White House: BP had to be pushed on oil cleanup, no one owes BP executive Hayward an apology

White House: BP had to be pushed on oil cleanup

WASHINGTON — The White House says cleanup results for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would have been different if federal officials had not pushed BP “at every step of the way” to do things faster and more comprehensively

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that no one owes departing BP chief executive Tony Hayward an apology despite new confidence that efforts to clean up oil in the Gulf of Mexico are working.

Amid criticism of his handling of the spill and cleanup efforts, Hayward is stepping down in October and taking a post at a BP joint venture in Russia.