Adm. Thad Allen: Gulf oil disaster cleanup to take years

[The Minx]

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(CNN) -- It will take years to completely clean up the damage from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government's response manager for the oil disaster, said Monday.

"Dealing with the oil spill on the surface is going to go on for a couple of months. After that it'll be taken care of," Allen said in response to a reporter's question at a White House briefing. "I agree with you, long-term issues of restoring the environment and the habitats and stuff will be years."

The total amount of crude being collected from the ruptured undersea well responsible for the disaster increased Sunday to roughly 466,000 gallons -- or 11,100 barrels -- according to estimates from BP and Allen.

On Saturday, BP indicated it had increased the amount of crude being funneled to the surface to roughly 441,000 gallons. The oil is being funneled from a containment cap installed on the well to a drilling ship on the ocean surface.

Federal authorities estimate that 798,000 gallons of crude have been gushing into the sea every day.

Since the containment cap was installed on Friday, the total number of gallons of oil being captured on a daily basis has nearly doubled, Allen said Monday.

BP "anticipates moving another craft" to the well site shortly in order to raise the capacity of oil that could be captured on a daily basis to roughly 840,000 gallons, or 20,000 barrels, he said.

"In the long run, [BP] is also looking at bringing larger production vessels in, create a more permanent connection that can be disconnected easily in case we have a hurricane or bad weather later on in the hurricane season," Allen noted. "And we'll continue to optimize the production out of the well to contain it."

iReport: Track the oil disaster

President Obama, who was briefed by Allen on Monday, later warned that "even if we are successful in containing some or much" of the oil, the problem of the leak will not be solved until a relief well is completed -- a process that will take "several months."

The president also expressed concern for the health of workers now trying to clean up the spill. Scientists are "not seeing huge elevations of toxins in the air or on the water" near shore, he said. "But that may not be the case out where people are actually doing the work."

The EPA will continue to constantly monitor air and water quality, as well as check toxin levels in seafood from the Gulf, he said. "This is a resilient ecosystem" and there are "resilient people" in the Gulf, he asserted. "They're going to bounce back."

Farther south, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce opened shop on the bayou Monday morning, holding a hearing in Chalmette, Louisiana. The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations was slated to hold a field hearing on "Local Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill" near ground zero for the growing disaster.

Also Monday, Carol Browner, the president's assistant for energy and climate change, hosted a video chat to answer questions from the public about the oil disaster.

Federal authorities reopened about 340 square miles of federal waters off the Florida Panhandle east of Destin to fishing Monday after finding no sign of oil in that area, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration announced.

The expanding government response comes as the effects of the gusher are spreading along the Gulf Coast. Dead wildlife has now been reported in the region. Allen said Monday that roughly 120 linear miles of coastline in the Gulf have now been affected by the spill.

Full coverage of oil spill

Allen warned Sunday that while BP has made progress in its cleanup efforts, it remains too early to call the effort a success.

"We're making the right progress. [But] I don't think anyone should be pleased as long as there's oil in the water," Allen said on CNN's "State of the Union."

The oil "is an insidious enemy," Allen said. "It's attacking all of our shores, it's holding the Gulf hostage, basically."

In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Allen described the current state of the spill as a series of pools, ranging from 20-100 yards to several miles in length.

"The spill has disaggregated over a 200-mile radius around the wellbore. It's not a monolithic spill. It is literally hundreds and thousands of smaller spills," he said.

Even as the administration has tried to distance itself from BP in recent days -- with the Justice Department launching both criminal and civil investigations into the spill -- it has not been enough to temper the frustration seething among residents along the coastline.

Florida Sen. George LeMieux, a Republican, demanded that BP donate $1 billion for a cleanup fund for the five Gulf states and said that Obama "needs to push them to do that."

"I want to see this president more engaged here on the ground, working through problems," LeMieux said.

On "State of the Union," Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said his state was "as ready as we can be," as the currents moved the oil eastward.

In addition to a declaration of a state of disaster, Florida has about 250,000 feet of boom spread around the panhandle and has another 250,000 feet available, Crist said.

The federal government on Monday accepted Canada's offer of 3,000 meters -- or more than 9,800 feet -- of ocean boom to help combat the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a State Department spokesman said.

Florida is also pushing BP to respond to claims made by business owners who are losing business and facing crisis because of the spill.

"In the short term, we want these claims to be responded to more quickly," Crist said. "These people need help, and we need to be there to try to make them as whole as we can during this very difficult process."

Allen said Monday that the government would "like [BP] to get better" at processing damage claims now being filed with the company. In Alabama, he noted, National Guardsmen are now helping individuals to file claims.

Obama repeated his concern Monday that BP may start "nickel-and-diming" businesses that are losing money due to the disaster. The company needs to be "quick and responsive" to the needs of local communities, he said.

The president noted that federal officials have been assigned to "ride herd" on BP and insist that compensation funds flow "quickly" and on a "timely" basis.

Tony Kennon, the mayor of Orange Beach, Alabama, confronted BP Senior Vice President Bob Fryar at a weekend news conference about prompt action not being taken when reports surfaced that tar balls were washing ashore. Visibly upset, Kennon said local officials had been asking to meet with BP officials for over a month, but their requests went unanswered.

"If you sensed our frustration, you would have been here a lot sooner," Kennon told Fryar. "People in Orange Beach are starving to death now because they can't get out to catch the fish."

Allen said Sunday the Alabama incident the mayor referred to was the result of a mechanical failure where a boom became disconnected before a skimmer arrived to prevent the oil from reaching the shore.

Overall, however, Allen said the federal government is in charge of making sure BP is carrying out its cleanup responsibilities.