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Coast Guard: Oil slick will affect US Gulf shore

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-05-02 17:21
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Coast Guard: Oil slick will affect US Gulf shore
Twisted oil booms are seen as strong winds and waves reach the coast of South Pass, south of Venice, Louisiana, where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread in the Gulf of Mexico, May 1, 2010. Weather forecasts said deteriorating weather and rough seas would hamper cleanup crews this weekend as they tried to lay more of the floating booms. Boats set out from Venice on Saturday to lay fresh lines of the orange boom. [Agencies]

HOUSTON - A giant oil slick off the shore of Louisiana is likely to hit the Gulf Coast shoreline "at some point," and continued leaking of the undersea well owned by BP Plc will cause major problems, the US Coast Guard chief said on Saturday.

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"There's enough oil out there, it's logical to assume it will impact the shoreline," said Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen, on a conference call with reporters. "The question is where and when."

The Obama administration, which is trying to contain a potential environmental catastrophe, has been engaged in the spill response from the beginning, said Obama adviser John Brennan.

"We're not going to rest until these leaks are stopped," he said.

The oil slick has not yet affected vital shipping lanes leading to the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast ports like Pascagoula, Mississippi, but has the potential to do so, Allen said.

"Right now there is no significant impact from the oil on those (shipping) fairways," Allen said.

The rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd, sank on April 22, two days after it exploded and caught fire while finishing a well for BP Plc 42 miles (68 km) off the Louisiana coast.

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