U.S. Government Criticizes BP For Oil Spill

A boat passes through heavily oiled marsh near Pass a Loutre, Louisiana

The U.S. government has criticized BP for its handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. Interior Minister Ken Salazar said Washington is frustrated and angry that BP missed "deadline after deadline" in its efforts to seal the well more than a month after an oil rig explosion triggered the disaster.

Meanwhile, Louisiana's governor Bobby Jindal says the U.S. Coast Guard and BP were slow to make decisions and delayed supplying necessary clean-up equipment even as oil washes onto the state's fragile marshland

The U.S. Coast Guard says more than 110 kilometers of Gulf Coast has experienced "shoreline impact" and less than half of it could be cleaned up relatively quickly.

compiled from agency reports