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Published December 23, 2015
UPDATE: BP says it will continue to stream live video of the underwater leak on Wednesday when it attempts the "top kill" procedure to plug the well.
President Obama is frustrated with the response to the Gulf Coast oil spill, according to adviser Carol Browner, assistant to the president for energy and climate change.
Browner says that the president has expressed his concerns in meetings at the White House.
"He wants this thing shut down, he wants to get on with cleaning it up and restoring these communities and getting those fishermen back to work," Browner told Fox Senior White House Correspondent Major Garrett in an interview Tuesday.
The president will travel to the coast on Friday, almost four weeks after his initial visit to the region. During his first trip he received a briefing on response efforts and met with local fisherman affected by the disaster.
On Wednesday oil rig operator BP will attempt to close the leak with mud, rubber tires, and cement. This so-called "top kill" maneuver has a 70 percent chance of success, according to experts.
BP has informed lawmakers that it intends to cut the live video feed of the spewing underwater well before it attempts the procedure.
But Browner says the White House has protested a video black out and is hopeful that the company will change its mind.
"I think it will end with the public having the right to this information. We think they do and we are doing everything to make that happen."
Democratic Congressman Ed Markey -- who initially pressed BP to provide live video of the leak to the public -- said that pulling the video feed would be outrageous. "After more than a month of spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP is essentially saying to the American people the solution will not be televised," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile the Obama administration insists that the federal government is ultimately in charge of the situation but needs to rely on BP for its expertise in dealing with a spill of this magnitude.
"They know how to run the little robots, they have the vessels, they know how to move the vessels around, so there is a role for them," Browner told Fox, adding that the final decisions on cleanup and closing the well are being made by government officials.
But BP has ignored an order by the Environmental Protection Agency to use an alternative, less-toxic chemical dispersant to treat the spill.
Browner says her colleague, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, is working with BP to minimize the toxicity. "If we can minimize the amount being used, obviously that's what we're going to do."
Environmentalists who have been to the region and witnessed the damaged stress that actions speak louder than words when it comes to dealing with such a massive event.
"People just want straight answers. The Obama administration and BP need to figure out the best way to get this done and get it done quickly," says Dan Howells of Greenpeace, who just returned from the coast. "The more they squabble over this the more oil that spills into the Gulf."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/update-obama-adviser-on-oil-leak-he-wants-this-thing-shut-down