Interior, EPA chiefs returning to Gulf as gusher continues

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Lane Lubchenco – who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – will all return to the Gulf Coast next week.

It will be Jackson’s fourth trip in response to the spill that began over a month ago, Salazar’s eighth visit and Lubchenco’s third, according to the Obama administration, which is fending off allegations that it hasn’t responded to the crisis aggressively enough.

Jackson’s visit will last six days and she will “inspect coastline protection and cleanup activities and meet with community members to discuss ongoing efforts to mitigate the oil’s impacts on public health and the environment,” according to an administration announcement.

Jackson will visit Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and her trip will include review of plans to clean oil-soaked wetlands and marshes, and BP’s use of chemical dispersants.

Salazar’s visit will include briefings on BP’s thus-far failed efforts to cap its blown-out well that’s a mile underwater.

BP has for days been trying to pump heavy drilling mud into the well to end the gusher, but a top executive acknowledged at a press conference Saturday that it has not yet stopped the flow.

The effort is continuing but the company is also preparing other options.