Obama: ‘this oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced’

The BP oil spill “is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced,” President Obama said during a speech tonight from the Oval Office.

“And unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it’s not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days,” the president said. “The millions of gallons of oil that have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico are more like an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years.”

Obama said he will meet with BP’s chairman and tell him that the company “is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company’s recklessness.”

“We will fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as long as it takes.  We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused,” Obama said. “And we will do whatever’s necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy.”