Obama to do everything 'humanly possible' on spill

Obama rushed to southern Louisiana to inspect forces arrayed against the oil gusher as Cabinet members described the situation as grave and insisted the administration was doing everything it could. Then he took a helicopter ride over the water to view the 50 km oil slick caused by as much as 210,000 gallons of crude gushing into the Gulf each day.

The spill threatens not only the environment but also the region's abundant fishing industry, which Obama called "the heartbeat of the region's economic life."

Obama vowed that his administration, while doing all it could to mitigate the disaster, would require well owner BP America to bear all costs. "Your government will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to stop this crisis," he said.

As of now, it appeared little could be done in the short term to stem the oil flow, which was also drifting toward the beaches of neighboring Mississippi and farther east along the Florida Panhandle. Obama said the slick was 15 km off the coast of south-eastern Louisiana.

BP Chairman Lamar McKay raised faint hope that the spill might be stopped more quickly by lowering a hastily manufactured dome to the ruptured wellhead in the next six to eight days, containing the oil and then pumping it to the surface. Such a procedure has been used in some well blowouts but never at such water depths as in the case of this disaster.