US government to get independent check on oil spill
âWeâre not depending on what BP is telling us,â interior secretary Ken Salazar said yesterday.
Energy giant BP was responsible for damages so getting accurate data was essential, he said. âItâs a grave and a very serious situation and weâre taking nothing for granted.â
BP has scrambled to contain crude from the gushing seabed Macondo well since it blew out after an April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers.
The company said it is siphoning about 3,000 barrels a day of oil, from what it has estimated was 5,000 barrels a day.
With heavy oil washing ashore in fragile Louisiana wetlands, wildlife and environmental groups accused BP of holding back information on the real size and impact of the growing slick, and urged President Barack Obama to order a more direct federal government role in the spill response.
Salazar said the administration had been aggressive in its response but had inherited a regulatory system âthat essentially was rubber-stamping whatever it was the oil and gas industry wantedâ.
Heavy oil â not just tar balls â came ashore in Louisiana for the first time, threatening its prized marshlands. State governor Bobby Jindal, called it a âday that we have all been fearingâ.
The marshes are nurseries for shrimp, oysters, crabs and fish that make Louisiana the leading producer of commercial seafood in the US.
BP said it could begin injecting mud into the well by Sunday in a bid to permanently plug the leak.