http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/05/20105120103405339.html
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=DetaildTitleGolden vAlign=top>US oil spill 'growing rapidly' </TD></TR><TR><TD height=5><!----></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE style="DISPLAY: inline" class=dixerit_ignore border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD style="HEIGHT: 14px" vAlign=top width="100%" align=right><TABLE style="WIDTH: 33px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>Efforts to plug the leak have been unsuccessful and worsening weather has hampered the attempts [AFP]
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could be three times larger than previously estimated, satellite images have showed, as poor weather conditions continued to hamper clean-up efforts.
Images taken of the slick from a ruptured underwater well indicate that it has nearly tripled in size in just over a day, Hans Gruber, a researcher at Miami University, said on Saturday.
On Thursday, the slick was nearly 3,000 sq km, but by Friday evening it was about 9,900 sq km, he said.
"The spill and the spreading is getting so much faster and expanding much quicker than they estimated," he told The Associated Press news agency.
The coast guard has said that an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil is spilling from the site of the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig each day, threatening wildlife along the southern US coast.
But Admiral Thad Allen, a commandant of the coast guard, said it was difficult to estimate exactly how much crude was pouring from the broken riser.
"Any exact estimation of what's flowing out of those pipes down there is probably impossible at this time due to the depth of the water and our ability to try and assess that from remotely operated vehicles and video," he said.
Obama visit
Barack Obama, the US president, is to head to the Gulf Coast region on Sunday for a first-hand update on the leak and efforts to protect the environment of the area.
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 160px" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Header>in depth</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Body><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" border=0 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2 align=middle>
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Bullet> </TD><TD>Spill threatens sensitive coastline</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Bullet> </TD><TD>Blog: 'They saw it coming!'</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD>Videos:</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Bullet> </TD><TD>US fights Gulf oil spill</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Bullet> </TD><TD>Military to quell oil spill</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Bullet> </TD><TD>How the spill happened</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Bullet> </TD><TD>Environmental crisis looms</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD>Counting the cost:</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Bullet> </TD><TD>Oil exploration</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The announcement of his planned visit came as officials in the state of Mississippi joined Alabama, Florida and Louisiana in declaring a state of emergency.
The US coast guard said on Saturday that the slick is likely to hit the Gulf Coast shoreline "at some point".
"There's enough oil out there, it's logical to assume it will impact the shoreline," Admiral Thad Allen, a commandant of the coast guard, said.
"The question is where and when."
The sheen has already reached shoreline habitats on the southern US coast.
Recovery workers have been deploying miles of inflatable booms hoping to contain the oil, but strong winds and heavy seas have caused several of the barriers to break loose and washed them onto the shore.
Chemical dispersant is being used underwater in an attempt to tackle the oil as it leaves the broken riser, while remote-controlled subs were trying to activate a blow out preventer that should have blocked oil from flowing into the sea when the rig sank.
Ecological disaster
With efforts to plug the leak so far unsuccessful and worsening weather in the coming days likely to further hamper attempts to plug the leak, fears are growing of an ecological disaster that could rival the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.
Already the first birds coated in oil have been received by animal rescue centres, and wildlife groups are braced to receive many more casualties.
Al Jazeera's Sebastian Walker, reporting from Venice, Louisiana, said residents of the Gulf coast region are still waiting to see the worst effects of the spill.
"It's going to be some time before we really see the full impact in terms of animals being coated in oil and oil washing up on the shoreline."
Federal and state officials have blamed the London-based energy giant British Petroleum for the spill, and they have questioned the company's ability to deal with the leak and the environmental damage it will cause.
"I do have concerns that BP's resources are not adequate," Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, said.
"I urge them to seek more help from the federal government and others."
Question of blame
Al Jazeera's Walker said BP's failure to control the spill has also raised questions about the oil company's plan.
"There doesn't seem to be a plan in place for such type of spillage. BP is certainly taking a lot of flak, its safety record in the US isn't the greatest.
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 160px" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD style="COLOR: #ffffff; FONT-SIZE: 13px" bgColor=#b68809>IN VIDEO</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#dfd2a0>
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Growing oil disaster puts fragile coastal wildlife habitats under threat</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>"But it's also the government that people are asking questions of. They're saying 'Why wasn't this flagged up earlier?' The government only declared this an event of national significance on Thursday but this spillage started to happen on April 20.
"There is a lot of blame being thrown around and questions of whether this response has been quick enough."
The oil company has been accused of downplaying the risk of such a disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
In a 2009 report, BP suggested that such an accident leading to a giant crude oil spill and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals was unlikely and virtually impossible.
BP has now taken full responsibility for the oil spill, promising to pay for the clean-up and compensate people who have been affected.
But the company said it still does not know how the accident happened.
