Billy Nungesser

PORT SULPHUR, La. — Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster remains in marshes off the coast of Louisiana, where officials renewed complaints yesterday about the cleanup effort by BP and the federal government. State and parish officials took the media on a boat tour of Barataria Bay, pointing out areas where oil is collecting in marshes and protective boom is absent or overwhelmed by the oil. “This is the biggest cover-up in the history of America,’’ said Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish president, who was accompanied by Robert Barham, secretary of Louisiana’s Department of...

PORT SULPHUR, La. — Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster remains in marshes off the coast of Louisiana, where officials renewed complaints yesterday about the cleanup effort by BP and the federal government. State and parish officials took the media on a boat tour of Barataria Bay, pointing out areas where oil is collecting in marshes and protective boom is absent or overwhelmed by the oil. “This is the biggest cover-up in the history of America,’’ said Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish president, who was accompanied by Robert Barham, secretary of Louisiana’s Department of...

VENICE, La. — As hurricane season approaches, the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking weather forecasters into nearly uncharted waters. The gulf is a superhighway for hurricanes that form or explode over pools of hot water, then usually move north or west toward the coast. It is now the site of the worst oil spill in US history and along the general path of some of the worst storms on record, including Hurricane Camille, which battered the Mississippi coast in 1969, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s repeated low estimates of the BP oil spill undermined public confidence in the government’s entire cleanup effort, leaders of a White House-appointed commission declared at an investigatory hearing yesterday. One likened the mistakes to Custer’s disastrous decisions at Little Big Horn. Federal officials botched the government’s response, a local official and government and university scientists contended as the commission focused on the questions of who was in charge and how much oil spewed out of the well into the Gulf of Mexico.

GRAND ISLE, La. — The spectacle many had feared for a month finally began unfolding as gooey, rust-colored oil washed into the marshes at the mouth of the Mississippi, stoking public anger and frustration with both BP and the government. The sense of gloom deepened as BP conceded what some scientists have been saying for weeks: that the oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is bigger than the company previously estimated. Up to now, only tar balls and a sheen of oil had come ashore.

NEW ORLEANS — A procedure intended to ease the job of plugging the blownout gulf well for good could start as early as the weekend, the government’s point man for the spill response said yesterday. The so-called static kill can begin when crews finish work on drilling the relief well 50 miles offshore that is needed for a permanent fix. Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said crews would drop in casing for the relief well later yesterday, and that could speed up work on the static kill, though he did not say how much.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s repeated low estimates of the BP oil spill undermined public confidence in the government’s entire cleanup effort, leaders of a White House-appointed commission declared at an investigatory hearing yesterday. One likened the mistakes to Custer’s disastrous decisions at Little Big Horn. Federal officials botched the government’s response, a local official and government and university scientists contended as the commission focused on the questions of who was in charge and how much oil spewed out of the...

MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER — British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at an offshore rig that exploded, causing the worst US spill in decades along the Gulf coast and endangering shoreline habitat. In its 52-page exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well, BP suggested that it was unlikely, or virtually impossible, for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil spill and serious damage to beaches, fish, mammals, and fisheries.

NEW ORLEANS — BP and the Obama administration face mounting complaints that they are ignoring foreign offers of equipment and making little use of the fishing boats and volunteers available to help clean up what may now be the biggest spill ever in the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard said there have been 107 offers of help from 44 nations, ranging from technical advice to skimmer boats and booms. But many of those offers are weeks old, and only a small number have been accepted.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal prosecutors brought the first criminal charges Tuesday in the Gulf oil spill, accusing a former BP engineer of deleting more than 300 text messages that indicated the blown-out well was spewing far more crude than the company was telling the public at the time. Two years and four days after the drilling-rig explosion that set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, Kurt Mix, 50, of Katy, Texas, was arrested and charged with two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence.

NEW ORLEANS — A procedure intended to ease the job of plugging the blownout gulf well for good could start as early as the weekend, the government’s point man for the spill response said yesterday. The so-called static kill can begin when crews finish work on drilling the relief well 50 miles offshore that is needed for a permanent fix. Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said crews would drop in casing for the relief well later yesterday, and that could speed up work on the static kill, though he did not say how much.

VENICE, La. — As hurricane season approaches, the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking weather forecasters into nearly uncharted waters. The gulf is a superhighway for hurricanes that form or explode over pools of hot water, then usually move north or west toward the coast. It is now the site of the worst oil spill in US history and along the general path of some of the worst storms on record, including Hurricane Camille, which battered the Mississippi coast in 1969, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

GRAND ISLE, La. — The spectacle many had feared for a month finally began unfolding as gooey, rust-colored oil washed into the marshes at the mouth of the Mississippi, stoking public anger and frustration with both BP and the government. The sense of gloom deepened as BP conceded what some scientists have been saying for weeks: that the oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is bigger than the company previously estimated. Up to now, only tar balls and a sheen of oil had come ashore.

MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER — British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at an offshore rig that exploded, causing the worst US spill in decades along the Gulf coast and endangering shoreline habitat. In its 52-page exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well, BP suggested that it was unlikely, or virtually impossible, for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil spill and serious damage to beaches, fish, mammals, and fisheries.