Protests planned as oil spill threat to US widens

OIL from BP’s out-of-control Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, US forecasters said yesterday, as public anger surged over the nation’s worst environmental disaster.

US government and BP officials are warning that the blown-out deepwater well feeding the catastrophic spill may not be shut off until August as the company begins preparations on a new but uncertain attempt to contain the leaking crude.

The disaster, in its 42nd day yesterday, is already the largest oil spill in US history and officials are treating it as the country’s biggest environmental catastrophe.