Obama: Gov’t should look at acquiring technology to respond to leaks; only oil companies have

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Obama: Feds don’t have technology to fix oil leak

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the federal government needs to look at getting the technology that would allow it to work at the bottom of the sea to plug oil leaks like the Gulf of Mexico spill.

Obama says right now only BP and other oil companies have that technology — and that’s why the White House has to rely on BP to try to fix the disaster.

Obama said at a news conference Thursday that he wants to explore ways the federal government could develop a team to directly respond to oil spills and not have to rely on oil companies.

The government has come under growing criticism for a perception it’s deferring to BP — something Obama strongly denies.