP.

“I am furious at this entire situation because this is an example where somebody didn’t think through the consequences of their actions,” Obama told CNN’s Larry King. “This is imperiling an entire way of life and an entire region for potentially years.”

Obama said BP has felt his anger but added that “venting and yelling at people” won’t solve the problem. His remarks aired Thursday night.

The $69 million bill being sent to BP is the first of what are likely to be many bills sent to the oil company to cover expenses incurred by the government in responding to the spill, which has dumped at least 21 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, according to government estimates. A White House official said BP has until July 1 to pay the bill.