Obama: We're Going to Make Sure 'BP Pays For The Damage It Has Done'

As a congressional committee chided the heads of the nation's five largest oil companies in Washington, President Obama assured the people of the Gulf coast again that the administration would make BP pay for the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.
"Yes, this is an unprecedented environmental disaster," the president said today at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Pensacola, Florida. "But we're going to continue to meet it with an unprecedented federal response. ... This is an assault on our shores and we're going to fight back with everything we've got."
"I am with you, my administration is with you for the long haul to make sure BP pays for the damage it has done," Obama said to loud applause.
Obama, on his fourth trip to the region, visited Pensacola, Florida, today where he surveyed oil containment and cleanup efforts with Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. He traveled through Louisiana , Mississippi and Alabama on Monday.
The president dispelled the idea that the Gulf coast waters were unsafe and expressed optimism that the economy would pick up again.
"This city and this region will recover and it will thrive again," said Obama.
The president will address the nation tonight on the BP oil spill -- the first nationally televised address of his presidency to be delivered from the Oval Office -- to try to convince the American people that the administration is on top of the growing economic and environmental crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, 57 days after millions of gallons of oil first began spilling from a damaged BP well.
Obama will discuss plans to contain the environmental damage, how it will pressure BP, long-term recovery plans for the Gulf coast, the importance of a "clean energy" future, and the reorganization of the Minerals Management Service (MMS).
Meanwhile, in Washington, lawmakers grilled oil industry executives for what they describe as inadequate plans to ensure the safety of oil drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico and respond to a catastrophic spill.
source http://abcnews.go.com