Oil Slick | featured news

The effort to place a massive containment dome over a gushing underwater wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico was dealt a setback when a large volume of hydrates -- icelike crystals that form when gas combines with water -- accumulated inside the vessel, a BP official said Saturday.

Former FEMA director Michael Brown is not backing off his charge that the Obama administration wants to use the Gulf Coast oil spill as a plot to put an end to offshore drilling.

A fix by engineers was not expected to immediately reduce the release of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

MMS' fines against BP have been the equivalent of a rounding error. From 1998 through 2007 "when MMS issued its last fine against the company" BP has paid less than $580,000 in penalties for its 12 safety violations. Environmental groups say this simply isn't enough.

There's no way to stop oily water from reaching land along the Gulf Coast, but experts will use tools both massive and microscopic to clean it up.

Satellite images show Gulf spill has grown tremendously in a couple days as rough seas thwart cleanup effort.

President Obama on Friday sought to reassure Gulf communities that the federal government is committed to helping them deal with the massive oil slick working its way to shore.