VENICE, Louisiana – US legislators called yesterday for BP and the Obama administration to do more to save the US Gulf Coast from an out-of-control oil spill that one congressman called an “environmental crime”.
The failure on Saturday of a “top kill” technique attempted by BP to seal its leaking Gulf of Mexico well unleashed a surge of anger and frustration that poses a serious domestic challenge for President Barack Obama.
Mr Obama, who has called the leaking BP well a “man-made disaster”, is trying to fend off criticism that his administration acted too slowly in its response to the nearly six-week-old leak, now known to be the worst in US history.
The crisis could swell into a political liability for the Democratic president as his administration and party, bloodied by bruising healthcare and economic policy debates, head towards key mid-term congressional elections in November.
"This is probably the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced in this country," top White House energy adviser Carol Browner told NBC's Meet the Press.
BP and the entire US oil industry face more and more probing questions about why safety backups did not accompany their relentless hunt for oil in ever deeper offshore waters.
“I think without question if the word criminal should be used in terms of an environmental crime against our country, that what’s going on in the Gulf of Mexico is going to qualify,” Massachusetts Democrat congressman Ed Markey said.
Department of justice officials are part of an ongoing federal investigation into the April 20th rig explosion that triggered the spill, and the Obama administration has not ruled out the possibility of a criminal prosecution.
Mr Markey, who chairs a select committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, pilloried BP for its repeated failed efforts so far to shut off the gushing seabed well. "BP has been making it up as they go along . . . They do not know for sure what the result is going to be of anything which they are doing," he told CBS's Face the Nation.
In Louisiana, which has borne the brunt of the oil spill impact so far, senators and local authorities demanded that BP and the federal government rush into place a plan to create a sand barrier to the oil by dredging and building up and joining up outlying sandbanks and islets.
After giving up an attempt to pump blocking materials into the leaking well to “kill” it, BP engineers are now pursuing another option to try to contain the seabed oil gusher.
But the company warns that the new procedure, which will try to fit a containment cap over the leaking well, could take between four and seven days. Even then success is not guaranteed because it has never been attempted before at the depth – 1.6km (a mile) down – where the oil is leaking. – (Reuters)
Lorna Siggins adds: Ireland is to nominate experts to assist the US coast guard with the pollution caused by the leaking well.
The Irish Coast Guard has also offered use of pollution control equipment, following a request to all EU member states.
The European Commission’s Monitoring and Information Centre (Mic) in Brussels said that the US coast guard had sought specific types of pollution equipment, and several member states had already responded to this appeal.
Ireland has offered the use of booms and skimmers, and intends to forward names to the Mic which is compiling a panel of European experts to assist the US coast guard.
Irish Coast Guard director Chris Reynolds said the organisation was keen to help without compromising its own resources, stockpiled around the coast.
The Irish Coast Guard has built up considerable expertise since it was established by former director captain Liam Kirwan almost two decades ago. Most recently, it was involved in monitoring an oil slick off the south coast, for which the Russian navy subsequently took responsibility.