, June 2 (Reuters) – The White House on
Wednesday approved the construction of five sand berms that BP
Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) (BP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will fund to shield the Louisiana coast from
damage from a giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico,
Louisiana’s governor said.

“We have just received word from the White House that they
are going to require BP to fund the five remaining segments,”
Governor Bobby Jindal said at a news conference.

By Ed Stoddard

VENICE, La. (Reuters) – Robot submarines wielding powerful cutting tools went to work on BP Plc’s latest bid to curtail the flow of oil spewing from its ruptured wellhead as the U.S. government launched criminal and civil probes into the six-week-old disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The legal steps announced on Tuesday by the Obama administration capped a tough day financially for the British energy company, whose share price was pounded by news of BP’s setbacks in stopping the leak over the weekend.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – The U.S. government has launched a widely expected criminal and civil investigation into BP Plc’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday, ratcheting up pressure on the beleaguered British oil company.

“We have begun both a criminal as well as a civil investigation as is our obligation under the law,” Holder told reporters after meeting with state and federal prosecutors in New Orleans. “Our environmental laws are very clear.”

/LONDON (Reuters) – BP Plc faced a grim future on Tuesday as its failure to stop a Gulf of Mexico oil spill prompted a plunge in the energy giant’s shares and the Obama administration said it opened a criminal investigation.

President Barack Obama, struggling to get on top of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, vowed an overhaul of U.S. laws and regulations needed to prevent a repeat of the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 people and triggered the spill.

,/LONDON (Reuters) – BP faced a grim future on Tuesday as its failure to stop a Gulf of Mexico oil spill prompted a plunge in the energy giant’s shares and the possibility of a criminal probe by the Obama administration gained strength.

President Barack Obama, under pressure to contain the worst oil spill in U.S. history, struggled to get on top of one of the greatest challenges of his presidency. He met co-chairs of a commission he created to investigate the disaster and was to make a midday statement in the Rose Garden.

,/LONDON (Reuters) – BP shares plunged on Tuesday as markets reacted to the failure of the energy giant’s latest effort to contain an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico rated the worst in U.S. history.

BP fell close to 17 percent in London trading, wiping $23 billion off its market value, on weekend news that its latest attempt to plug its blown-out seabed well had not worked sparked fears oil could leak into the Gulf until August.

By Ed Stoddard and Sarah Irwin

VENICE, La. (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will meet with the leaders of a panel he created to probe the worst oil spill in U.S. history on Tuesday, as a giant slick from BP’s blown-out Gulf of Mexico well poses a new threat to the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama.

The spill, which has eclipsed the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster as the biggest in U.S. history, entered its 43rd day as BP Plc prepared a new and untested plan to use a dome to funnel oil gushing from a well a mile (1.6 km) beneath the sea to a tanker on the surface.

By Ed Stoddard and Sarah Irwin

VENICE, La. (Reuters) – Oil from BP’s out-of-control Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, U.S. forecasters said on Monday, as public anger surged over the country’s worst environmental disaster.

U.S. government and BP officials are warning that the blown-out deepwater well feeding the catastrophic spill may not be shut off until August as the company begins preparations on a new but uncertain attempt to contain the leaking crude.

By Ed Stoddard

GOLDEN MEADOW, La. (Reuters) – Carol Terrebonne, a wholesale retailer who buys shrimp off the boats in southern Louisiana, laughs when asked about the $5,000 hardship payout she has received from energy giant BP to cushion the economic impact of the Gulf oil spill.

“It barely pays the power bill. I have two facilities and they have ice machines and cold storage,” she said in her cramped roadside office, seated beneath pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

By Ed Stoddard and Sarah Irwin

VENICE, La. (Reuters) – U.S. government and BP officials are warning that the blown-out oil well causing an environmental disaster on the Gulf Coast may not be stopped until August as the company begins preparations on a new attempt to capture the leaking crude.

The disaster, in its 42nd day on Monday, is already the largest oil spill in U.S. history and officials are calling it the country’s biggest environmental catastrophe.