"We actually don't know what caused this event and clearly the government has an investigation that they've initiated," Doug Suttles, a chief operating officer at BP, said.
"We've launched our own internal investigation as well, but since this event began, we've only had one focus, which is to stop the flow of oil and minimise the impact."
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=DetaildTitleGolden vAlign=top>US oil spill 'growing rapidly' </TD></TR><TR><TD height=5><!----></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE style="DISPLAY: inline" class=dixerit_ignore border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD style="HEIGHT: 14px" vAlign=top width="100%" align=right><TABLE style="WIDTH: 33px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could be three times larger than previously estimated, satellite images have showed, as poor weather conditions continued to hamper clean-up efforts.
Images taken of the slick from a ruptured underwater well indicate that it has nearly tripled in size in just over a day, Hans Gruber, a researcher at Miami University, said on Saturday.
On Thursday, the slick was nearly 3,000 sq km, but by Friday evening it was about 9,900 sq km, he said.
"The spill and the spreading is getting so much faster and expanding much quicker than they estimated," he told The Associated Press news agency.
The coast guard has said that an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil is spilling from the site of the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig each day, threatening wildlife along the southern US coast.
But Admiral Thad Allen, a commandant of the coast guard, said it was difficult to estimate exactly how much crude was pouring from the broken riser.
"Any exact estimation of what's flowing out of those pipes down there is probably impossible at this time due to the depth of the water and our ability to try and assess that from remotely operated vehicles and video," he said.
Obama visit
Barack Obama, the US president, is to head to the Gulf Coast region on Sunday for a first-hand update on the leak and efforts to protect the environment of the area.
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 160px" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Header>in depth</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Skyscrapper_Body><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" border=0 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2 align=middle>
The US coast guard said on Saturday that the slick is likely to hit the Gulf Coast shoreline "at some point".
"There's enough oil out there, it's logical to assume it will impact the shoreline," Admiral Thad Allen, a commandant of the coast guard, said.
"The question is where and when."
The sheen has already reached shoreline habitats on the southern US coast.
Recovery workers have been deploying miles of inflatable booms hoping to contain the oil, but strong winds and heavy seas have caused several of the barriers to break loose and washed them onto the shore.
Chemical dispersant is being used underwater in an attempt to tackle the oil as it leaves the broken riser, while remote-controlled subs were trying to activate a blow out preventer that should have blocked oil from flowing into the sea when the rig sank.
Ecological disaster
With efforts to plug the leak so far unsuccessful and worsening weather in the coming days likely to further hamper attempts to plug the leak, fears are growing of an ecological disaster that could rival the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.
Already the first birds coated in oil have been received by animal rescue centres, and wildlife groups are braced to receive many more casualties.
Al Jazeera's Sebastian Walker, reporting from Venice, Louisiana, said residents of the Gulf coast region are still waiting to see the worst effects of the spill.
"It's going to be some time before we really see the full impact in terms of animals being coated in oil and oil washing up on the shoreline."
Federal and state officials have blamed the London-based energy giant British Petroleum for the spill, and they have questioned the company's ability to deal with the leak and the environmental damage it will cause.
"I do have concerns that BP's resources are not adequate," Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, said.
"I urge them to seek more help from the federal government and others."
Question of blame
Al Jazeera's Walker said BP's failure to control the spill has also raised questions about the oil company's plan.
"There doesn't seem to be a plan in place for such type of spillage. BP is certainly taking a lot of flak, its safety record in the US isn't the greatest.
<TABLE style="WIDTH: 160px" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD style="COLOR: #ffffff; FONT-SIZE: 13px" bgColor=#b68809>IN VIDEO</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#dfd2a0>
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<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Py8dmw2EVhc&rel=0&fs=0&showinfo=0" wmode="transparent"></embed></OBJECT>
Growing oil disaster puts fragile coastal wildlife habitats under threat</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>"But it's also the government that people are asking questions of. They're saying 'Why wasn't this flagged up earlier?' The government only declared this an event of national significance on Thursday but this spillage started to happen on April 20.
"There is a lot of blame being thrown around and questions of whether this response has been quick enough."
The oil company has been accused of downplaying the risk of such a disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
In a 2009 report, BP suggested that such an accident leading to a giant crude oil spill and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals was unlikely and virtually impossible.
BP has now taken full responsibility for the oil spill, promising to pay for the clean-up and compensate people who have been affected.
But the company said it still does not know how the accident happened.
"We actually don't know what caused this event and clearly the government has an investigation that they've initiated," Doug Suttles, a chief operating officer at BP, said.
"We've launched our own internal investigation as well, but since this event began, we've only had one focus, which is to stop the flow of oil and minimise the impact."
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>
