Who should take charge of the oil spill?

I want to see all extraction of natural resources nationalized, oil, metals and all other mining operations that extract from the ground. The proceeds sold on the open market should be placed in the Treasury to be used for social programs like health care and maintaining our infrastructure.

The US government should take control of it but MAKE GODDAMNED SURE that BP pays every last cent (and then some).

Libertarians...I'm sure they have the perfect solution, since in their perfect world, everyone would be drilling everywhere as long as they could bid high enough, and there would be no safety restrictions..

I wouldn't trust ANY private enterprise to handle this appropriately.

and then present them with a bill for every effing cent to clean up and attempt to restore, plus punitive damages for the massive suffering they are inflicting on our wildlife and all the small businesses they are destroying. Damages that send a message: ENOUGH.

for the cleanup.

The problem being time is against waiting for the law and/or politics to sort that out, and even if it were determined that BP should be solely responsible for the cleanup from a financial aspect, the U.S. Government should still take the lead in this endeavor as in a worst case scenario, it could pose a national security threat.

Not necessarily to do all the work.

As part of the designation of the BP Oil Spill as a Spill of National Significance, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen will serve as the National Incident Commander for the administration's continued, coordinated response—providing additional authority and oversight in leveraging every available resource to respond to the BP oil spill and minimize the associated environmental risks.

As National Incident Commander, Admiral Allen will continue to work closely with Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, the federal on-scene coordinator, and the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Interior and Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal departments and agencies as appropriate—as well as BP, the responsible party in the spill—to ensure the efficient continued deployment and coordination of vital response assets, personnel and equipment that were activated immediately after the spill began.

Let the oil companies refine and sell it. Regulate *those* activities until their eye's pop out.