Calm waters in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday allowed crews to step up efforts to contain the crude oil leaking uncontrollably into the sea and spreading toward the coasts of four states. Meanwhile, BP, the company responsible for fighting the spill, told members of Congress in Washington in a closed-door briefing that the leaking oil well five miles beneath the surface of the gulf could, in a worst-case scenario, spill as many as 60,000 barrels of oil a day, more than 10 times the estimate of the current flow.
For now, weather patterns seem to be holding the giant oil slick offshore, and are expected to do so for several more days, temporarily sparing the coast. A containment dome is being readied to drop over the worst of the leaks by Thursday, BP officials said.
Cleanup crews Tuesday were able to put out more containment equipment and repair some booms damaged in rough weather over the weekend. They also hoped to again try to burn some of the oil on the water's surface, possibly today.
The scope of the problem has grown drastically since BP's Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform exploded and capsized into the gulf last month, killing 11 workers.
Amid growing uncertainty about the extent of the leak and when it might be stanched, BP faced intensified pressure on multiple fronts Tuesday, from increasingly frustrated residents of the Gulf Coast to federal, state and local officials demanding more from the company.
BP has dispatched executives to hold town meetings in the affected region, and it has turned to lower-profile social media outlets to trumpet its cleanup efforts and moves to organize volunteers.
The Senate energy committee has summoned executives from BP and Transocean, the company contracted by BP to drill the well, as well as a number of oil industry technical experts, to a hearing next week. The next day, the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing, at which top executives of BP, Transocean and Halliburton have been asked to appear, a committee spokeswoman said.
A separate federal investigation into the explosion is under way by the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service.
At Tuesday's briefing, David Rainey, the BP vice president for Gulf of Mexico production, and officials from Transocean and from Halliburton, which was providing cementing services on the platform, also acknowledged that they did not know how likely it was that oil from the spill would be caught up in the so-called loop currents in the gulf and be carried through the Florida Keys into the Atlantic Ocean.
"What we heard today from BP, Halliburton and Transocean were a lot of worst-case scenarios without any best-case solutions," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who leads the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the House energy panel.
Federal officials have raised the possibility of a leak of more than 100,000 barrels a day if the well were to flow unchecked, but the chances of that situation occurring were unclear.
Also Tuesday, BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, told Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., that the spill clearly would cause more than $75 million in economic damage, the current cap on liability for drilling accidents.
Nelson and the two Democratic senators from New Jersey have introduced legislation to raise that cap to $1 billion or more.
Hayward said the cap is largely irrelevant. "It's got nothing to do with caps," he said. "All legitimate claims ... will be honored."
While a rainbow sheen of oil has reached land in Louisiana, the gooey rafts of coagulated crude have yet to come ashore in most places.
"The waiting is the hardest part. The not knowing," said Dodie Vegas, 44, who runs the Bridge Side Cabins complex in Grand Isle, a resort and recreational fishing community that's just about as far south in Louisiana as you can go. So far, two fishing rodeos have been canceled, and 10 guests have canceled their rooms.
"You got people canceling out, thinking we've got oil on the beaches, and it's not even at the mouth of the Mississippi," said Frank Besson, 61, owner of Nez Couple Souvenir & Tackle.
The Environmental Protection Agency stepped up air quality monitoring on the Gulf Coast after people in New Orleans and elsewhere reported a strong odor of petroleum. Some in a throng standing on the beach Saturday in Gulfport, Miss., were convinced they could smell the slick – until someone pointed out a diesel truck idling 50 feet away. When the truck left, so did the smell.
Fishermen have complained bitterly about the federal decision to close a large swath of the gulf to commercial and sport fishing, saying it was an overreaction.
But U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said it was necessary to reassure the American public that the seafood on restaurant menus and store shelves is safe.
In Gulf Shores, Ala., real estate firm Brett/Robinson Vacations sent a note to those renting vacation properties that they would not be penalized for any spill-related cancellations but urged them not to jump the gun.
There are legitimate concerns, experts say. A second bird found in the slick, a brown pelican, is recovering at a bird rescue center in Louisiana. National Wildlife Federation president and CEO Larry Schweiger says there's no way to know how many birds have been oiled because the slick is so big and so far offshore.
