Bloomberg: Don't rush to blame BP for oil spill

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg became a lonely defender of BP Plc on Friday, declaring the world should not rush to point fingers at the British oil giant for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The billionaire mayor, a former chief executive, became the most prominent politician to embrace BP, whose offshore rig exploded in April, killing 11 workers and setting off what has become the nation's worst oil spill.

Bloomberg, who often sides with private businesses in public relations catastrophes, said he'd rather have BP worrying about stopping the leak than devising a legal strategy.

"The guy that runs BP didn't exactly go down there and blow up the well," Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show. "And what's more, if we want them to fix it and they're the only ones with the expertise, I think I might wait to assign blame." The federal government is conducting civil and criminal investigations into BP's preparedness and the spill.

An analysis this week by The Associated Press found that BP's regional spill plan for the Gulf and a site-specific plan for the Louisiana rig contained glaring errors, including the listing of a professor as a wildlife specialist even though he died in 2005.

While some lawmakers have criticized the Obama administration's response to the spill, there have been few voices outright defending BP, and none as well-known as New York City's third-term mayor.

- AP