Obama warns of ‘massive disaster’ as oil spill spreads

US President Barack Obama yesterday warned of “massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster” as a giant oil slick from the Gulf of Mexico threatens environmental and economic catastrophe.

Obama was visiting Louisiana to rally faltering efforts to protect the shores against the slick.

Obama gave Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal a reassuring hug on the rainswept New Orleans tarmac before they sped off to Venice, a small fishing village two hours drive away on the coast that has become a hub for the response effort.

There, Obama was expected to defend accusations his administration was slow to respond to the crisis and get a glimpse of a massive operation involving everyone from oil industry experts to local fishermen drafted in to help.

The latest government data showed the thickest part of the rectangular 130-mile by 70-mile oil slick has been turned northward by strong southerly winds, sending sheen lapping ashore on the remote Chandeleur Islands.

However, officials said confirmation of any oil washing ashore would not be known until overflights could be conducted.

An overflight may not be possible for some time as winds and high seas kept planes grounded and stopped skimming vessels going to mop up the growing slick for a third day.

Admiral Thad Allen, commandant of the US Coast Guard, tasked by Obama to spearhead the government response, said teams were waiting for the right “window of opportunity” to carry out more controlled burns.

A trial burn on a small patch of the oil was conducted last Wednesday but since then the wind shifted to blow the slick, and toxic smoke from any oil burns, directly towards the coast.

The NOAA weather agency forecasts for today and tomorrow backed up warnings from Allen that landfall was a matter of when and not if.

“These winds will continue to bring oil towards the shoreline along the Mississippi River Delta, Breton Island, and the Chandeleur Islands,” they said.

The Chandeleur Islands form the easternmost point of Louisiana and are part of the Breton National Wild- life Refuge, the second oldest refuge in the US and home to countless endangered brown pelican, least tern, and piping plover.

Louisiana accounts for an estimated one-third of the country’s total oyster output, and the Gulf of Mexico are prime spawning waters for fish, shrimp and crabs, as well as a major stop for migratory birds.

Governor Jindal warned on Saturday that the southern state’s “way of life” was under threat as fishermen and coastal communities finally back on their feet after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina braced for more pain.

Obama was due to arrive in the early afternoon to give the cleanup efforts a much-needed morale boost, but there was little cheer from the US authorities.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said: “You’re looking at potentially 90 days before you ultimately get to what is the ultimate solution here and that’s a relief well.”

An estimated 210,000 gallons of crude has been streaming from the wellhead below the Deepwater Horizon rig.