US offers to call in military over massive oil spill

Oil came within 12 miles of land and could hit shores as early as today.

A third leak was discovered from the rig which caught fire and exploded last week and government officials said it was pumping out five times

as much as originally estimated – about 5,000 barrels a day.

The chief operating officer for BP, which operated the rig, Doug Suttles said yesterday: "We'll take help from anyone,".

The US Coast Guard has urged the company to formally request more resources from the Defence Department.

Mr Suttles had initially disputed the government's estimate, or that the company was unable to handle the operation to contain it.

But yesterday he acknowledged that the leak might be as bad as the government says. He said there was no way to measure the flow at the seabed and estimates had to come from how much oil makes it to the surface.

If the well cannot be closed, almost 100,000 barrels of oil, or 4.2 million gallons, could spill into the Gulf before crews could drill a relief well to alleviate the pressure.

By comparison, the Exxon Valdez, the worst oil spill in US history, leaked 11 million gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.

In the oil industry hub of Venice, about 75 miles from New Orleans and not far from the mouth of the Mississippi River, locals expressed frustration with the pace of the government's response and the communication they were getting.

"We're not doing everything we can do," said Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, which straddles the Mississippi River at the tip of Louisiana.

"Give us the worst-case scenario. How far inland is this supposed to go?" he said. He has suggested enlisting the local fishing fleet to spread booms to halt the oil, which threatens some of the nation's most fertile seafood grounds.

Louisiana has opened a special shrimp season along parts of the coast so fishermen can harvest the profitable white shrimp before the spill has an effect.

The spill has moved steadily toward the mouth of the Mississippi River and the wetland areas east of it, home to hundreds of species of wildlife and near some rich oyster grounds.

A federal class-action lawsuit was filed on Wednesday over the oil spill on behalf of two commercial shrimpers from Louisiana seeking at least five million dollars in compensatory damages plus an unspecified amount of punitive damages against Transocean, BP, Halliburton Energy Services and Cameron International.

Mike Brewer, 40, who lost his oil spill response company in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago, said the area was accustomed to the occasional minor spill. But he feared the scale of the escaping oil was beyond the capacity of existing resources.

"You're pumping out a massive amount of oil. There is no way to stop it," he said.

The rig Deepwater Horizon sank a week ago after exploding two days earlier. Of its crew of 126, 11 are missing and presumed dead. The rig was owned by Transocean Ltd and operated by BP. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry said BP was responsible for bringing resources to shut off the flow and clean up the spill.

A fleet working under an oil industry consortium has been using booms to capture and then skim oil from the surface.