Oil slick approaches Florida as capping bid hits new setback

The BP oil slick drifted closer to the coast of the Florida Panhandle today as a risky gambit to contain the leak by shearing off the well pipe ran into trouble a mile under the sea.

BP said it was about halfway through slicing the pipe when the diamond-tipped saw became stuck.

The company said it took 12 hours to free the saw and that preparations are under way to resume cutting.

The plan is to fit a cap on the blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico to capture most of the spewing oil. The twisted, broken pipe has to be sliced first to allow a close fit.

"I don't think the issue is whether or not we can make the second cut - it's about how fine we can make it, how smooth we can make it," said Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the government's senior official in managing the crisis.

Admiral Allen said more staff, boats and helicopters were sent to the eastern Gulf Coast as the slick spread. The boats will help skim oil and add more protective booms to collect it. Four helicopters will help skimmers spot threatening oil.

As the edge of the slick drifted within seven miles of Pensacola's famous white beaches, emergency workers rushed to link the last in a long chain of booms designed to fend off the oil. They were hampered by thunderstorms and wind before the weather cleared in the afternoon.

Forecasters said the oil will probably wash up by Friday, threatening a delicate network of islands, bays and beaches which are a haven for wildlife and a major tourist destination dubbed the Redneck Riviera.

"We are doing what we can do, but we cannot change what has happened," said John Dosh, emergency director for Escambia County, which includes Pensacola.

Since the biggest oil spill in US history began to unfold on April 20, crude oil has fouled 125 miles of Louisiana coastline and washed up in Alabama and Mississippi as well. Over the past six weeks, the well has leaked anywhere from 21 million to 45 million gallons.

The latest attempt to control the leak is considered risky because slicing away a section of the 20-inch riser could remove kinks in the pipe and temporarily increase the flow of oil by as much as 20%. The cap could be placed over the spill as early as Wednesday.

If the strategy fails - like every other attempt to control the leak 5,000 feet under water - the best hope is probably a relief well, which is at least two months from completion.

As the oil drifted closer to Florida, beachgoers in Pensacola waded into the gentle waves, cast fishing lines and sunbathed, even as a two-man crew took water samples. One of the men said they were hired by BP to collect samples to be analysed for tar and other pollutants.

Officials said the slick sighted offshore consists in part of "tar mats" about 500 feet by 2,000 feet in size.

County officials set up the booms to block oil from reaching inland waterways but planned to leave beaches unprotected because they are too difficult to defend against the action of the waves and because they are easier to clean up.

Federal regulators later approved the first new Gulf of Mexico oil well since President Barack Obama lifted a brief ban on drilling in shallow water.

The Minerals Management Service granted a drilling permit to Bandon Oil and Gas for a site about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana and 115 feet below the ocean's surface.

Mr Obama last week extended a freeze on new wells in deep water, but the president quietly allowed a three-week ban on drilling in shallow water to expire.

"I'm outraged," said Kieran Suckling, executive director for the Arizona-based Centre for Biological Diversity. "How is it that shallow water drilling suddenly became safe again?"

Mr Suckling said the administration is misleading the public by quietly resuming work in shallow waters while acting as if it is taking a tough look at deep water work.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the extended moratorium on deep water drilling was needed to provide time to implement new safety requirements.