* Environment * Deepwater Horizon oil spill Barack Obama's top officials set to fly over Gulf Coast oil spill

A Senate delegation will visit the oil spill affecting the wildlife along the Louisiana coastline since the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Leading officials from President Barack Obama's administration will return to the Gulf Coast on Monday, May 24th, to monitor the massive oil spill threatening the Louisiana coastline. Ken Salazar, secretary of the interior and Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, will lead a Senate delegation to fly over affected areas.

It was revealed today that the justice department had been gathering information about the oil spill. The amount of oil siphoned by the mile-long tube inserted into the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico has dropped in the past day, a BP spokesman said. BP said that the siphon collected some 216,000 liters of oil within the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the official responsible for the oversight of the month-old spill response said he understands the discontent among residents who want to know what's next.

"If anybody is frustrated with this response, I would tell them their symptoms are normal, because I'm frustrated, too," said coast guard commandant Thad Allen. "Nobody likes to have a feeling that you can't do something about a very big problem."

Obama has named a special independent commission to review what happened. The spill began after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana on 20 April, killing 11 workers. It sank two days later. At least 22.7 million liters of crude have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico since the explosion.

Source:
The Guardian, "Barack Obama's top officials set to fly over Gulf Coast oil spill", accessed May 23, 2010