As BP works to cap current leak, Obama eyes how to stop future spills

(News Today) - President Obama will meet Tuesday with the heads of a new commission created to investigate how to prevent future oil spills like the devastating leak from BP's Gulf of Mexico well.

White House aides said Obama will make public comments after meeting with former Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator William Reilly. The two are leading a commission that has six months to issue a report with recommendations on how to prevent future spills resulting from offshore drilling.

The meeting comes as BP continues its plan to stop oil gushing into the Gulf, 43 days after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig started the spill.

BP, rig owner Transocean Ltd. and oilfield services company Halliburton have blamed each other for the disaster, which left 11 workers dead, but BP is responsible for cleanup under federal law.

The company has said it plans to try to place a custom-built cap over part of a piece of equipment called the "lower marine riser package," but has not specified when that operation will take place.

Up to 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) of oil a day have been spewing into the Gulf, according to government estimates. Federal officials ordered another 1,200 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico closed to fishing Monday, extending the restricted zone toward the coasts of Alabama and Mississippi.

About 26 percent of the Gulf is closed to fishing, following National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts that showed oil spreading across the water and toward those states' coasts later this week.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will head to the Gulf Coast Tuesday to survey the spill and meet with state attorneys general and federal prosecutors from Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, the Justice Department said.

Last month a group of senators -- including Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California -- sent Holder a letter expressing concerns "about the truthfulness and accuracy of statements submitted by BP to the government in its initial exploration plan for the site," and asking Holder to investigate possible criminal and civil wrongdoing.

But in a reply to that letter last week, a Justice Department official did not say whether a criminal investigation had begun.

"The Department of Justice will take all necessary and appropriate steps to ensure that those responsible for this tragic series of events are held fully accountable," Assistant Attorney General Ronald Welch wrote.

This week BP has said it hopes to place a custom-made cap on the "lower marine riser package." That process will involve a clean cut of the riser package, and warm water will be circulated around the cap to prevent the freezing that hindered a previous dome-cap effort.

If successful, the procedure will allow BP to collect most -- but not all -- of the oil spewing from the well. The long-term solution is the drilling of a relief well that will be in place by August.

Late Monday BP announced several modifications to that plan which will allow crews to collect more crude and prepare for a possible hurricane.

In mid-June, the company said it plans to add a separate riser to take oil and gas to a vessel on the surface to increase the efficiency of the containment operation.

A free-standing riser will be placed 300 feet below sea level by early July with a flexible hose that can be disconnected during a hurricane, BP said.

Hurricane season begins Tuesday.

Source : CNN

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