AP Top News at 9:57 a.m. EDT

AP Top News at 9:57 a.m. EDT

Long road to oil cleanup looms over Gulf Coast

GULF SHORES, Ala. — A geyser of oil spewing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is slowly tapering off with the help of a wellhead cap, but there’s no containing much of the crude that’s already escaped, a reality becoming increasingly evident at the region’s beaches and marshes. The battle to contain the oil is likely to stretch into the fall, the government’s point man on the spill warned. The cap will trap only so much of the oil, and relief wells being drilled won’t be completed until August. Meanwhile, oil will continue to shoot out.

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