BP gets federal approval to spray oil spill

BP said yesterday it has received federal approval to continuously spray chemicals underwater on the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler said the company received Environmental Protection Agency approval and began pumping dispersant on the site this morning. The company plans to continue spraying and taking tests.

The dispersants had never been tried at such depths before this spill and officials have been worried about the effect on the environment.

Officials with BP have been encouraged by the underwater spraying, saying it prevents some of the oil from reaching the surface.

Meanwhile, a BP shareholder has filed suit against the corporation’s senior executives because of the offshore rig disaster.

Filed in federal court in New Orleans, the lawsuit by Pennsylvania resident Katherine Firpo accuses Anthony B Hayward, the chief executive of BP, and other executives of the London-based corporation, of ignoring safety issues on rigs such as the Deepwater Horizon, which exploded on April 20.

She accuses them of pursuing cost-cutting measures at the expense of safety, while lobbying government authorities to decrease safety regulation.

The lawsuit says the rig accident and the leak it caused will cost BP tens of billions of dollars.