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      NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Help is on the way to bolster the work being
done to contain the crude spewing from the bottom of the Gulf of
Mexico, including a tanker from the North Sea that will provide an
important assist, the point man for the government's response to
the disaster said Wednesday.


      The current containment system is catching 630,000 gallons
daily, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said at a news briefing in
Washington. Officials had previously cited that figure as the
system's general capacity, but Allen said officials now believe it
can handle 756,000 gallons daily.


      Even so, there's still more oil eluding capture. BP is bringing
in a second vessel that will increase capacity, as well as the
North Sea shuttle tanker, which will assist in the transport of the
oil, and a device that will burn off some it. The company
previously said it plans to switch out the current containment cap
with a slightly larger one that will seal better and trap more oil.


      The government is also keeping an eye on how BP is reimbursing
people for their losses in the Gulf. Allen has written to BP CEO
Tony Hayward demanding "more detail and openness" about how the
company is handling mounting damage claims, reminding the
beleaguered executive that his company "is accountable to the
American public for the economic loss caused by the oil spill."


      Among the frustrated is fishing guide Mike Helmer in Metairie,
La., outside New Orleans, who worries about paying his bills now
that Barataria Bay, one of the richest fishing grounds along the
Gulf, is largely shut down by oil taking the form of a widespread
sheen complemented by gooey patches of crude.


      Helmer said he filed a personal claim with BP several weeks ago
and was told recently the company hadn't even begun on it. He filed
a claim on his business just this week.


      "If it's taking this long on my personal claim, who knows for
my business?" Helmer said, adding that in the meantime he'll have
no income - nothing.


      "Who's asleep at the wheel here?" he added. "Everything's too
little, too late."


      Allen noted in his letter that he and other officials are
meeting with BP later Wednesday to discuss problems with the
handling of damage claims related to the April 20 accident.


      "We need complete, ongoing transparency into BP's claims
process including detailed information on how claims are being
evaluated, how payment amounts are being calculated and how quickly
claims are being processed," Allen wrote.


      The government has estimated that around 600,000 to 1.2 million
gallons oil are leaking per day, but a scientist on a government
team studying the oil flow said Tuesday that his group may
determine the daily rate is, in fact, somewhere between 798,000
gallons and 1.8 million gallons.


      That means an amount of oil equivalent to two Olympic-size
swimming pools might still be escaping daily into the open sea.


      The oil now being captured is being pumped to a ship on the
surface where workers are burning off the natural gas attached to
the crude and shipping the remaining oil to shore. In addition, the
British oil giant is preparing to deploy a device called an
EverGreen Burner that turns the oil-and-gas mixture into a vapor
that is pushed out its 12 nozzles and burned without creating
visible smoke.


      The burn rig will be moved away from the main leak site so the
flames and heat do not endanger other vessels, BP spokesman Max
McGahan said Tuesday. He did not know when BP might start using the
burner, although company officials have said they want the rig that
will carry it to start processing oil by mid-June.


      Depending on which model is used and its settings, it can handle
10,500 to 630,000 gallons of oil a day, according to promotional
materials by Schlumberger Ltd., the company that makes the device
and whose website touts it as producing "fallout-free and
smokeless combustion."


      Wilma Subra, a chemist with the Louisiana Environmental Action
Network, said BP should avoid burning the captured oil - which she
said raises new health risks - and instead bring in more processing
equipment.


      "This is one of those decisions that will have negative
impacts," she said. "Even though it's crude dispersed in water,
the burning of crude will raise some health issues."


      Officials in President Barack Obama's administration are talking
with BP about a longer-term containment strategy with "built-in
redundancies," Allen said. Obama is scheduled to return to the
Gulf Coast on Monday and Tuesday for a two-day update on the spill.


      Speaking to network news shows Wednesday morning, BP Chief
Operating Officer Doug Suttles continued to insist that no massive
underwater oil plumes in "large concentrations" have been
detected from the spill. His comments came a day after the
government said water tests confirmed underwater oil plumes, but
said concentrations were low.


      "It may be down to how you define what a plume is here,"
Suttles told NBC's "Today" show. "Those have not been found so
far by us or anyone else who's measured these."


      Suttles continued to dispute scientists' claims that massive oil
plumes have been found. "We haven't found any large concentrations
of oil under the sea," he told ABC's "Good Morning America."


      It's been seven weeks since the BP oil rig explosion that set
off the catastrophe. The most recent government estimates put the
total amount of oil lost at 23.7 million to 51.5 million gallons,
making it by far the nation's largest oil spill.


      Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Brian
Skoloff in Metairie; Eileen Sullvian and Seth Borenstein in
Washington; Matthew Brown in Billings, Mont.; and Harry R. Weber in
Houston.

Gallery

Oil spill facts seem as cloudy as stricken waters

Lessons learned from the oil spill

Oil spill divides, threatens wider area

Cap collecting more oil as slick extends its reach

Disasters

Environmental News

Help is on the way to bolster the work being
done to contain the crude spewing from the bottom of the Gulf of
Mexico, including a tanker from the North Sea that will provide an
important assist, the point man for the government's response to
the disaster said Wednesday.

BP: More oil-collecting help converging on Gulf

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