Obama: Gulf oil well blowout is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced

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Obama: Spill is worst US environmental disaster

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama called the Gulf of Mexico oil spill “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced” and will take years to combat.

Obama in a speech Tuesday night from the Oval Office said that “unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it is not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days.”

He said the millions of gallons of crude oil that have gushed into Gulf waters from a broken well “are more like an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years.”