Homeland Security, Interior to investigate oil rig explosion in Gulf of Mexico

Homeland Security, Interior investigate oil spill

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has launched a full investigation of last week’s oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (neh-pahl-ih-TAN’-oh) and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar say they will devote every available resource to a comprehensive investigation of the explosion, which left 11 workers missing and presumed dead. The explosion also caused a massive oil spill off the Louisiana coast.

Salazar and Napolitano signed an order Tuesday establishing the next steps for a joint investigation that began last week into the causes of the explosion of the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service share jurisdiction for the investigation.