Obama to visit gulf region on Sunday

Obama is visiting because of the national significance and potential magnitude of the environmental damage, senior administration officials said.

Federal officials, meanwhile, urged BP to beef up its response as thousands of barrels of oil creep into the Gulf of Mexico.

“We’ll continue to urge BP to leverage additional assets,” Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Friday. “It is time for BP to supplement their current mobilization as the slick of oil moves toward shore.”