Deputy sherriffs stand guard at a beach on Grand Isle, La., which were closed as the oil spill reached the shore. (Imani M. Cheers/NYT Institute)

President Barack Obama took full responsibility for controlling the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico at a White House news conference Thursday, but said the government would continue to rely on BP for cleanup efforts because of their superior technology and expertise.

“It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down,” he said. “The government is fully engaged and I’m fully engaged.”

The takeover of responsibility was a shift for the administration, which previously had said BP should make the major decisions because it had caused the leak, and had the technology. Now, BP will follow government orders on stopping the leak and cleaning the spill.

After a request from the Environmental Protection Agency, BP reduced its use of dispersants to break up the oil, because of the unknown long-term impact.

“Given the complexity of this procedure and the depth of the leak, this procedure gives no guarantee of success,” Obama said. “Process could take months.”

The president is scheduled to visit the Gulf on Friday morning to assess the damage from the oil spill.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports that “top kill” efforts in the Gulf of Mexico are making progress, but are far from completion. On Wednesday, BP began to inject mud into the well in order to plug the oil leak, but BP temporarily stopped the procedure late Wednesday when engineers found too much of the drilling fluid was escaping, but resumed it on Thursday.

Scientists have also found that more oil is leaking from the blown well than originally estimated. The U.S. Geological Survey findings range from 504,000 gallons to more than a million gallons leaking each day; BP had originally reported the amount as 210,000 gallons. It is estimated that the spill has surpassed the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the worst in U.S. history.

“Now we know the true scale of the monster we are fighting in the Gulf,” Jeremy Symons, senior vice president of the National Wildlife Federation told The Associated Press. “BP has unleashed an unstoppable force of appalling proportions.”

The new estimate of how much oil is flowing “does not and will not change the response,” Steve Rinehart, a BP spokesman, told The AP. “We are going all out on our response.”

Researchers at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science have also discovered a new plume of oil beneath the gulf. The plume stretches 22 miles northeast from the well leak, the second plume recorded since the explosion.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen has approved portions of Louisiana’s $350 million proposal to build a wall of sand to protect the coastline from oil.

To date, federal officials said the oil spill has cost the government $87 million, the third-most expensive cleanup in U.S. history. BP officials said they would reimburse the government for “all legitimate claims.”

The president announced that a moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling permits would continue for six months while a federal commission investigates the spill. Obama plans to implement aggressive new operating standards and requirements for oil companies after the investigation. The government will also require certification of emergency cutoff valves on offshore oil wells.

The spill investigation and cleanup continues to hit roadblocks.

As the investigative hearings continue Thursday, BP’s Deepwater Horizon well site leader refused to testify, pleading the Fifth Amendment.

Elizabeth Birnbaum, director of U.S. Minerals Management Service, the department conducting the joint spill investigation with the U.S. Coast Guard, resigned today after criticism of poor oversight and unethical ties to the oil industry.

After some workers on commercial ships cleaning the oil in the Gulf complained of nausea and several were hospitalized, the Coast Guard pulled commercial vessels from the effort. The Louisiana Department of Health also warned oil spill workers of poison oak, chiggers and alligators while in the Gulf.
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