Oil spill cleanup braces for hurricane season

Hurricane season has begun in the southeast United States, bringing with it fresh concerns about containing the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The season, which began Tuesday, is expected to be "active or extremely active," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Three to seven major hurricanes — involving winds of at least 178 km/h — are expected. Up to 14 hurricanes with winds of 119 km/h are also expected.

Such winds could be disastrous for BP's latest attempt to contain the flow of oil gushing from a broken pipe above the Gulf's seabed.

On Monday, underwater robots sawed through the pipe, preparing to cover it with a tightly sealed containment dome that will direct the oil to a tanker on the surface.

But if the hurricane brings strong winds and high waves to the Gulf, "the [tanker] would not be able to remain there, which means there would be unabated flow," Carol Browner, the White House adviser on energy and climate change, said Tuesday.

That, or failure of the new containment dome, would be the worst-case scenario and "deeply, deeply troubling," she said.

"If it is not able to contain the oil, we would be in a situation where it is conceivable that there would be oil leaking at a rate of something on the order of [1.9 million to 3.2 million litres] a day until the relief wells are dug," Browner said.

The two relief wells would intersect the leaking well and allow BP to pump a heavy liquid into it to stem the flow of oil.

BP crews began drilling the relief wells on May 2 and May 16. They are not expected to be complete before August.

The U.S. government is monitoring "minute to minute the efforts to halt or capture the flow of oil from the wrecked BP well," U.S. President Obama said Tuesday.

"Until this well is stopped, we'll multiply our efforts to meet the growing threat and to address the widespread and unbelievably painful losses experienced by the people along the Gulf Coast," Obama said.

No relief for fishing industry

Some of those losses can be seen in Louisiana, where those in the fishing industry are reeling from widespread closures of surrounding waters to commercial and recreational fishing.

On Monday, shrimpers in Venice, La., sorted through what many fear could be one of the last catches in the ever-shrinking shrimp industry for a generation.

"My dad's done it, and his dad before him," shrimper Brian Broussard told CBC News.

"It's what I hope to do in the future but I don't know, with the oil," he said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration expanded the area closed to commercial and recreational fishing by another five per cent.

The expansion means that as of 6 p.m. ET, roughly 31 per cent of U.S. waters in the Gulf — or roughly 197,000 square kilometres — will be off-limits because of the spreading oil.

In Washington, Obama spoke to reporters after meeting with the co-chairs of an independent commission he set up to investigate the oil spill, which began on April 22 after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which BP had leased, exploded and sank.

Flanked by former Florida senator Bob Graham and the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Bill Riley, Obama vowed "a full and vigorous accounting of the events that led" to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20.

The explosion killed 11 crew members and led to what Obama called "the greatest environmental catastrophe of its kind" in American history.

"As a result of this disaster, lives have been lost, business have been decimated, communities that had already known great hardship now face the spectre of sudden and painful dislocations," Obama said gravely. "Untold damage is being done to the environment.

"My solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the Gulf region."

Probes begin

U.S Attorney General Eric Holder said criminal and civil investigations into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill have opened, though he did not name any specific individuals or companies targeted.  

Holder said U.S. clean air and pollution laws give him the power to open the investigations.

Holder held meetings Tuesday with the attorneys general of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.