A sheen of oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill is reportedly nearing the white sand beaches of northwest Florida.
Officials said a sheen containing thousands of tar balls had been seen nine miles (15 kilometres) from Pensacola on the Florida "panhandle".
"It's inevitable that we will see it on the beaches," said Keith Wilkins, an Escambia County official.
Meanwhile, BP's efforts to cap the leaking well hit a snag as a saw became stuck in a thick pipe on the sea bed.
The company's is attempting to contain the spill from the well by cutting off the fractured pipe and sealing it with a cap.
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said crews were shooting chemical dispersants at the oil now leaking out of the new cut, and hoped to make another attempt on the pipe later on Wednesday.
"I don't think the issue is whether or not we can make the second cut. It's about how fine we can make it, how smooth we can make it," Adm Allen said.
BP share prices continued to plummet in trading on the London stock exchange on Wednesday, amid news the US justice department has opened several civil and criminal inquiries into the Gulf spill.
BP estimates that the disaster has so far cost the company approximately $990m (£674m) in clean-up costs, but has refused to speculate on future expenses.
'Dangerous short-cuts'
The BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell, in Washington, says there is a growing sense of frustration that all BP's efforts have come to nought, and things could get worse for the company.
Excerpts from a speech President Barack Obama is to give in Pennsylvania on Wednesday suggest he will say that the leak may be down to "corporations taking dangerous short-cuts that compromised safety".
"But we have to acknowledge that there are inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth - risks that are bound to increase the harder oil extraction becomes," the president is expected to say.
The oil began leaking into the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, leased to BP, exploded, killing 11 workers.
BP is drilling two relief wells to permanently plug the leak but they are not expected to be completed until August.
A "top kill" procedure, which had been considered the best hope for plugging the leak, failed over the weekend when engineers were unable to pump enough heavy mud into the well to staunch the oil flow.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist said the oil sheen observed off the state's northwest coast contained thousands of tar balls, heavy globs of decayed oil.
"The goal is to remove that oil from near shore waters and prevent or minimize any potential impacts on our state," he told reporters.
BBC
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This is only getting worse and apparently this won't stop at least till next week.
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